by Colin Hyde
According to data from the website, countrymeters.info, there are roughly 6,000 more females in Belize than males. The website says our present population is 443,078, with the breakdown by sex being 218,529 males, and 224,549 females. It’s okay for there to be more females than males in the country. I can’t think of a person who would complain about that. Get it: guys are loners, girls like company.
The Elections and Boundaries Department (EBD) reported that in January 2025 there were 204,378 electors in the country, 99,629 of them males, and 104,749 of them females. In my check (count) of the boxes, in 25 of the 31 divisions females outnumber males, and the gender difference is small in most constituencies. In only one of ten divisions in Belize City (Pickstock) do male electors outnumber females. The gap for females over males is greatest in Collet (about 600), Belmopan (about 700), and Lake I (over 800).
Consider this a first dip in the water. We will need to look more closely at the data the EBD has produced. Yes, we want to know how our women voted in each division. Oh, woe to all mankind if this group was ever to see itself as a gender first, and as members of the human family second. God save us if they ever got consumed with revenge. I hope the EBD does a breakdown of race voting too. No, no, no, we shouldn’t ever be afraid of the truth about things like that.
Dear Henry, they cut it
I support the idea of a national hair policy. I don’t support girls dolling up for school, and young males going Rasta. Don’t call me biased. For me, it’s all about reducing the sexual tension, and who can care for what. Bypassing the sex today, I told you the story about my Mestizo cousin who stuck his head out the window, threw a cup of water on his hair, passed a comb through it, zup, zup, and was good to go.
A major factor to be considered when talking hair is if the individual can manage it. Some types of hair are more difficult to handle. The first criteria for going to school is supposed to be age, but we all know that written into that is that the child must be able to clean their behind. A child who isn’t potty-trained can’t go to school. A child who can’t use the bathroom can’t go to school. We expect parents to put in the stitches when a uniform is torn, and tack on buttons when they fall off. But children should be able to keep their fingernails clean, and brush their teeth.
Last week, some aging female movie star who wanted to compete with the young ones stepped on the stage in a dress which they said took 750 hours to make. Well, no hair-do takes that long, but some are quite elaborate. You know where I am going. I told you how my mom used to struggle to put in plaits in the hair of my two sisters every morning. Well, guess what that pair did when they came of age and had to put in the plaits themselves. Henry, they cut it!
It’s important for Kriol leaders to recognize the folly of the courageous Colin Kaepernick
You remember Colin Kaepernick (K); of course you do, if you own a television or a social media page, because he was all over the news a few years back, for using the platform he was on to call out racial injustice in the USA. Now, we know that trampling on the rights of black people is a big thing over there. We in Belize of African descent have a common history with Black Americans re: the period our ancestors were in chains, but our “colonial” period was different. Well into the 1960s, black people in the US were denied access to certain places, couldn’t go to certain schools, couldn’t eat at certain restaurants, couldn’t play ball in certain arenas, and were denied basic rights as human beings.
I got some flogging from people who are hip to “black” because I gave Mr. K the thumbs down. They said he was a hero. I said he was wrong. I’m here again trying to convince those who criticized my position—why? Because I think they missed some important points.
K is the son of a white woman and a black man, and he was adopted when he was a child by a white family who gave him their surname. At his pinnacle in American football, he came within a play of winning the Super Bowl, the biggest game in the sport. If I recall correctly, he was having injury issues when he decided in 2016, all by himself, to make a stand against vicious white supremacy in the US. Before a ball game, before thousands in the stands and millions watching on television, before or during the playing of the US national anthem, he kneeled, breaking ranks with his teammates and the players on the opposing team.
Some compared him to Tommy Smith and John Carlos, two champion American sprinters who, in 1968, at the closing of the Olympics in Mexico City, shocked the world with a black fist salute when they were on the podium receiving their medals. They also compared him to Muhammad Ali. In 1967, Ali, then heavyweight champion, was convicted for refusing to go and fight in Vietnam and sentenced to jail.
When K made his stand, he was nearly 30. Being an, ehm, kind type, I will say he was very inexperienced. His heart was in the right place; he was courageous; but he made some mistakes. Smith, Carlos, and Ali performed in individual sports. Basically, their decision to stand on their beliefs impacted them alone. All three knew they would face severe repercussions for their actions. Smith and Carlos lost thousands of dollars and never raced in the Olympics again. While Ali did not go to jail, it would be some time before he would perform in a boxing ring.
Forget the white players on K’s team; there were black players, youth who had devoted their lives to make their way through sports. He put his teammates in a difficult position, especially the ones who were black. Were they punks not to kneel or sit with him? Did they see racial injustice as okay because they didn’t follow his lead? Some of those players, black and white, quite likely shared his views. But people don’t all fight the same way.
K could afford to get kicked out of the league. He had already made a massive score – in 2014 he signed a contract for US$126 million – and the pinnacle of his career was a couple years behind him. Some of his black teammates were on the way up; some were on the fringe. One false move and they were out the door, the dream in the sport that they had invested their lives in, gone forever.
But K didn’t only fail to consider his teammates. He disrespected business in general, and he disrespected his employer’s business in particular. Business is about procuring our food and shelter, and other needs. White collar or blue collar, business is sacred. If your employer owns a panades shop or a chain of stores, it is not an employee’s place to endanger the business in any way. Labor issues between the employer and employee are a go, yes, but the political and moral values of the employee are theirs alone.
It’s incredible to many of us that there are Belizeans who support Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It’s incredible how our views can be so different. Through the magic of sportscasters and the genius of entrepreneurs, in some places the exploits of athletes in sports games are big business. Sports, all entertainment, have their own culture. In its own way, well-organized sports help make the world a better place. Sports makes a white supremacist cheer a black athlete, even champion the big fat salary paid to keep the black star happy. Such is sports, sometimes.
That platform Brother K was on, it wasn’t his to use. Properly, like Flip Wilson’s Private Jenkins, he needed to go someplace and form an army of his own. Okay, that’s it, for now.