The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

TALL Pines MP Leslie Miller yesterday said he was “shocked” to learn of Richard Lightbourn’s “tube tying” comments, as he criticised the Montagu MP, insisting that to make such a proposal revealed the inner workings of an “evil and twisted mind”. 

Mr Miller, who has also been the subject of intense backlash after claiming to joke about abusing a former lover, said for a “white man” to utter such comments about “black women” left much to be desired and raised questions about his mental state and how he perceived race relations.

He predicted that Mr Lightbourn was likely to face irreparable damage to his political career over the controversial remarks.

Meanwhile, former Free National Movement (FNM) deputy Leader Frank Watson said he believes the party now has to evaluate to what extent the comments have affected it in the public’s view.

He said this was likely to “come back to bite” the party during the impending campaign season.

“It makes me wonder where his head is as a member of Parliament,” Mr Miller told The Tribune yesterday. “I guess he is still in the Stone Age.

“In this day and age to say that you should cut a woman’s reproductive organs is shocking. He has an evil and twisted mind and I think he has done himself irreparable harm.” 

He added: “I can’t say I am sorry for him. To make an outrageous statement to women in a country where there is 85 per cent black, there is no doubt that he was referring to poor black women. For a white man to get on stage and say this it leaves a lot to be desired about his mental state regarding race.

“He didn’t see anything wrong with it and he will pay a hell of a huge price politically.”

However, Mr Miller said he doubted the party would face any implications because the organisation distanced itself from the highly criticised comments.

On Thursday night, during the FNM’s second night in convention, Mr Lightbourn proposed that the country adopt legislation that mandates unwed mothers with more than two children have their “tubes tied” in an effort to curtail the country’s social ills.

Mr Lightbourn indicated that children born in unstable family situations often grow up to participate in criminal activities. To offset that occurrence, the shadow attorney general suggested that it was necessary to consider “adopting the lead of several countries in the world”, the result of which he said would be fewer children, essentially reducing the burden of the state in terms of social care, education and employment. 

Two local advocacy groups have since condemned Mr Lightbourn’s proposal as “archaic, barbaric and dangerous”, charging that the suggestion is “frighteningly reminiscent” of sterilisation policies used against black people internationally in the 1960s. 

On Monday, Citizens for Constitutional Equality (CCE), in a statement, said Mr Lightbourn’s proposal to “target young, black, poor women” in order to reduce the number of children being born is akin to “policies used against black South Africans under apartheid and African-Americans in Mississippi and Alabama” at the height of racial tensions in the 1960s. 

The group also said Mr Lightbourn’s proposed policy is “state enforced violence against women,” which the group said is a “perverse violation of human rights” that demonstrates Mr Lightbourn’s “utter lack of understanding and awareness of what gender equality, women’s empowerment, agency and human rights really means”.

Meanwhile, non-profit organisation Bahamas Women’s Watch (BWW) said Mr Lightbourn’s  proposed policy “highlights an absolute disrespect and contempt for women’s rights” and serves “to explain the lack of advancement on core women’s empowerment issues” in the country.

In March 2014, Mr Miller appeared to backpedal from comments he made about abusing a former lover after it attracted fierce criticism from women’s rights advocates.

At the time he was adamant that “I have never abused a woman in my entire life”and claimed that his comments in Parliament were spoken in “jest”.

Insisting that most of his political career has been spent defending women, especially single mothers, Mr Miller attempted to add context to his comments which sparked a backlash following publication in a local newspaper.

At the time of his comments on February 20, 2014, Mr Miller said he was criticising the FNM for what he described as them not looking out for the best interests of fishermen while they were in government. He said he likened the previous Ingraham administration’s relationship with fishermen to a woman being abused. The comments were circulated on social media in audio recordings of the MP.

In that audio, Mr Miller said: “That’s like beating your wife or your girlfriend every time you go home. You just beat her for looking at her. I love you. Boom, boom, boom. I had a girlfriend like that. When I didn’t beat her she used to tell me I ain’t love her no more cause I don’t hit her. 

“But seriously I had one like that. I had one. She used to tell me...”

At that moment, House Speaker Dr Kendal Major interjected stating: “We know that you are joking with that.”

However Mr Miller continued: “No I serious with that. I tell her I get tired man. My hands hurting a little bit, give me a break.

“I am telling you the truth. One thing I don’t do is lie.”