Just over a year after the brutal murder of young Rhiana Moore, the Bermuda in-justice system actually gets something right by convicting her killer Ze Selassie & sentencing his sadistic behind to life behind bars at the black-male-barracoon that the rest of you lot call Westgate. First of all, the OPC offers peace to the Moore family & the crew hopes that this conviction grants you some measure of consolation.
Now let’s take a look at the aftermath of this case & the opinion swizzle that it has stirred up. Basically, the OPC has seen the following opinions or versions of them expressed in the peanut gallery of squawk (talk) shows, letters to the editor, newspaper articles, opinion columns & facebook conversations:
1. The Bad Parent Crew – these lot say that Rhiana’s parents (mom) were bad parents OR somehow ineffective because their daughter was sneaking around & having sex with a psychopathic bye who eventually became her killer. Therefore Rhiana’s murder ONLY HAPPENED because her parents allegedly weren’t ‘on-the-ball’ according to some undetermined standard of ‘perfect parenting’.
2. The ban-internet-chat-rooms Crew – these lot are convinced that if only internet chat rooms & social sites could be ‘controlled’ then somehow Rhiana wouldn’t have been able to contact Ze online. Therefore the MAIN REASON why Rhiana was murdered was her exposure to nasty men like Ze on the internet.
3. The Legalese Crew – these ones have dedicated themselves to nit-picking the details of the prosecution’s case, such as questioning why Prosecutor Cindy Clarke did not charge Ze with Unlawful Carnal Knowledge & Destruction of Rhiana’s unborn child. The point here is to look for better ways to prosecute (not prevent) these kinds of crimes in the future so that the bad guys get maximum time behind bars.
4. The Blame Guvva-mint Crew – these lot have been getting on the government for dragging its feet on implementing a sex-offender’s database that would be available to members of the public. Basically, since the guvva-mint didn’t act on this idea then it is indirectly the guvva-mint’s fault for not doing more to protect citizens from psychos like Ze.
On & on & on the commentary goes....STILL no one we have heard has decided to discuss this murder in terms of Black on Black Violence!!!
Black on Black violence is MAJOR especially situations of violence against women & girls! This ain’t just a Bermie issue – check out the entire Diaspora, especially us over here in the Western Region -
Just one example has been the infamous case of the Bajan Rhianna receiving beat-downs from her former boyfriend Chris Brown. If we listed statistics from the Caribbean & the USA we would be here all night.....
The ironic thing is that all of this violence against Black Women has been occurring at a time when some black leaders (both male & female) are busily trumpeting the progress narrative of
Black Women’s “success”! They point to the statistics which show that there are more sisters than brothers in college (locally & overseas), more black women with degrees, more sisters in managerial positions in the exempt companies, more black women as home owners, car buyers, etc. etc.
However, what they don’t tell us is that
all of this material “success” has not eliminated the vulnerability of Black Women in Bermie – in fact it has gotten WORSE – just in case u forgot Ms. Shakeya DeRoza was murdered in July possibly by her former boyfriend Jermaine Wellington Pearman!!!!
This should be a wake up call to all the members of our Black community who seem to be permanently stuck on the “Plight-of-the-Black-Male-Only”, when
in REALITY it is the Entire Black Community that is in danger!!!The basic root of this is African People mindlessly imitating a White Supremacist Eurocentric Economic model, Political system & Cultural Deathstyle (as the OPC has said time & time again)! This patriarchal white racist system will only show males how to manipulate, control, abuse & eventually destroy women - physically, spiritually and/or emotionally. White men have made entire economic industries out of it (porn movies, swimsuit mags, fashion & cosmetics, BET video girls, etc.) & several misguided Blacks have bought into many of these industries & their false cultural ideals.
Obviously Black men may face struggles which are unique to their experiences & social positions as males in this society BUT differences in the kinds of problems which we face
does not mean that the struggles of Black men & women are totally disconnected - as many so-called ‘black leaders’ in Bermie would have us to believe.
Somebody please wake up & smell the codfish & potatoes, because it is BLACK WOMEN – not white ones – who are the top demographic being murdered around here! First in the murder victim &/ violent assaults line are young black men, then rapidly following up the brothers, are our young black sisters!!! This is a FACT - just go check the statistics for yourself round at the Police Station, The Womens Resource Center & the Hospital.
Think about it massive, the last white girl to really be brutally killed was Rebecca Middleton – over ten years ago!!! Still, her family & other white supporters are quick to champion her death with legal reforms & other interventions. As irritating & off-base as some of their claims might be, you gotta give them some respect for advocating for their own. Meanwhile we lot in the Black community are acting as if it is NORMAL for Black girls & women to be murdered every now & then. We say this because there has been a noticeable
LACK OF OUTRAGE surrounding this issue coming from the Black community???
- Do WE not care about what happens to Black Women???
- Have we bought fashionable politician’s story that ‘young black males’ are the ONLY ONES in trouble”???
- Where is OUR commitment to challenge the folly within OUR OWN communities that contributes to & maintains the so-called ‘Bermudian’ climate of misogyny?
You lot already KNOW that if little white girls from BHS & MSA had been getting murdered at the rate that black women have been lately then there would’ve been a protest down Cabinet building – not for Uighurs but for White Girls!!! White Bermudians, despite all their cries of being “
disenfranchised under the PLP” (don’t make us laugh – HA!) would make absolutely sure that a host of legal changes & social programs would be enacted to reduce & remove any threat of violence to their precious Harbour Road & Fairylands communities & their little BHS/MSA girls! Despite all the white claims about him “
not liking white people”, Ewart Brown’s Guvva-mint would’ve found both time & money to impose these interventions, meanwhile the corporate pirates from all of the exempt companies would be sponsoring each & every plan designed to save white women….
Sadly, the response from the Black community has been overwhelming SILENCE…………..
- Maybe some of us are too busy joining white people’s protests down Front Street to care about OUR OWN black sisters, mothers, wives, friends & daughters???
- Maybe some of us are too busy scape-goating individual parents, the internet, the Guvva-mint & everything else instead of taking a long hard look at OURSELVES & OUR COMMUNITIES???
- Black Bermudians do we even really look out for one another anymore???
- Do we care when we see our neighbours’ youths going down the wrong path???
- Do we say a second word to a parent/guardian when we see their youth out in the street with drug sellers, crooks & sexual predators???
Now before some of you lot drop that “
I’m just minding my own business” EXCUSE, ask yourself one simple question –
if you knew it would prevent a crime being committed against your child/family member/loved one wouldn’t you want to know what your child is doing, even if it came from a stranger (or anybody else) who technically ‘ain’t supposed to be’ up in your business???
While it is true that some of us in the black community are sick-in-the-head & react in some crazy ways when well-meaning people try to give us advice or correct our youths. Go talk to a school teacher & they will gladly tell you the thousands of ‘cursing-offs’ they receive whenever they tell certain parents that their youth has an academic or behaviour problem…. But should all of us allow the rising number of un-conscious idiots out here in our community to dictate the tone of our entire community's social responsibility?
Just become some youths momma/daddy gets vexed with someone for speaking to them about their child do ALL OF US in the black community suddenly use that as an excuse for us ALL to just sit on the sidelines & watch our own black children (in this case women & girls) get involved with crazy people & situations????
You would think that the Moore family would’ve wanted to know something about their daughter’s double life before they were sitting in a court room hearing it for the first time from Police detective or prosecution witness…..
REAL TALK massive, how many of us saw this girl with this creep (&/ other girls in situations EXACTLY LIKE Rhiana’s) but decided to sit on the sidelines – saying & doing NOTHING – only to have some stupid comments after something bad happens?!?!?!?
So before we get hot & bothered asking guvva-mint for new laws & sex-offender registries - (some of these things might actually be necessary) us in the Black Community need to take a long & hard look at ourselves and decide whether or not we care enough about our people - namely Black Women & girls - to get involved before this happens again???
