Oral Examinations and the Judgment Summons

[1]     I have been asked to speak to you this afternoon on the twin subjects of the procedure for oral examination of a judgment debtor and the judgment summons procedure.

The Procedure for Oral Examination of a Judgment Debtor.

[2]     Oral examinations are governed by Part 44 of CPR 2000.  An oral examination is notoriously not a method of enforcement of a judgment.  It is merely a tool to assist an attorney to determine which method of enforcement to use.  It is a particularly valuable tool where the judgment creditor is ignorant of the nature and location of the assets, income and liabilities of his judgment debtor.  After the completion of the oral examination procedure, the attorney for the judgment creditor is expected to decide which of the various enforcement options provided by the Rules he will invoke.

[3]     The oral examination procedure is described in the English Supreme Court Practice.  It is essentially, as follows.  The attorney for the judgment creditor, by an application without notice, obtains from a judge an order for oral examination of the judgment debtor.  That order in Form 14 is served personally on the judgment debtor at least 7 days before the date fixed for the examination.  At the same time, a draft financial position notice in Form 16 requiring the judgment debtor to complete a statement of his financial position is served.  An affidavit of service must be filed not less than 3 days before the date fixed for the examination.

[4]     The examination is conducted normally by the Registrar.  The judgment debtor is examined by his attorney and cross-examined by the attorney for the judgment creditor.  The Registrar or her clerk writes out the evidence of the judgment debtor on loose sheets of paper, and at its conclusion reads it back to the judgment debtor, who is then asked to sign it.  The statement of the judgment debtor is placed on the court file.  Parties may receive a copy of it from the Registrar on payment of any necessary photocopying fee.  A copy of it may be exhibited with any affidavit supporting a method of enforcement that may subsequently be filed.

[5]     Rule 44.6 introduced a novel provision that did not exist previously under the 1964 Rules of the Supreme Court: power for the Registrar to record an agreement that the judgment debt be paid by instalments.  The Registrar may draw an order to that effect, which will be served in the usual way. 

[6]     It is important to note that such a consent order under Rule 44.6 is not enforceable in the same way as an order made under a judgment summons.  Due to the restrictions on imprisonment for non-payment of a civil debt established by the Debtor's Act, which we shall examine below, any non-compliance with such an agreement or consent order must be followed by the necessary judgment debtor summons for any order to be enforceable by imprisonment.

[7]     A careful attorney will follow up the oral examination proceedings by an application for one of the enforcement proceedings provided for in the Rules.  Even if an offer is made and accepted at the oral examination, the subsequent order of the Judge, Master or Registrar is not enforceable by imprisonment.  It should be buttressed and given effect by obtaining an order for a judgment summons and having the judge make any order on those subsequent proceedings.  Of course, the attorney for the judgment creditor is free to select any of the other enforcement procedures.

Judgment Debtor Summons procedure

[8]     In the Leeward Islands prior to 1889, the most common method of enforcing a judgment for money was by way of imprisonment.  Before the reforms of the nineteenth century, access to a debtor’s property in satisfaction of a judgment debt both in England and in the Leeward Islands was limited.  Besides the writ of fieri facias, there was only the remedy of imprisoning the debtor in the hope of coercing him to sell his real and other property to settle his debt.  At that time there was no need to allege that the debtor had behaved dishonestly in order to obtain a writ of arrest to enforce a judgment debt.  Reports of the Governors of the Leeward Islands back to the Secretary of State in London remark that common debtors on occasion filled the prisons of Basseterre and St John's[1].  Reform eventually came by way of introducing the UK reforms to the Leeward Islands.

[9]     The Debtor’s Act[2], which came into effect on 31 December 1888, instituted a major reform in the law applicable to civil debts in the Leeward Islands.  This Act was based on the Debtor’s Acts of 1869 and 1878 of the United Kingdom.  The purpose of the Act was to clear the prisons of persons imprisoned for debt.  From the date of that Act no debtor may be imprisoned in the Leeward Islands save under the limited procedure authorised by the Act.  The rule now is that no person may be arrested or imprisoned for making default in the payment of money.

[10]   The principle which the law seeks to enforce is that if any merchant gives credit to a customer who does not have the means to pay for the goods bought, then that is a risk that the merchant chose to take.  If any money lender hands over to a borrower a sum of money without taking adequate security for the loan, then that is a risk that the money lender took.  The careless creditor is not to come to law and expect to find a summary procedure to permit him to enforce his reckless transactions by the imprisonment of the impecunious debtor

[11]   CPR 2000, Part 52 is the Rule governing the issue of a Judgment summons in the jurisdiction of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.  Rule 52.1 applies to applications to commit to prison a judgment debtor for non-payment of a debt where this is not prohibited by any relevant statute.

[12]   The most relevant statute is the Debtor’s Act.  By this Act, the Leeward Islands followed the UK precedent in abolishing imprisonment for debt, except in certain specific cases.  The exceptions are set out in section 3.  They are:

(1) default in the payment of a penalty;

(2) default in the payment of a sum recoverable summarily before a Magistrate;

(3) default by a trustee ordered by the Court to pay any sum;

(4) default by a solicitor in payment of costs for misconduct;

(5) default in payment for the benefit of creditors of any portion of a salary in respect of which a court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy is authorised to make an order; and

(6) defaults in payment of sums in respect of payment of which orders are in this Act authorised to be made.

[13]   We are interested in the exception found at paragraph (6).  Section 4(1) of the Act governs committal for judgment debts.  It provides that the court may commit a judgment debtor to prison for a term not exceeding 6 weeks.  There are conditions.  The order must be made by a judge in open court by an order showing on its face the ground on which it is issued.  Further, the court can only make such an order where it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the person making default has or has had since the judgment the means to pay the debt and has refused or neglected to do so.

[14]   Subsection (3) authorises the judge to exercise his jurisdiction under this section in Chambers or otherwise in the prescribed manner.  However, subsection (1), as we have seen, requires the order committing the judgment debtor to be made in open court.  In the old days that order was obtained by a contempt motion heard in open court on what was called “Motions Day”.  I am not certain that this practice still continues under the new Rules.

[15]   Section 5 of the Debtor’s Act is an important section, but I believe it is seldom used in the Leeward Islands.  The section authorises the judge hearing a judgment summons, instead of making a committal order, with the consent of the judgment debtor, to make a receiving order against him.  He is deemed at that time to have committed an act of bankruptcy. 

[16]   Bankruptcy has always been viewed as an offence against the state.  Bankruptcy proceedings are proceedings by which the state through the agency of the trustee in bankruptcy assumes control over a debtor's assets.  The advantage of bankrupting a debtor is that the burden of proving his assets or lack of them passes to the debtor. 

[17]   The Debtor’s Act at section 9 et sec deals with persons adjudged bankrupt.  The bankrupted debtor commits a crime punishable with imprisonment merely by concealing one of his assets.  The procedure involves the prosecution of the fraudulent bankrupt and his conviction before a jury.  The last time a bankrupt was hanged in England for failing to disclose an asset was one John Perrott in 1761[3]. 

[18]   The second exception recognised by section 3 of the Debtor’s Act is the summary procedure for imprisonment of a judgment debtor in the Magistrate's Court.  The Magistrate's Code of Procedure[4] came into effect in the Leeward Islands in the year 1892.  The civil jurisdiction of the Magistrate is governed by sections 142 et sec.  There were no civil procedure rules made under the Act, but the Code provided that the Rules made under the Summary Jurisdiction Act should apply to proceedings in the Magistrate's civil court. 

[19]   Section 153 of the Magistrate's Code of Procedure provides a summary mechanism for imprisoning a judgment debtor.  Basically, after the Magistrate has entered a money judgment against the judgment debtor, the judgment creditor takes out a judgment summons.  The debtor is then examined as to his means by the creditor before the Magistrate.  On being satisfied as to the debtor's means, the Magistrate makes an order for periodic or other payment.  In the event that this order is disobeyed, the creditor applies for a Defaulting Debtor Summons.  On hearing this summons, the Magistrate, if satisfied that the debtor has the means and has wrongfully defaulted, may commit the debtor to prison for up to 6 weeks. 

[20]   When I practised in the Magistrate’s Court in Basseterre in the period 1971-1976 this evidence was frequently given by the attorney for the creditor going into the box and being sworn.  He would repeat as evidence some hearsay given to him by his client.  The Magistrate would listen to the excuses of the judgment debtor and, if he thought it appropriate, strong-arm the debtor into making a promise to pay by a certain date failing which he was to be imprisoned for 6 weeks or until he sooner paid the debt.  Imprisonment is subsequently secured by the attorney for the creditor applying for a Warrant of Commitment by which the debtor is imprisoned by the Bailiff without any further hearing. 

[21]   The summary procedure described above was never permitted in the High Court.  I do not know if it still continues in the Magistrate’s Court.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, some attorneys who practise in both the Magistrate's Court and the High Court, have been known to be tempted to apply the principles and procedures of the Magistrate’s Court to the judgment summons procedure in the High Court.

[22]   To emphasise how abhorrent it is to the common law courts to countenance the imprisonment of a judgment debtor for failure to pay the debt, it may be worthwhile noting that in the UK the Judgment Summon procedure for civil debt has been abolished since the early twentieth century.  You will not find detailed notes in the UK Supreme Court Practice of any edition subsequent to the First World War on the judgment summons procedure, as you will for the oral examination.  Unlike the Eastern Caribbean, the judgment summons is retained in the UK only for cases of wilful failure to pay a tax debt and similar matters. 

[23]   Rule 52 is the rule governing the issue of a judgment summons in the High Court.  It is to be read in conjunction with the Debtor's Act and the rules made under it.  In particular, the Debtors (Committal) Rules[5] govern the procedure for enforcement of an order made by a judge under a judgment debtor summons.

[24]   Rule 52.2 provides for all applications to commit a judgment debtor to be made by way of a judgment summons in Form 21.  The summons must state certain particulars[6].  The Rule proceeds in sub-rules 3, 4 and 5 to provide for the service, and hearing, of the summons, and the enforcing of any instalment order.

[25]   The extent to which Rule 52 of CPR 2000 can have provided an entirely new procedure for the issue of a judgment summons is open to doubt.  CPR 2000 was made by the Chief Justice and two judges of the court, being the rule-making authority under section 17 of the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court Order 1967 (the Courts Order).  The Courts Order does not empower the authority to amend either a substantive Act or the Rules that may have been made under it.  It is not even clear if the intention was for CPR 2000 Rule 52 to amend or replace the Debtors (Committal) Rules made under the Debtor's Act.  A proper reading of Rule 52 would seem to require that it be read and interpreted in accordance with the Debtor's Act and the Rules made under it, ie, the Debtors (Committal) Rules.

[26]   A careful attorney will follow the Debtors (Committal) Rules in applying for a judgment summons.  Rule 2 requires that the application to commit the judgment debtor to prison must be made by summons and shall specify certain particulars.  By Rule 3 the service of the summons must be personal unless the judge is satisfied that the judgment debtor is evading service.  Rule 4 provides that proof of the means of the debtor shall, whenever practicable, be given by affidavit.  The affidavit should be sworn by the client or someone else knowledgeable about the debtor’s affairs, not by the attorney or his clerk, as is sometimes done in the Magistrate’s Court.  Where it appears to the judge that the debtor or other person should attend, the judge may order the person's attendance for the purpose of being examined on oath.  Rule 5 provides that the judge may then make an order of committal in Form A in the Schedule to the Rules.  These provisions are all essentially the same as those in Rule 52.

[27]   Rule 52 of CPR 2000 introduces some novel features to the judgment summons procedure.  They did not exist under the previous 1964 Rules.  To the extent that these new features protect the debtor, no complaint of substance can be made, as they will not offend against the Debtor’s Act.  To the extent that they may impose new burdens on the debtor, their validity is open to question as described above.  So, Rule 52.4 permits orders for periodic payments to be made, with the hearing of the judgment summons adjourned to a later date presumably to see if the judgment debtor is complying.  Rule 52.5 provides that imprisonment is not automatic in the event of default. 

[28]   The practice of delegating judgment summonses to a Master or the Registrar that had begun to creep in after the advent of CPR 2000 is not a proper one[7].  While the Registrar or Master frequently handles oral examinations only the judge should hear a judgment summons.

[29]   If a suspended committal order has been made on a judgment summons, and there has been default, the judgment creditor must follow the provisions of Rule 53 in obtaining a committal order.  Rule 53 provides the requirements that must be met before a judgment debtor may be committed.  So, at Rule 53.3 the original order under Rule 52 must generally have been served personally on the judgment debtor.  The order must have been endorsed with the usual penal notice.  There must have been sufficient time after service of the order afforded to the judgment debtor to comply.  The application for the committal order must specify the exact nature of the alleged breach, be verified by affidavit, and be served, and there must be an affidavit of service.

[30]   In conclusion, the oral examination procedure should never be used as a mechanism to obtain an order for periodic payments by a judgment debtor.  In my opinion, such an order is unenforceable as being an illegal avoidance of the protections introduced by the Debtor’s Act since 1888.  An illegal imprisoning of a judgment debtor may have the consequence of making the State liable to a claim in damages. 

[31]   There is a contrary view popularly held by judges and attorneys throughout the region.  It is that it is open to a court to imprison for contempt in a case where there is a failure or refusal to pay a judgment or an instalment on a judgment in circumstances where the court considers that the judgment debtor has the means to pay the same and an order has been made, and served, and then flouted.  In my humble opinion that is a wrong view if we are considering any proceedings other than a judgment summons.  When I began the practice of law in the High Court some 39 years ago, that was the conventional wisdom.  The interpretation and practice of the law has only been altered in the succeeding years.

[32]   It is my opinion that evidence of the flouting of an order to pay a judgment debt can only be properly adduced under the judgment summons procedure.  That is the correct proceeding not because it is right or just, but because the Debtor’s Act says so.  Until the Debtor’s Act is overturned by parliament it remains binding law. 

[33]   To admit otherwise, to permit what may be described as a back-door mechanism for imprisoning judgment debtors who fail or neglect to pay their judgment debts, would be to subvert the reforms to the enforcement regime introduced by the Debtor’s Act over one hundred years ago.  It would make it virtually unnecessary for a judgment creditor to go through the more onerous procedures introduced by the Debtor’s Act.  Every judgment creditor would prefer the easier procedure of obtaining a consent order under the oral examination procedure, and then to have the debtor imprisoned on some proof short of that required under the judgment summons procedure.

[34]   Finally, once the detailed provisions of the Debtors (Committal) Rules and Rule 53 of CPR 2000 are followed by the attorney for the judgment creditor, and credible evidence of wilful default produced to the judge, there should be no difficulty in obtaining a committal order.  Of course, where the debtor’s oral examination produced evidence of his ownership of land or valuable personal possessions, the court will expect alternative enforcement proceedings to be preferred.

A talk to the Antigua and Barbuda Bar Association on Thursday, 28 October 2010

- By Justice Don Mitchell CBE (Retd)

---

[1]      The Quaker missionary John Candler who visited the West Indies in 1841 reported 6 of the 56 prisoners in the Basseterre gaol at the time of his visit to be debtors.

[2]      An Act of the Federal Assembly of the Colony of the Leeward Islands [No 2/1888] which came into effect on 31 December 1888.

[3]      Halsbury's Laws of England, 2^nd Edition, Vol 2, page 4 dealing with “Bankruptcy and Insolvency”.

[4]      An enactment of the Leeward Islands Federal Legislature [10/1891] which came into effect on 10 February 1892.

[5]      Made on 24 November 1890 under section 8.

[6]      It may be worth noting here that there appear to be two printer's errors in sub-rule 2:  (i) The sub-rule (2) commences with the words “The court order must” when what is meant is “The court office must”.  Then, paragraph (c) reads “return the order” when what is meant is “return the summons”.  It can be certain that these printing errors do not aid in the interpretation of the Rule.

[7]      Practice Direction 2 of 2007 made by the Chief Justice under Rule 4.2(2) of CPR 2000.

The Place-Names of Anguilla

The first thing that strikes the visitor about the place names of Anguilla is their apparent lack of imagination.  There is the Long Path, and Long Ground, and Long Road, and Long Bay.  The name of the capital town, The Valley, is an embarrassment.  If North Hill and South Hill are not boring enough, there is always East End and West End, and Waterswamp of all things.  Stoney Ground must have been a hard place to cultivate.  But, the assumption of a lack of imagination on the part of the early namers of Anguilla would be wrong.  It takes some wit to ensure that an almost perfectly flat island comes to have nearly every place in it named either a hill or a valley.

Actually, North Hill and South Hill have an interesting tale to tell.  At first blush there seems to be something perverse about naming two adjoining stretches of the cliff on the north coast of Anguilla 'North Hill' and 'South Hill'.  But, an old sailor, Sir Emile Gumbs, once told me his theory of how those two spots got their names.  He pointed out that they are north and south respectively of only one place, and that is Road Bay.  If you were a sailor on a ship anchored out in Road Bay in the seventeenth century you could not have helped but notice that there was a hill to the north of you and another one to the south.  So, the naming of these two villages is most probably a relic of Anguilla's maritime past.

The prepositions up and down as used in giving directions and naming places in Anguilla have a similar heritage.  As shortened versions of “upwind” and “downwind” they refer to the compass points 'east' and 'west'.  They do not in any way relate to the inclination of the slope either up or down which the Anguillian giving you directions is pointing.  When the elderly man in Welches point firmly down the hill and tells you that you must go “up” the road to reach Island Harbour, he means that you will have to drive in an easterly direction to get to Island Harbour.  It will not seem incongruous to him that he is at the time pointing 'down' the hill.

This apparently strange use of prepositions flows from one of the most noticeable weather features of Anguilla, the Trade Winds.  The winter Trades blow from November to March, while the summer Trades blow from May to September.  The winter Trade Winds blow out of the north-east, with more than a memory of Siberia in them it sometimes seems in December and January.  The summer Trade Winds on the other hand blow out of the south-east, sometimes carrying the tropical waves off the coast of Africa that sometimes turn into Hurricanes as they approach the West Indies.  Generally, except for the Doldrum months of April and October, the wind blows steadily out of the east.  How obvious it would seem to a farmer or a fisherman to refer to the east as “up wind” or “up”.  Similarly, the west is obviously “down wind”, or just “down”, or even “lower”.

There are very few names that hint at an exciting or exotic past.  Brimegin is one of them.  There is no certainty how that rocky area east of Blackgarden Bay and west of Shoal Bay got its name.  ‘Brummagen’ is an English dialect name for a native or inhabitant of the city of Birmingham in England.  The Anguillian name Brimegin and the English name Brummagen are almost identical in sound.  Only the spelling is different.  They appear to be the same word.  It is not difficult to see that the word Brummagen has become Brimegin in Anguilla.  There was never any person named Birmingham resident on Anguilla long enough to leave his name in the public records.  The only Birmingham we know who is connected in the historical record with Anguilla arrived here during the year 1711 when one Captain Birmingham, a privateer for the French, landed three spies on Anguilla.  We do not know where exactly Captain Birmingham landed his spies, but the area now called after his name was as good a place as any.  The coast is rocky, but there are several small bays where a boat might come in and land one or two persons without being observed.  The place is situated far from the hamlets and estates of Anguilla.  I like to think that it was this Captain Birmingham who has left a trace of his visit.  When captured by the Anguillians under deputy governor George Leonard, the spies confessed that they had been landed by Captain Birmingham to find out what the strength of the island's defences were.  Governor Hamilton took the three spies captured by the Anguillians to Antigua where they were tried, convicted and hung.  All that remains of this adventure is the place name “Brimegin”.  No other person named Birmingham has ever been in any way connected with Anguilla, far less been recorded as owning an estate in Anguilla.

While we are on names that have evolved we might as well mention Meads Bay, Katouche Bay, Sachasses and The Quarter.  An elderly resident of Long Bay Village some years ago told me his father's theory about the origin of the bay now spelled “Meads”.  It is universally pronounced “Maids”.  He pointed out that no one named Mead or Maid ever lived in Anguilla.  He suggested that the name is most likely an anglicisation of the Spanish 'La Baia de Maiz', or Maize Bay.  This is not fanciful or unrealistic.  The older people of Long Bay Village pronounce the name of their bay as “Mays Bay”. The original Amerindian settlers were growing maize in the West Indies when Columbus arrived.  He recorded the word “maiz” in the Bahamas on his first voyage.  It grew throughout the islands including Anguilla.  The likelihood is that as the centuries passed and the origin of the name became forgotten, it gradually began to be pronounced “Maids”.  The spelling was only changed to Meads in a recent mapping exercise.

Katouche Bay was part of Governor Benjamin Gumbs' estates during the eighteenth century.  He called it ‘Catouche Bay Plantation' with a “C” when he left it to his daughters Anne Warner and Katherine Payne in his 1768 Will.  There is no such word in English as ‘catouche’ nor is any person named Catouche associated with Anguilla.  The nearest equivalent is the French ‘cadeaux’, the plural for 'gift'.  The English-speakers of Anguilla shared the common practice of pronouncing French words phonetically in English.  The French word 'cadeaux' would have been pronounced 'caduce'.  It is an easy morph to Governor Gumbs’ spelling 'Catouche', and the later 'Katouche'.  In some of the early deeds it is even spelled 'Cuttous'.

On the Ordnance Survey Map of Anguilla, Katouche Bay is presently spelled Latouche with an “L”.  We know where this error came from.  In the 1950s, the late Rev Leonard Carty wrote an article in a Methodist Church commemorative booklet.  He speculated that the word Katouche may have derived from Mr De la Touche, the French Commander who led an invasion force to Anguilla in 1745.  Rev Carty thought it was possible that this was the bay that De la Touche landed at.  In fact, we know from contemporary documents that he anchored his boats and disembarked his men either in Rendezvous Bay or in next door Crocus Bay, where the Anguillians massacred them as they tried to ascend the steep path up to the top of Crocus Hill.  The modern mapmakers were given Rev Carty's speculation as the true story of the origin of that bay's name, and they changed the spelling from the original Katouche to Latouche.  However, no one in Anguilla calls the place 'Latouche Bay'.

Crocus Hill is named for the lovely little yellow crocuses that up to the 1970s used to come out with the start of the rains.  Before the bush took over, the entire slope from the top of the hill to the coast at Crocus Bay was pasture, and with the start of the rain, the entire pasture would become a field of yellow crocuses.  The pasture is now replaced by a jungle of Mimosa and White Cedar.

Sachassas is equally easy to explain.  The name “Sagers” or, more often, “Zakers” has long been a common surname in nearby St Maarten.  Richard Richardson in the 1760s employed a David Sagers as manager of his Anguilla plantation.  The Sagers family eventually came to own a part of Governor Richardson’s South Valley Plantation.  Their land would have commonly been called Sagers' land.  Ralph Hodge, at one time our Accountant General, told me the story of how the name change occurred.  He was a youngster working part-time with the Cadastral Survey team that visited Anguilla to survey it in 1974.  Ralph lived then as now in South Valley.  When the surveyors were working in the area, the members of the team were not sure how to spell its name.  They turned to Ralph for assistance.  Ralph says he made up that spelling on the spur of the moment, and now the spelling of Sachassas instead of Sagers’ is written in concrete.

The Quarter is also an evolved name.  When the old Valley Plantation of Anguilla's first deputy governor, Abraham Howell, was broken up into four parts in the mid eighteenth century, it became North Valley, South Valley, Wallblake, and the Upper Quarter Plantations.  It was 'upper' because it was the easternmost part of the estate.  The word 'upper' was quietly dropped, and now we are left with 'The Quarter'.

Blowing Point was originally deeded to Ensign Thomas Rumney in 1673 as 'Blown Point Plantation', but over the years it has evolved into 'Blowing Point'.  The people of the village still pronounce it “Blown Point”.  The surname ‘Romney” is a common one in Blowing Point, but the locals still insist on pronouncing it “Rumney”.

Badeziel Cox was the eponymous owner of the estate now known after him as Bad Cox.  His neighbour, Richard Richardson Jr, must have been known as “Little Dick”.  His land must have been known as Little Dick's plantation.  Now, it is officially spelled Little Dix, with an “X”.  Another eighteenth century planter, Thomas Caul, has given his name to the nearby Caul's Pond. 

We all know where Abraham Chalville lived.  The place is called Chalvilles.  The Anguillians pronounced and spelled his name with a “w” instead of a “v”.  When he emigrated to Tortola, he took that pronunciation with him, and the name continues there as Chalwille. 

We know why the pronunciation of a “v” was sometimes confused with a “w”.  Students of sociolinguistics have written about the sound called by them the 'unvoiced bi-labial fricative'.  It is a cross between a 'v' and a 'w'.  This sound is quite commonly heard among English speakers.  We still hear the older people of Blowing Point saying that they are going to 'The Walley'.  And, they always claim they are “werry fine, thank you”.  Past Chief Minister Hubert Hughes to this day will tell you that he is the head of the “gowernment” of Anguilla. 

That is how Valentine Blake's land, as it was written in an early patent to land from the 1690s, came to be known as Wallblake.  The Anguillians referred to Valentine Blake as Wal Blake.  In time, after he had died and become forgotten, the name of his property morphed in to Wallblake.

Places named after the persons that owned them at one time are common.  The Hughes family was an important one in the history of Anguilla, persons of that name having resided here since the earliest days of settlement.  They gave their name to the Hughes' Estate in Lower South Hill.  That word 'lower', you will realise by now, signifies in Anguilla that the place is “down from”, ie, to the west of, South Hill.  Robert Lockrum in turn gave his name to the Lockrum's Estate located between Blowing Point and Little Harbour on the south coast.  The land of Mr Waters, originally Waters' land, is now spelled Wattices.  An unknown Mr Roache once lived on a hill at North Valley, and we still call it Roaches Hill.  John Farrington was a Quaker who went away in the 1740s to join the Quaker community in Tortola.  All he has left behind is his name attached to his land at The Farrington.  An unknown Mr Gibbons left an estate east of Blowing Point named after him, but we do not at present know the first name of the owner of Gibbons Estate.

The cutely sounding Merrywing Pond is not so cutely named.  The word is the seventeenth century name for the vicious little biting sandflies that must have made it such a pain to pass nearby.

The origin of some place names is unknown to me.  These include Benzies on the north coast of the Shannon Hill; George Hill; Old Ta, said to be named after an unknown “Old Thomas”; The Forest; Statia Valley; Sile Bay; True Loves up on Crocus Hill; Maundays Bay; and the ever mysteriously named Corito.

Among the names that have fallen into disuse are the three 'divisions' into which the island was long divided.  Nor is it clear what administrative function these divisions played.  These were Joan's Hole, subsequently named Junks' Hole Division, probably named by reference to the Great Spring or the Big Spring as it is now more commonly known; Spring Division, probably named by reference to the Fountain Cavern; and the Road Division.  It is not surprising that two of the island's administrative divisions were named by reference to springs, given the long droughts under which the island suffered for decades at a time.  An unfailing source of potable water would have been a very important reference point for the early settlers.

I conclude by admitting that the very locations of many of the places named in the early Anguillian deeds have now been lost, at least to me.  Someday, with more research, I may discover exactly where they were.  These include Arrowsmith's; Barlows Plantation; Bralahans; Diggeries; Great Cockpit; French Ground; Hazard Hill; Kidney's; Robbin's; Thatch Garden Hill; and many others.  If you know where they are, please let me know.

A Speech given at the 16 June 2010 AGM of the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society

Revised 24 November 2018

The Future

-->

Embracing the Future with Wisdom, Courage and Hope

Speech for the Anguilla Day weekend to the students of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School in Assembly on Friday 28 May 2010

by Don Mitchell CBE QC

Good morning, girls and boys, ladies and gentlemen.

I have been asked to speak to you today for a few minutes on the topic, “Embracing the Future with Wisdom, Courage and Hope”.  Now, I ask you the question, who could have dreamed up a boring topic like that for me to address you on?  Whoever it was, obviously has forgotten what it is to be a school girl or school boy.  Did they ever have to stand in the hot sun at Assembly and listen to an old man talking for 15 minutes on some mindless, moronic motto? 

When I was under ten years of age, all I could think about was playing games and getting into fights.  And, when I was under eighteen, all I could think about was members of the opposite sex.  At no time when I was in school did I embrace the Future, whether with Wisdom, Courage or Hope.  So, I do not see how I can realistically persuade you to do so now.

However, I accepted the challenge given to me by the principal to talk to you on something related to the topic.  And, so, I am resolved to speak to you about some of my thoughts on the Future, Wisdom, Courage and Hope.

When I was a school boy of 15 years of age, I frequently wondered at what the future held for me.  At nights I used to lie in bed praying fervently, “Dear God, please just let me have a little glimpse of what lies in the future for me, and I promise I will go to Church every Sunday for the rest of my life.”  I strained to see through the darkness, tossing and turning in bed with desperation.  But, not a spark of light on the future would shine for me. 

Sometimes, I would cry myself to sleep wondering what would become of me.  Would I be thrown out of school, to go and work as a day-labourer like some of my friends had been?  I knew I was not bright like some of my classmates, and bound to excel at University.  Throughout my school life, I confess I seldom came in the top half of my class.

In the classroom, I used to find the bright sunlight and passing figures visible through the window next to me fascinating.  Most of my time in the classroom was spent day-dreaming.  A pity they don’t let us take exams in day-dreaming.  I would have come first on that subject.  At the end of the class, sometimes I would have to turn to my neighbour and ask, “Boy, what he teach us about today?”  I had not learned a thing.  But, they say children are brighter nowadays.  I am sure that never happens to you.

When I had done my CXC exams of those days, I went on to an A-Level college to do my equivalent of CAPE.  From there I went on to Law School to study law, and I became a barrister and solicitor, and worked at that profession for over 30 years.  I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved my work.  I studied everything I could find about the law.  I read all the laws affecting Anguilla over and over again.  I made myself a master of the law in order to be able to do a good job of advising my clients.

But, if you had told me at sixteen that I had to face the Future with Wisdom, I would probably have spat in your face.  What wisdom could I have at that age?  Wisdom comes with old age and grey hairs.  We can be sure that Wisdom will come to most of us, eventually.  It will be with Wisdom that we will look back at our early, mistake-filled years.  We must not let that upset us.  At least, Wisdom will come.

If you had told me, lying there in bed, night after night, trembling and crying with terror at what the unknown future held in store for me, that I must show Courage, I would likely have pelted a stone at you.  Courage is something we try to show in the face of danger.  Courage we can show when we face an operation, or the risk of death.  We can face the thought of the possibly bad outcome of the surgery with Courage.  That is because we know that the outcome is largely beyond our control. 

It is different when we are facing an uncertain future that we know depends largely on the choices we make today.  Will we make the right choices, ones that will help us prepare for the workplaces we will join and the families we will create?  Don’t they understand how difficult it is for a student, seething with hormones, and paralysed by lack of self-confidence, to face an uncertain future with Courage?  When as teenagers we try to face the future with what little Courage we can summon, they call us foolish and thoughtless.  The reality is that they do not congratulate us when we show lack of fear or concern at the unknown paths that lie hidden in the mist in front of us.

Hope is different.  Hope is a longing, a wishing for a better future.  Every one of us is entitled to Hope.  We can all believe in Hope, without fear of having our self-confidence trampled on. 

But, now let us speak of planning for Success.  Sixty-three years of struggling with life has taught me that Success will take a little more than pretty platitudes and moronic mottos.  Experience has taught me that every one of us can be successful in the unknown future that life presently holds hidden from us.  Except for those boys who aspire to be drug dealers, or the girls whose biggest dream is to be a Paris Hilton, success at life will take hard work and self-discipline.  Except for the most brilliant of us, success in life will take concentration and a lot of luck.  It will also take enthusiasm.  Whatever the future brings to you, learn to enjoy it.  The surest way to achieve Success is to like whatever you are doing.

Some of us have fewer worries.  Some of us were born with golden spoons in our mouths.  Those of us who were born with the golden spoons of loving parents; a happy home environment; a hard-working, loyal and loving father; a warm and caring mother; family and friends who encourage us all our lives to aim for the stars, are the lucky ones.  Most of us are not so lucky.  Most of us are born and grow up with the odds of success stacked up against us.  Some of us have an alcoholic mother; others a lazy, indifferent father; some of us are told from the time we know ourselves that we are dirty, ugly, and useless.  Most of us get no encouragement from our teachers or our parents; nobody read books to us as little children, sparking our curiosity and a love for learning.  The future they see for most of us is one of dead-end jobs, paying little or nothing. 

But, sheer Willpower can overcome all the disadvantages of both nature and nurture that we were born to and grow up with.  With Willpower we can force ourselves to sit at that desk, hour after hour, day after day, learning our lessons and preparing for the exams.  There comes a time when the biggest day-dreamer has to say to himself, “If I am going to take care of myself and my future family when I grow up, I have to get a good education to ensure me a good job.”  I know all that estrogen and testosterone swirling in the air around you are distracting.  But, you have to decide that there are some hours when the Devil himself will not be permitted to take your attention away from the books.

I was not so lucky to have been born with brains, so I made up for the lack by Hard Work.  If I was only half as bright as those around me, I knew what I had to do.  If my school friends studied for 6 hours, I studied for 12 hours.  If my friends went to work for 8 hours a day to earn a living, I worked for 16 hours, just to stay even.  If my friends saved 10% of their income to build up their investments, I saved 20%.  If my wife loved me and was loyal to me, I loved her back and was loyal to her twice as much.  This November, we will have been together 42 years.  Hard Work and perseverance will win out over brains any day.

As you face the future, I assure you that it is okay if you cannot find much wisdom or courage in you.  What is required of you is different.  Be fearful all you must about the uncertain future that awaits you.  But show absolute determination that, whatever comes, you will give it your 100%, and never accept sloppy, careless work coming from yourselves.  I promise you this, if you work to develop the Self-Discipline to study hard for your exams, you will have climbed the first ladder to Success in life.  Nobody can hold you back if you develop a burning ambition to succeed at whatever goal you will one day set for yourselves.  The Future is yours for the taking.  Nobody is going to just give Success to you.  You are going to have to equip yourselves to grab it all. 

They want me to tell you this, just make sure you do so with Wisdom, Courage and Hope.

Social Justice

SOCIAL JUSTICE[1]

Social justice is about:

(a) preventing human rights abuses

(b) obtaining equality for different groups

(c) overcoming the barriers that prevent some people from enjoying a better quality of life

(d) maximising everybody's welfare

(e) ensuring that different groups in the society meet their obligations and responsibilities so that the whole society benefits.

Social justice hinges on several ideas that we all share.  We believe that everybody is equal and although we are organised in different social groups, eg, based on gender, religion, age, social class, etc, we should all be treated fairly.  Each person has rights, eg, the right to life, to freely express oneself, and to worship freely.  Social justice involves notions of:

Fairness:  All social groups should be treated equally.  Groups that have been marginalised should be brought into the mainstream by having more political power.  Each group in a society should be treated fairly because all persons are equal, and as such they each have rights that must be recognised.

Welfare:  Where a society has disadvantaged groups it may be necessary for there to be put in place special measures, eg scholarships, or positive discrimination in employment to give them better access to economic advancement and to enable them to take advantage of the opportunities that exist. 

Responsibilities:  It is the essence of social justice that one should not only benefit from living in a society, but one should contribute to it.  All groups should be acting out of a sense of reciprocal transactions with other groups and with the country.  It would be unjust for one group to be given handouts over a long period of time without making any significant contribution to the country.  All citizens should be engaged in a situation of mutual responsibilities for the rights they enjoy.

Rights:  There are basic rights that all people share.  If one group is denied the ability to exercise those rights, that would be a human rights violation. 

Concepts of social justice:  There are different concepts about why there should be fairness or equity between different groups in society.  These are usually expressed as 'natural rights', 'welfare', and 'mutual advantage'.

(1) Natural rights:  All humans are entitled to enjoy the basic human rights enjoyed by others.  Natural law philosophers argue that there is a supernatural authority for this claim in that these are “God-given rights”.  Moral theorists base the claim on the moral position that natural or human rights result from valuing human life and the dignity of people.

In the 1982 Constitution of Anguilla the fundamental rights of all persons living in Anguilla are set out.  These include, the right to life, the right to personal liberty, freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom of movement, freedom from torture and inhuman treatment, protection from deprivation of property, protection from arbitrary search or entry, protection of law, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association, and protection from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, colour, or gender.

Social justice theoreticians divide our natural rights into categories.  These include:

(a) Civil and political rights.  Most of our fundamental rights under the Constitution of Anguilla are such rights.

(b) Economic and social rights.  These include such matters as the right to education and health care, to fair wages, to join trade unions, to safe conditions in the workplace, and to an adequate standard of living, the last being sometimes referred to as 'welfare rights'. 

(c) Ethnic rights:  This refers to the rights of minorities and any religious, linguistic, political or cultural group, to the same treatment as other groups in the society.  Such rights protect ethnic groups from murder, torture and genocide, as well as from unfair practices in employment and education. 

In addition to the provisions in our Constitutions, many West Indian governments have signed international agreements to protect rights in law.  Some of these agreements include the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Treaty of Rome which established the International Criminal Court.  Many of the international agreements that our governments have signed have not yet been made a part of our law.  Some of the rights that our governments have accepted have not been put in place because government is not able to afford it.  Governments are not willing, for example, to provide expensive social security measures that would require that certain groups be taxed more heavily to pay for them.

(2) Welfare:  Welfare is an example of distributive justice.  This concept says that the material wealth of a society should be shared around.  It is based on an understanding that there is a social contract made between a state and its people.  This means that people have given up certain of their powers, eg to be violent or to take the law into their own hands, in exchange for government meeting their needs for personal security and law and order.  Governments accept the power given to them in exchange for promising to be mindful of their responsibilities to the citizens by providing the conditions necessary for them to achieve an equitable standard of living. 

(3) Mutual advantage:  The idea of what is socially just is based on the idea of the social contract between the state and its citizens.  Welfare provisions for the poor must be reciprocated by the poor taking advantage of welfare and growing out of poverty.  In this view, what is fair is the mutual arrangement between state and citizen to reinforce each other's strengths.  So, an unemployed person on welfare should commit to finding a job, undertaking training, or accepting temporary employment.  He ought to show that being unemployed is not going to be a permanent situation.  This is a view of social justice based to a certain extent on merit rather than need or rights.  So, this conception of social justice criticises the welfare model.  It suggests that welfare can lead to dependency, and in doing so will not be fair to anyone.  However, the critics of this model say that it is too generalised and lumps all people on welfare together as if they were one uniform group.  There is disagreement between those who see welfare as the major avenue for establishing fairness in society and those who see welfare as being without controls.

Caribbean societies have grown out of a set of historical circumstances involving conquest, slavery, colonialism and the plantation system.  The result has been an entrenchment of social injustice, and a legacy of social stratification and unfair practices based on class, religion, race and colour prejudices.  Additionally, women, minorities, the disabled, the elderly, and youth all suffer some form of inequity.  The result is the coming into being of prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping.  “Prejudice” and “stereotypes” refer to attitudes we have, while “discrimination” refers to acts that are unfair in some way. 

A 'prejudice' is an attitude based on the belief that another social group is inferior, or superior, in some way.  It is based on a 'pre-judgement' about others.  It is a tendency to think of them and decide about them in advance of a situation, without knowledge of the people or the situation.  So, some of us believe that the rich and famous are also intelligent.  Or people may hold prejudices which are based on negative stereotypes. 

A 'stereotype' is a rigid set of ideas about a group of people that typifies them as having certain well-defined traits.  So, we may hear someone say that black people have no head for business, or that Chinese are all gamblers, or that Indians are misers with their money.  Those are stereotypes. 

Both prejudices and stereotyping arise as a result of our socialisation through the agencies of the family, the peer group, the church, the school and the mass media.  We simply accept as true the dominant emotions, feelings, judgements and orientations which our friends and family have for some group.  Prejudices and stereotyping are usually caught rather than explicitly taught.  There seems to be a common urge to judge others in terms of our own reference points, lifestyles, beliefs and values. 

'Discrimination' refers to acts or behaviours that treat others unfairly.  If you believe that young black men are lazy and prone to engage in violence, ie, a stereotype, then as an employer you are not likely to hire them and will prefer another age, gender or race group.  This would be an act of discrimination as it is an unfair practice that is based on a belief that is not justified.  Or, you may hold such a prejudice but hire members of the group because you think it politically prudent to do so.  Or, you may have no prejudice but believe that your clients would prefer to deal with others, in which case you do not hire young, black men.  This would be a case of discrimination without holding a prejudice. 

In some cases, the institutions of society may discriminate.  In some countries women can be members of the armed forces, but will not be permitted to face actual combat.  This arises from prejudices about women as the 'gentler sex' and as 'reproducers' of the human race and in need of 'protection'.  The result is that a woman wanting to serve her country is restricted from prejudice.  Ethnic discrimination is prevalent is some Caribbean societies.  Skin colour still is associated with seemingly unrelated character traits as diligence, courtesy and intelligence.  The result is that lighter skinned persons tend in some countries to be awarded jobs, contracts and prestigious positions based on the belief that their skin colour confers on them superior traits.  This is racism and is an act of discrimination against others who cannot access such rewards.  We also find acts of discrimination against older persons, ageism, women, sexism, the disabled, ableism, religions, creedism, socio-economic class, classism, and other attributes such as rural residents.  These all exacerbate social injustice in society.  These acts are based on attitudes of prejudice and stereotyping.  Social injustice heightens conflict in society and severely impacts development. 

Ageism:  Ageism is an attitude to older people that treats them as objects of not much worth.  It is a prejudice which is built up through a number of stereotypes we have acquired about older people through our socialisation.  We think of them as not being able to take care of themselves, of being weak and ill, as being immobile, losing their faculties, slowing down, unable to learn new skills, forgetful, and mentally ill.  It is unfair to apply these stereotypes to all older persons who belong to a diverse group.  As a result, older persons tend to be excluded from social activities and become home-bound.  Other ageist behaviour include media stereotyping where older persons are depicted as 'the wicked stepmother' or 'the grouchy old man';  making old people the butt of jokes with aspersions on their hearing, seeing and memory functions;  neglecting medical research into geriatric problems due to the prejudice that older persons may be more expendable than others; and the reluctance in the workplace to hire older persons due perhaps to the attitude that they will be harder to fit in, that they may be technologically slow, or that they will not have innovative ideas.

Ageism is a form of social injustice which affects the development of Caribbean countries.  It reduces the possibility of healthy, mutually respectful relations between the generations.  The older generation has much to contribute in homes, workplaces and public life.  They have accumulated knowledge, experience and wisdom in their life.  Instead, the majority are side-lined, made to retire, and not seen as a resource.  The result is that in such a society equity and productivity, as well as sustainability of the development effort is thwarted.  Ageist practices entrench unfairness which can then be easily extended to other groups with minority status, eg, women, ethnic groups such as Rastafarians, and the poor.  Where there are such entrenched inequities, human development is not advanced.  Human development requires that people are put at centre stage for the development effort.  Younger members of society are socialised into such prejudices and stereotypes via their friends, family and the media, and accept and participate in discriminatory acts against the aged without thinking about it.

Sexism:  Sexism refers to prejudices, stereotypes and acts of discrimination against people based on their gender and not on individual merits and failures.  The assumption that the man is the breadwinner in a house, or even the head of the household is sexist when the only criterion used to conclude that is that he is a man.  Religious teaching by uneducated and insensitive preachers promote patriarchal ideologies.  Feminist lobbyists and agitators are mainly concerned with ways of reducing social injustice through developing a gender-just society.  Just as ageism results in a breach of social justice, so too is sexism unjust, with negative implications for Caribbean development. 

To justify the belief that one sex, the male, is superior to the other, the female, biological, religious and historical evidence is commonly offered.  The male has certain physical characteristics of physical strength and endurance, which most women cannot demonstrate.  This is why sports are segregated.  It would be unfair competition to pit men, clinically proven to be stronger, against women in the sporting arena.  So, it seemed logical to conclude that women as the 'weaker sex' should be confined to the home environs and not have to deal with the pressures of going out into the world to make a living.  The assumption is that she should be dependent on her husband to take care of her.  In return, she as the child-bearer should be the homemaker, providing a nurturing and stable home environment for rearing children and catering to the needs of her husband.  The criticism of this sort of thinking is that it is sexist, reducing all men and women to essentialist categories, where if you are male or female then that suggests what you should be doing and what you should be concerned about.  This thinking is unjust as it does not entertain the idea of equality of the sexes.  Acts of discrimination have become more pronounced as the feminist movement has gathered steam over the past 30 years.  It has led to the 'war of the sexes' and charges of misogyny and misandry.

Sexual discrimination is any unfair action motivated by whether a person is a man or a woman.  To promote a man because he is a man is sexist.  It is in the labour market that women typically feel the effects of sexual discrimination and experience social injustice.  The lowest paying jobs are usually reserved for women.  The few men present in the roles of clerks, secretaries, receptionists, store attendants, servers in retail and fast-food outlets are the ones usually selected for promotion.  In jobs where many women are present, employers tend to feel that a man should be in charge.  Men dominate in the highest-paying jobs.  Women who rise to high levels in the corporate structure seldom make it to the top.  They are obstructed not only by the sexist attitudes of those making the selection but also by their own internalised sexist attitudes.  They may not bid for the highest position because they feel it may be unseemly.  This phenomenon has been called the 'glass ceiling' and it limits women's opportunities.  Most blatantly, men are often paid more for their services than women in the same job.  This is true of lawyers, doctors, economists, and business executives.  To be underpaid because you are a woman is to be dehumanised. 

Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination where an individual is targeted for unwelcome sexual advances, promised job promotions for sexual favours, subject to inappropriate touching or other physical contact, made to listen to sexist jokes, and stalking.  These are all examples of sexual harassment.  Both women and men can be harassers, but in the overwhelming majority of cases the harasser is a man and the victim is a woman.  It is a form of sexual discrimination when it is perpetrated on a woman just because it is a woman. 

Domestic violence involves a wide range of abuse, including inflicting physical, sexual and psychological trauma on another person in the family or household.  It includes withholding economic support and wielding power over a person who becomes afraid for his or her personal safety or for that of loved ones.  It is usually perpetrated by men on women, but children and the elderly can become victims as well.  Abuse tends to occur in home where a man is addicted to drugs or alcohol, where he is unemployed, or there is a suspicion of infidelity.  The root cause is the acceptance by the male partner that the woman is subordinate and that his wife or partner is his property.  Many women in such abusive relationships are powerless because they rely on their abuser for financial support.  The use of power, violence and aggression are tactics that are used by some men to keep women, children or the aged under control. 

Side-lining and marginalising women through sexist prejudices and stereotypes have far-reaching effects for Caribbean societies.  Whether the sexism occurs in the job market or is a case of rape, it is an example of social injustice and a human rights issue.  When women suffer injustices these are passed on to children and affect the future generation.  Denying women equal pay for equal work means that whole families are affected, because in the Caribbean female-headed households are prevalent.  Sexual harassment, sexual violence, spousal abuse and child abuse in homes are likely to adversely affect generations of Caribbean people.  Victims of child abuse usually grow up to be abusers themselves.  Children who may not have been abused themselves but have observed their mothers being violently abused are likely to grow up with problems of relating meaningfully to others. The result is that levels of violence in Caribbean societies are likely to increase.  The economic cost for the country cannot be underestimated.  The mother who works infrequently because of abuse will earn less, impacting negatively on the health and wellbeing of herself and her family.  Her buying power, and thus her contribution to economic life, is reduced.  When the resulting children are apathetic, hungry and living in fear, the investment of government in education is nullified.  Productivity in the society is reduced, as is the capacity of the citizens generally to take advantage of opportunities that arise.

Racism, Classism and Creedism:  A person's race, social class, or religion indicates his or her ethnic or cultural identification.  Discrimination occurs when groups are targeted because of their culture. 

'Racism' is the negative or positive value placed on a group of persons who belong to a particular race or have a certain skin colour because they are believed to be inferior or superior.  'Creedism' refers to any form of prejudice, stereotype or act of discrimination based on religion.  Such beliefs and actions are based on a belief that a particular religion is inferior or superior in some way.  Shouter Baptists, Myal and Revivalism have in their time been considered inferior to the established religions.  'Classism' refers to the negative or positive ways that persons of a particular socio-economic group are portrayed.  Those of a high socio-economic standing tend to be regarded as articulate, beautiful and having good breeding.  Those of poorer or working-class background tend to be seen as rough, loud and needy.  Chinese people, to a prejudiced way of thinking, think of little else but money.  When discrimination becomes institutionalised the children of the poor, even when the state pours resources into education, may receive an education not fitted to their needs and interests. 

Creedism is not normally thought of as a major social justice problem in the Caribbean, compared with ageism, sexism, racism and classism.  All of our countries subscribe to freedom of religion as a basic human right.  There will be incidents where individuals will show examples of religious prejudice and stereotyping.  At an institutional level we can detect examples of religious intolerance.  In some denominational schools while members of other religions may not be prohibited from entering, little provision may be made for these students to deepen their own religious life. 

Racism, classism and creedism are all forms of prejudice and discrimination based on ethnicity that result in breaches of social justice.  The development needs of the region are threatened by unfair practices based on prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination.  Where groups of persons become marginalised they have little chance of acquiring social and economic parity with other groups.  They suffer loss of productivity and a decrease in the quality of their lives.

21 April 2010.

---

[1]    A lecture delivered to Ms Jan Challenger’s Caribbean Social Studies class at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, The Valley, Anguilla, and based on the text Caribbean Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach by Jennifer Mohammed (Macmillan Caribbean, 2007).