Social media has been ablaze with positive thoughts and well wishes for the family but there have been very negative comments as well that have cast a dark shadow on this whole experience. Some Barbadians have decided that had Karen Harris been black there would NOT have been such a huge search or importance placed on finding her. While this may be true, how can mobilizing and searching for a missing person be a negative thing? Would Barbadians rather noone search for Karen Harris and she NOT be found...or worse? Is there a more serious race divide in Barbados than previously thought or is there an underlying case of jealousy on the part of the 'have-nots'?
I remember many years ago I worked for a company in Barbados with branches in 2 locations. I remember persons from branch A complaining "why does Branch B always have these nice decorations and plants" or "Branch B is rich and always has better things than us over here at Branch A". It became such a big deal that Branch B was asked to remove the decorations. Instead of coming together and coming up with ideas and perhaps the money to improve their own office persons at Branch A made it their mission to bring Branch B down to their level. Typical Barbadians!
I digress but my example was to point out that Barbadians are lazy people who like to sit back and criticize rather than act to bring about improvement for themselves. This is particularly true of some black Bajans who seem to feel they are "owed" something. Why be outraged when concerned white people band together to try to save the life of another? Is it their fault that some black Bajans don't do the same? Instead of being negative why not use this as a prime example of what to do the next time a black Bajan goes missing as well? Nope, I bet the next time a black Bajan goes missing everyone will still sit on their behinds and click NEXT when they see the news report online or spend hours gossiping on social media as they did during and after the Karen Harris search.
Case and point...when a 16 year old teenager goes missing in Barbados Bajans never rally the troops. Instead, they put a lot of effort into speculating about which "man she gone by" and the like. Why not use those very same social media tools in a more positive way to share useful information and organise a search? Not Bajans. Not while they can sit back and have the nerve to use race as an excuse.
I have to say, Barbadians love to cry down each other. They will whisper and create propaganda about their neighbour because they were able to purchase a new car but won't spend the time to figure out how they themselves can do the same perhaps by not buying fast food every day or cutting back on expensive clothes and shoes. They will complain the cost of land is too expensive but why not consider joining with a family member to purchase a plot and build a family home or duplex? NO, they would be living like "Guyanese" so they rather sell their precious vote to a politician during election time for a tiny, selfish plot somewhere while their brother or sister "sucks salt" and is one monthly payment away from living on the street.
So yes, this IS an issue of race in Barbados but these people didn't come out and search because they are white, they came out because they are white AND not lazy! Kudos to all who left their homes to search or went out of their way to gather or pass on information on the whereabouts of Karen Harris.
Should I ever go missing I hope everyone will come out to search for me whether they are black, white, yellow or green! (Speaking of colour...at least noone is talking about that silly dress anymore!) |
