Our next speaker is Wason Brown, who many of you know, Walton is a self-described academic who just happens to be a member of Parliament.
He is going to speak on the laws that were enacted post emancipation.
Thank you and good evening, everyone. The there was a very long history and intimate connexion between our legislation and racial considerations.
Ben just concluded by speaking about the increase in the franchise qualification in the aftermath of emancipation.
There was a deliberate decision to make it more difficult for blacks to be able to vote and even to stand for office.
The rationale for this was advanced by James Stephens, who was the undersecretary for the colonies,
who said that this is a deliberate decision that we embrace in the UK or in England because we
would rather see change come about gradually rather than an abrupt change in power relations.
So there was a very explicit consideration given to this legislation as it was put into operation in the immediate aftermath of emancipation.
The second explicit piece of legislation in the post emancipation era dealing with race was in 1842.
Because then Parliament dealing with what was now a majority Black Country Parliament parliamentarians were very concerned about this racial ratio.
And so a bill was tabled in 1842 to encourage emigration to these islands from England.
So clearly in 1842, almost 10 years after emancipation,
racial considerations were still very much in the minds of those who have power to bring about change.
The third piece of legislation, the third policy change that would have an impact on legislation was in the 1920s in the 1920s.
Governor Wilcox. We had recently come to Bermuda.
He was very concerned that we had a majority.
Black police force, he felt that it was inappropriate in a country with a large white population and a large number of white visitors tourists.
It was inappropriate to have a majority black police force.
And he tried to encourage the parliamentarians to increase the number of whites in the police force.
You can find all this in the confidential dispatches of the governor in our archives, or you can read my book.
You'll see it in my book. That's what I'm supposed to do, I'm told of.
In an effort to accomplish this girl, the parliamentarian said that while whites still want to join the police service,
the police force because the pay is inadequate. The working conditions are inadequate, so we need to address that.
So Parliament addressed that by increasing the pay and increasing the conditions,
and they sent the police commissioner to London to find 25 suitable police officers.
These 25 suitable police officers came in the early 1920s. After many years.
That picture was proudly displayed at the police headquarters of a prospect. And then when I thought talking about it publicly,
the picture disappeared and I've been asking to be in queens doing things to try to find that picture because it's an important part of history.
But he says it's gone, so we can't find it. Hopefully, it'll turn out Monday.
So in the 1920s, you would not get a majority white police force that was designed to enforce the laws.
So here you see a connexion between the police force and the implementation and enforcement of our legislation.
So it's very clear, very clear to the case, and we're going to have a conversation later on about the suffragette movement.
But one of the reasons why the all male parliament opposed women getting the right
to vote is because they thought it would lead to what they called other extensions.
They didn't specify what they meant by the other extensions,
but it's very clear to some that it meant the vast majority of the people who were denied that vote, which were a black adult, rather in Bermuda.
So let's fast forward to the last 50 years where we see I think the Chief Justice referred
to the statue of us moving toward nirvana and the era of post-racial legislation.
Well, unfortunately,
the legislation just became somewhat more sophisticated in its in its delivery because of racial connotations were still very much there in the 1960s.
The most explicit manifestation of this was the creation of our electoral system.
Many of you will know that up until the mid until 1963, we didn't have a.
Dual seat electoral constituency. But in a period of the move toward universal suffrage, where everyone got the right to vote,
the parliamentarians created an electoral system which the very framers of that system identified as being completely inspired by race.
If you go back and read the parliament directly, you'll see a member of Parliament F.C. MiSeq who said that we have contrived an
electoral system which would guarantee 16 white seats in our electoral system.
Very explicit. The framers recognised that they had failed to create a post-racial electoral system.
And so in Bermuda and a period when we were moving toward a more democratic society,
we were enshrining in a very political structure, a very political framework, a racial set of structures or policies.
Alongside that, we also amended the Election Act.
And the election laws allowed for. Anyone who was a British subject resident in Bermuda for three years or more will get the right to vote.
Seems relatively innocuous, but then you have to consider how immigration policy changed between 1950 and 1960,
the net migration to Bermuda was about 800 between 1960 and 1970.
The net migration was about 8000, and all you have to do is compare the 1956 70 census reports.
You'll be able to see that. The vast majority of these people who came in the 1960s were British subjects,
and most of them were white, and therefore we were able to vote after being president for three years.
So you see the confluence of a contrived electoral system.
With a voting rights provision that had a clear racial dimension.
That led to a lot of political discussion and dialogue. It was raised at the 1965 conference.
That legislation, which allowed British subjects resident for three years to get the vote wasn't amended until 1979, wasn't repealed until 1979.
But everyone who got the vote? Retain that vote.
No one going forward will be able to have the vote.
So what we see is a system in which racial considerations, political power and legislation have a long, intimate connexion.
Chief justice doesn't sound much like nirvana. It means that we still have a lot that we need to do.
One of the most important changes in our electoral system came then we abandoned
the no the old electoral system and it meant to single seat constituencies.
I suspect that Bermuda is the only country in the world that has had dual sea constituencies.
What country moves toward a democratic system and allows two people to represent an electoral district?
Why would that be the case? But then you go and look at what happened because in every area.
Where it was deemed to be a marginal or close call for electoral purposes.
The ruling party ran a black and white candidate to show racial harmony in every area where it was clearly the case that either
it was a vast majority black of asteroid weight on a two count of two two black councillors or two white candidates ran.
So you could clearly see the political considerations in the creation of the dual C constituencies that was abolished in the early 2000s.
And so too was the provision that required that an electoral district be contained within a parish, as the Chief Justice already mentioned,
that contained within itself a fundamental bias because parishes were a quite different demographic
makeups and that led to the 16 safe seats that Miz's music and others referred to in the early 1960s.
The final piece of legislation they want to refer to is one that is currently in place.
That seems to manage to be relatively innocuous,
even progressive by the impact of this legislation is that it has a significant part in in effect when it comes to racial, the racial impact.
And that is the Job Makers Act, the Job Makers Act.
Currently, I'm sure all of us can advise that this is not the case. My assessment is that the Job Magus Act is the only provision in place today,
which allows for anyone to acquire Permanent Resident Certificate status in this country.
There was a provision, of course, for those who were here before 1989, but the job makers, that is currently the only provision that allows for that.
So the only route to a more stable, secure position in Bermuda other than status is through the job make effect.
The Job Makers Act is very particular. It refers to those who hold senior positions in companies.
If you were to examine the demographic of that category of employment, you'll see a very singular dynamic.
They tend to be wealthy. They tend to be white and they tend to be male.
Well, there is no provision in our constitution to prevent gender discrimination.
But our constitution don't see any law which has the effect of treating people differently either negatively or more positively.
It's a violation of our Constitution. The Job Makers Act.
Provides for a pathway to PRC status for very selected, but doesn't allow for the pot washer who's been here for 30 years to apply for it.
That doesn't allow for anyone else who's not in the senior position to be able to apply.
So it is a very single demographic and given our sensitivity about race, it is a matter for examination.
I'm here in a room full of lawyers, so I'm hoping that the mayor, a politician that I am and a chief justice,
prefer to haggle and how politicians don't often refer to or embrace history.
Well, I embrace Marx, but I embrace Hegel, and Marx is going to turn Hegel on his head.
So I actually see an intimate connexion between politics and history.
And you can't separate the two.
But in a room full of lawyers, I think if we are all becoming more sensitive to issues of race and the legislation, then I think it merits attention.
We need to decide in 2016 what kind of laws that we will have on our books.
Do we want all our laws to pass the test of being non-racial in both their design as well as their impact?
Now, if I was at an academic session, purely academic session, I know that I'll have two or three opinions.
But given that I'm sitting with a roomful of lawyers, I expect there'll be a multitude of opinions about much more, much more so than two or three.
But I think it is an issue that merits discussion. I want to thank Alexa for bringing this forum to the legal fraternity,
and I hope that we will have a full deliberation about the impact of not just the history of racial discrimination with regard to our laws,
but also about the current impact that certain of our laws have at the level of race and our social dynamics.