MP who joked about abusing woman says Lightbourn is in the Stone Age

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.”

Comments

Publius says...

Jesus Christ. So it's better for a black married man to joke about beating his black mistresses and be supported in laughter for his sick comments by both black men and black women in our Parliament, than for a white man to discuss forced sterilization in a majority black country. See the problem with this? The core issue is not race, the core issue is attitudes toward women, but since these politicians are so good at race-baiting when it suits them, then let the sideshow that is The Bahamas begin, and continue.

Posted 3 August 2016, 1:15 p.m. Suggest removal

licks2 says...

I do think the core issue here is who is saying it. . .the same person who said put all LGBT persons on a deserted island away from the people.. .Lol!

Posted 3 August 2016, 1:29 p.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

Comrades! Regardless of the colours of your party's t-shirts or politic independence, raise your hands if you support fixing the baby making sperm count of the scrotal balls sacs, hanging from both the Pot cake and Montagu's Richard?

Posted 3 August 2016, 1:40 p.m. Suggest removal

sealice says...

i don't often agree with you but i guess this proves things can change....

Posted 3 August 2016, 2:32 p.m. Suggest removal

Alex_Charles says...

coming from the man that said black people a stupid, a man that stated that fat black women are the worst, a man that suggested lesbians and the gays be banished to a uninhabited island, a man that spoke out against the referendum then endorsed it the day after in a video, then again denounced it after it was shot down despite the fact that he voted for it in parliament?
This is the same man that spoke about the greed of BEC promising the Bahamian people that he would NOT pay out christmas bonuses only to grant that bonuses less than 24 hours later.
Mr. Miller STFU please, how much do you still owe BEC and Water and Sewage? Also considering you yourself are a part of the single worst administration in this country's history... I lump Mr. Miller and Lightbourn into the exact same camp of bigotry and ignorance

Posted 3 August 2016, 2:40 p.m. Suggest removal

jackbnimble says...

I swear the Tribune goes after this man (and others like him) just to create controversy. I didn't even bother to read the article. It's just that stupid!

Posted 3 August 2016, 2:45 p.m. Suggest removal

DreamerX says...

Mr. Miller and his many sons would hate this, they have a legion of illegitimate children to continue fostering! Legacy by numbers.

Posted 3 August 2016, 4:04 p.m. Suggest removal

killemwitdakno says...

Headline had to remind us.

Posted 3 August 2016, 6:24 p.m. Suggest removal

John says...

Do you know Richard Lightbourne is related to Donald Trump? Google it!

Posted 3 August 2016, 10:01 p.m. Suggest removal

Required says...

Of course Lightbourn is in the Stone Age. And of course we need Leslie Miller to tell us that, for he's the only eye witness.

Posted 4 August 2016, 6:49 a.m. Suggest removal

realfreethinker says...

LOL Required nice one. Love it Man how low have we become in our country,when an admitted sweetheart beater, bill ducker,potcake can criticize Mr Lighrbourne and get people to agree with him. WHAT A PLACE

Posted 4 August 2016, 11:11 a.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

Richard would probably have said the exact same thing in China, India and Middle America. It's nothing to do with 'blacks'; its to do with the many ignorant among us (and any society) who aren't intelligent enough to make sensible decisions.

In Africa and India thousands of single women, as well as married couples, have children just so they can put those young children to work in harsh child labour camps. What they are doing is wrong and making conditions even worse for themselves and society. They are too ignorant to do better. Responsible Government would step in under those conditions and make the hard decisions for the betterment of society.

Now I agree whole heartedly that Richard shouldn't have said what he said... **he should just have implemented it.**

Posted 4 August 2016, 10:17 a.m. Suggest removal

DDK says...

You go with your bad self, Sickened!

Posted 6 August 2016, 11:27 a.m. Suggest removal

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