Archive for August 14th, 2010
CAL prop plane gets a flat on the Brac
(CNS): A Cayman Airways Express plane was delayed on Cayman Brac for almost three hours with a flat tyre this morning. According to Cayman Airways Ltd (CAL), the Twin Otter aircraft on flight 4421 experienced a tyre deflation upon landing at Gerrard Smith International Airport at around 7:50am. All passengers on board were transferred from the aircraft to the airport terminal without incident. The airline, working together with the Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) and Air Traffic Controllers in Cayman Brac, allowed the aircraft to remain on the runway, which was closed in the interim, until the necessary parts were changed.
CAL says the aircraft was certified to be put back into service by 10:30am.
“The swift and professional response of Cayman Airways Express Captain Geoffrey Conolly and First Officer Trent Beckles in their safe control of the aircraft is testament to their training and competence,” commented Cayman Airways Acting CEO Fabian Whorms. “The safety and security of our passengers is our ultimate priority and we stand firm in our commitment to providing top quality service to the people of our Sister Islands. We would like to thank all passengers involved for their cooperation and support.”
Whorms said that other flights are expected to operate as planned with minimal delays, if any, for the remainder of the day.
Thanks Roy for the Obituary
I read in amazement a recent comment on CNS in response to this website’s story on Roy Bodden’s latest book. Someone purporting to be a white Caymanian was expressing disappointment with the author’s reference to white or near white Caymanians being more economically advantaged than darker skinned Caymanians.
To illustrate why they felt this was not the case; the poster, in typical Caymanian style, took the most simplistic route to achieving their conclusion. To ‘paraphrase their thoughts’, because the poster is Caymanian white and probably sees a ‘so many’ darker skinned Caymanians driving a better car or living in a bigger house than them, they somehow conclude that most dark skinned Caymanians are in a more economically advantageous position.
I am on the fence with this one, folks. On one hand, I am happy Roy is touching on the sensitive issues of race, which most Caymanians pretend doesn’t exist, like most other problems in Cayman. But on the other hand, I am left hopelessly amazed at the ignorance our people continue to display about the realities around them.
Everyone knows we always had and will always have poorer ‘Bukra’ (white) people. But Roy wasn’t talking about these people — an important point which the poster sadly overlooked. He is talking about how generational wealth, power and position have been transferred in this country and how it has shaped our political, economic and social landscape today. The book is far from perfect but there are many painful truths and a few Pandora’s boxes that have been opened which we would be remiss to slam shut because of our continued denial of these truths.
Roy has put in writing the facts that many only talk about privately — how we are in the mess we find ourselves today owing to the deliberate efforts of many of the historically white families of privilege to keep our people ignorant and subservient. And to think that many of them did this with a good ‘Christian’ smile smeared across their faces. Another common trick many of them used to distract and disarm us was by appearing to be ‘just regular common folks like everyone else’.
Many of our forefathers were hoodwinked and bamboozled out of land, fair wages, education and opportunities by these same people, resulting in profound impacts that affected generations. The stories should be told of how the late T.E. (Teacher) McField’s efforts to empower young coloured Caymanians were repeatedly choked. Stories of how exam results for darker skinned Caymanians disappeared. The story of how Steve McField was forced to change professions after having his dental technician’s qualifications rejected and the list goes on and on.
It is no secret that many of these white families taught their children to marry expats or only other Cayman whites. (Just see the reaction and rifts created anytime one of them caught a dose of jungle fever.) They would rarely extend real business opportunities, partnerships, investments etc to coloured Caymanians, but would tap dance like monkeys for any white ‘foreigner’ whom they felt would view them as equals because of their ‘light skin’. It was them who originated and mastered the artof ‘fronting’, but they got really upset when a few coloured Caymanians figured out how to play that game and beat some of them at it.
So then, what can Roy’s book teach us? Something we already knew, which is hitting us in the face more and more each day. That is, sadly, Caymanians aren’t going anywhere fast. Many of the oligarch families are in a slow decline, isolated by generations of insular thinking and facing extinction of their family names and blood lines. Now they have to face real competition from people with real money and brains who may or may not have Caymanian Status. Many of our oligarch clans are leaving their fortunes to lazier and less intelligent heirs who didn’t learn the ropes through sweat and toil, but were brought up spoiled and entitled. Watch as these family fortunes go “POOF!” in a few years.
It is a well known fact that Caymanians have never viewed themselves as one people or a single nation. So the people who work together, which is basically every other expat group that reaches these shores, will succeed, prosper and live the Cayman dream while Caymanians choose to exclude themselves from the party.
Meanwhile, the white Caymanians of privilege will continue sucking up in vain to the ‘real white man’ (who will never view them as equals) while too many dark skinned Caymanians are squabbling with one another for the scraps under the table.
A few enlightened Caymanians who are skillful and smart enough to realize that depending on their own will get them no where, will prosper and do well in the cultural mosaic that this society is becoming. The rest will be like frogs in a pot being slowly boiled to death.
Roy — although you might not have intended to do so, I must thank you for writing an excellent Obituary about us. After all, that’s a Caymanian politician’s most important job!