So What Did Saint Lucia’s Tourism Minister Mean By ‘Color?’

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!” This according to Gloria Steinem, the legendary sociopolitical activist and editor of the feminist bible Ms magazine. Then there is the apostle John at 8:31-32: “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘if you abide in my word and you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ ”

Elsewhere in the bible we read that Pilate asked Jesus: “What is truth?” If Jesus reacted, his response remains a secret. But that has not stopped scholars from conjecturing Pilate’s motivation. His question was not genuine, they say. It was actually a statement dressed up as a question—a shot at self-justification. They point out as proof that Pilate had gone out to the mob, pronounced Jesus innocent of the charges against him, then had him flogged and handed over for crucifixion. Pilate’s truth was that Jesus was innocent, but for his accusers the truth was that Jesus was guilty. So Pilate washed his hands and let the accusers follow their truth.

Another source also referencing the death of Christ: “A good man was crucified because in a mob’s version of truth he was a criminal, and their truth was considered as valid as Pilate’s.” So much for relative truth.

As for Truman Capote, whose La Côte Basque 1965 famously exposed the secret lives of some of New York’s richest and most famous: “Journalism can never be altogether pure. Nor can the camera. After all, art is not distilled water. Personal perceptions, prejudices, one’s sense of selectivity, pollute the purity of germless truth.”

In Plato’s telling, Protagoras was the first professional sophist, maybe because his and Pilate’s take on truth are in perfect harmony. “What is true for you is true for you,” said Protagoras, “and what is true for me is true for me.” Centuries later this somewhat pagan notion that truth is always personal and relative to self is very much en vogue in the age of Trump— and widespread.

Of course there is also the down to earth regular definition of truth: “Conformity to fact or actuality. A statement proven to be, or accepted, as true.” Or accepted as true! A recently released promotional video shot at our normally busiest beach features Saint Lucia’s tourism minister Dominic Fedee singing for our post-COVID supper. Accompanied by the unique sound of bluer than blue Caribbean waves caressing some off-camera rocks, he croons: “When you look at our beaches, they’re missing your vibe, missing your color . . .” Conceivably, as a friend at home might miss another Corona-trapped in New York.

But as some at home and in other places similarly locked down would have it, Fedee was pitching only at “white tourists,” crying about how much “he misses their color on our beaches, giving them the impression that without them our beaches are now bland.” As if indeed our world famous irresistible beaches depended for their magic on the presence of snowbirds. No surprise the expressed racist rant found favor among the more remote regions of Facebook.

“He sure did,” chorused a fellow resident. “Absolutely!” crowed another. A woman in dire need of spelling lessons added, in Looshan argot: “Fada [she meant Fedee] too damn full of his just-come self. Lil power and he all up.” The siren’s song mattered less than the siren. Another shrieked: “The Guyanese would never tolerate that in their parliament.” That? In all events Dominic Fedee is as Saint Lucian as his xenophobic critic. “WTF!” another exclaimed, while still another played it safe: she would reserve further comment until she had researched the contentious video.

Janeka Simon, Choice-TV’s news editor, seemed to offer balance. “I think the video was addressed to his Caribbean brothers and sisters,” she wrote. “So I do not believe the color he said our beaches are missing is white.” More meat to fight over. Of course Simon would know there is such a thing as “color commentary” that has nothing at all to do with skin tone.

The color commentator provides expert analysis and background information such as strategy, statistics, injury reports, and occasional humor. The term “color” here relates to levity by a secondary announcer. All of that to show there are other than the usual definition of “color.” Always depending on context, the word can also mean animation, brightness, glow, warmth, vivacity, vibrancy. When we speak of striking the colors, or nailing the colors to a mast, we certainly aren’t referring to blacks being abused by white slavers.

Bernard Haynes cannot resist being, well, Bernard Haynes—who may or may not be a figment of a twisted imagination. “In his video to promote local tourism,” he noted, “Fedee may have been addressing his Caribbean brothers and sisters. But when most people look at tourism as white people, who off [sic] course covers [sic] 80% of the market, it would be hard to believe he was referring to otherwise. You know of course how his mouth roles [sic] lately.”

Miriam Joan Alexander tossed a lifebelt out of nowhere: “Hate the dog but admit his teeth are white. The man was also addressing our fellow Caribbean islanders. Stop the crap. He first stated the number that come to our shores. He may have used the wrong word: ‘color.’ He should’ve said: ‘We are missing your flag.’ When another contributor retaliated with her own bizarre offering, Ms Alexander took refuge in the shadow of a nursery rhyme. Or was it a rebuke in disguise? “I do not have the energy to engage you right now,” she sniffed. “I’m waiting to see the cow jump over the moon!”

All of which leads to another truth: Politicians must be more careful what they say publicly. Otherwise they leave themselves open to miscreant misconscrewing—whatever that is. COVID lingo, perhaps? I picked up the word from Facebook where evidently truth resides in countless shades!