MINISTER OF EDUCATION Ronald Jones’ comments about “cracking heads” and “shooting” protesters have been described as unbecoming of a Government minister and likened to violent actions taken by the racist authorities against black Barbadians in the 1937 Riots.
Sir Wilfred Wood, a retired Barbadian cleric who has the distinct honour of being England’s first black bishop, told the WEEKEND NATION he found Jones’ remarks in the House of Assembly “quite chilling” and called on him to apologize.
Sir Wilfred said he found it offensive for the minister to refer to the 1937 riots and put himself and the Government in the role of Barbados’ former colonial authorities. He also recalled that those authorities saw (Sir) Grantley Adams as an instigator and wanted him dead or alive, but Adams slipped out of Barbados and later went onto England where he paved the way for the Moyne Commission.
“It was really frightening therefore to hear the Minister of Education being, I assume, ignorant of all this background information, broadcasting to young people whom he would expect to respect his authority, that if such disturbances were to occur, he was giving the police clearance to crack heads and shoot people. That’s very worrying,” said the 76-year-old former Bishop of Croydon who was awarded the island’s highest honour, Knight of St Andrew, in 2000 for his work on behalf of the welfare of Barbadians and race relations in Britain.
