It is so good to see the generosity of Belizeans towards those who were seriously affected by tropical storm Arthur. We ran an assistance drive at Edward P.Yorke High School. The day after the appeal from administration, the principal’s office was full of supplies. Some of us donated cash. What a demonstration of concern for our fellow citizens. As I rode by the Love FM station on my way home today, June 6th, the front of the building was full of supplies too. This shows that everything in Belize is not always negative.
I read through the Amandala and the Reporter every week. How interesting that somehow concern for human rights and freedom gets equated with “liberal American policies” that supposedly led to the acquittal of O.J. Simpson and opposition to paddling or spanking kids. I must really be getting old, because I just can’t remember if I was on the O.J. Simpson jury! I also don’t remember if I ever expressed disapproval of paddling children as a disciplinary measure, but I don’t think so, and my children got it when they deserved it. They are now 36, 30 and 28. None of them are a menace to society.
I never congratulated the Prime Minister for pulling the preventive detention bill because of recent events, but since that was expected from me, fine. Good job, Mr. Barrow! I felt that the PM, given his background as a constitutional lawyer, was uncomfortable with the concept from day one and was only too glad to pull it at the first available opportunity.
When you write an opinion column, criticism comes with the territory. I just wish that the critics, even if the criticism is sometimes “tongue in cheek” get their facts straight. O. J. didn’t get off because of some supposed “liberal American sentiment” on the jury. O.J. was the beneficiary of the actions of a lead prosecutor whose arrogance and ego got the better of her. Marcia Clark ran the show and refused to take advice from anybody. The glove incident was stupid enough, but by itself, not fatal. What was fatal to the prosecution was the testimony of LAPD officer Mark Fuhrman.
O.J.’s lead attorney, Johnny Cochran, died a few years ago. After Mr. Cochran’s death, a member of his legal team revealed that Mr. Cochran had actually gone to the assistant prosecutor, Christopher Darden, an African American, and practically begged him not to put Mark Fuhrman on the stand. The prosecution didn’t need him to make their case. Marcia Clark didn’t listen, and the result of that cross examination changed the mindset of the majority of African American jurors.
Mark Fuhrman had a voluminous record of complaints on his personnel file from black officers because of his racism and what’s in your employer’s file can be subpoenaed and used against you in court. A former girlfriend of his had ended her relationship with him. She was appalled by his beliefs, but before she broke up with him she secretly recorded some of his racist diatribes. When she found out that he was going to be a witness for the prosecution, she gave those tapes to Mr. Cochran. Mr. Cochran warned Mr. Darden. Mr. Darden tried to warn Ms. Clark, but it appears that her attitude and her desire to get all the credit for winning such a high profile case got the better of her ability and her common sense.
From the time Mark Fuhrman was exposed as a world class liar, he claimed that he had never used the word “nigger” in ten years; the jury was no longer trying O.J. The white police became the people on trial. The jury was composed of a majority of African Americans, and almost every African American is only too familiar with white cops who lie on the witness stand. So, it appears that the jury told the white system: “This is one for you!” It’s a shame, because O.J. Simpson had never identified himself and acted as though he was an African American until he got his ass in a crack. After his acquittal, O.J. reverted right back to his pretrial behavior as “whitey’s negro.” Besides I have always said that I think he was guilty as hell! Too bad indeed, that the beneficiary of this trial wasn’t a more worthy person. By the way, Mark Fuhrman landed on his feet. He moved to Idaho, which has been a sanctuary for racist weevils like Tom Metzger of the United Klan’s of America. No doubt he felt quite at home. Fox News now employs him as a commentator!
I have never understood why Belizean Americans or American Belizeans come in for so much criticism from other Belizeans. Certainly some Belizean Americans return home with an attitude that can be very disrespectful to their fellow Belizeans who live here. Could there be some jealousy involved? Guess what, readers. The United States is a rough, tough country to survive in. I have met Americans who envy me because I have somewhere else to go; somewhere called Belize.
Let’s get back to Arthur. It seems that some people are primarily concerned with assigning blame to somebody. Ramon Frutos, the meteorologist on duty during much of that time, has come in for heavy criticism from some quarters. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Mr. Frutos is a class A meteorologist. I have talked to him and I have the utmost respect for his knowledge and ability. We have only been compiling weather data for the last 100+ years, on a planet that has been around for 4 billion years. We have also radically changed the equation in the last 150 years by our own actions. Global warming is no fiction of anyone’s imagination: it’s real!
With all these factors in play, many of which aren’t fully understood, weather reporting is far from an exact science. This includes the changes created by development here in the last 40 years. In addition, our forecasters have been working without a functioning radar system for years, because the previous governments didn’t consider replacing the old antiquated radar that finally stopped working to be a priority! Our forecasters have to depend on information coming from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, and the tools in Miami are too distant to locate small but violent systems within a tropical disturbance. The new Doppler radar system for Belize is not scheduled to be operational until August.
For science junkies, if you are in a car that passes another car going in the opposite direction that is blowing its horn, the pitch of that horn will change and distort. This is known as the “Doppler effect.” Doppler radar is based on the same principle. It allows forecasters to locate areas of heavy rain, tornados and severe thunderstorms just offshore. Asking our forecasters to get that information without modern radar is the same as asking a mechanic to fix a 2008 vehicle with a hammer and a screwdriver! Those people who blame the forecasters need to back off until they are qualified to open their mouths!
The Real Skinny
Things that happen in today’s Belize reinforce my opinion that the “powers that be” must be lamenting the day they lost their ability to control the people’s access to information. The names of the people who may have been the principal players in the great container rip off are circulating. This info provides the names of the alleged owner of that container, the Customs employee who allegedly cleared the container for release, and the names of four cops who were allegedly involved in providing protection for the scam, one of them being a high-ranking officer. I personally have no doubt at all as to the veracity of that information, but Belize’s sweeping libel laws prevent me from being more specific.
I don’t concern myself just with what the container may or may not have been loaded with. I am also concerned with whatever dollar amount might have been payable to GOB if that container and its contents had passed through the normal, legitimate channels. When the damage created by natural disasters needs to be funded, when we need decent and affordable health care for all, when education requires funds, when HIV/AIDS programs don’t have the support they should get, etc. etc., guess where a lot of the money goes – lost to scams like these!
Not only is there insufficient money available for the required social spending necessary to fight crime, but the person who disseminated this info points out that stuff like this explains “WHY OUR CRIME RATE is not going down,” (caps courtesy of the author of the document). When people say that preventive detention could have worked if it was tweaked a bit and that it shouldn’t have been pulled so fast, I just shake my head and smile. If the people at the top are corrupt, the rot permeates throughout all of society. There are no short term solutions. Either we commit ourselves to serious reform or we just live with the consequences of our choices. I am becoming resigned to the fact that choice number two appears to have already been made!