Beyond Pious Bleating
The Bahama Journal
As one crime-ridden day flows into another, some thoughtful Bahamians have begun a conversation among themselves concerning some of their more extreme conclusions about what is actually happening in our beloved land.
What we are hearing from some of these sources is that, crime –as it is currently being expressed might well have within it a kernel that suggests the early rise of a virulent form of class-driven warfare, assault and insult to person and property in today’s parlous economic times.
Here we are certain that while these conversations are going on, there are Bahamians who would out of hand deny any such class-based set of developments; here we do suspect that they do so to their peril and to that of the wider Bahamian society.
Our thoughts are turned in this direction as we reflect on some of the words and thoughts of the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham. The Prime Minister suggests that, "In a 21st Century Bahamas, if we are to become all that we might be we must aspire to transcend historic prejudices and break loose from the stereotypical bounds of the politics of race and class division that belongs to a bygone era."
He went on to suggest "That is behind us and we must leave it so that we can achieve full unity in our land with government dedicated to serving all Bahamians, black and white, middle class, rich and poor, young and old, able and disabled."
No right-thinking Bahamian would dare quibble with anything the prime minister says concerning this aspiration for the coming of that day when discrimination is no more in The Bahamas.
That will be a great day not only for The Bahamas, but for human beings everywhere. That is because were we to achieve such a feat, our example could provide a template for people all over the world.
The truth of the matter is that race does matter in The Bahamas. Class does matter in The Bahamas. Ethnicity does matter in The Bahamas. Gender and sexual orientation do matter in The Bahamas and so does disability. And for sure, so does poverty and wealth living cheek to jowl in the same society.
It matters little what people say about their aspiration to create this or that kind of Bahamas. What matters is what they do about it.
Experience elsewhere would seem to suggest that before a problem can be resolved, it must first be recognized as a problem; that being a necessary prerequisite to action, if we - as a people – wanted to be honest about any of these issues that do matter, we would do something about it.
Take for example, the manner in which we deal with people who are so-called ‘disabled’. We further hobble them when we decide that no changes need be made to processes like voter registration that would allow these people their rights to privacy in the sanctity of the booth.
Whoever never thought that in this day and age that voter registration and voting should not be made user-friendly for people, who are blind, crippled or otherwise challenged?
Or for that matter, whoever decreed that Bahamians born of Haitian parents should be forever stigmatized because of the fact that they are Haitians? What ignorance! What rot! What utter nonsense!
Closer to home from a racial point of view, how is it that so-called White people around the world have already acknowledged that slavery was a crime against humanity, while so few in The Bahamas even want to broach the issue.
Here we take little or no note of some of that literary stuff by this or that ‘artiste’ out to make a name by chatting about the issues at hand.
This and other such issues should be encouraged among so very many so-called ordinary people.
Like the late, great and seriously under-estimated Milo Boughton Butler, we are much exercised by what is not happening for the masses as the classes go from strength to strength.
That is why we counsel and caution each and every social observer who would dare think that they could understand a modern Bahamas without taking into consideration the raw reality that class does matter; that race does matter; and that gender and disability are also realities that matter.
The truth is that none of this understanding comes easily. And for sure, this is clearly the urgency in the current moment when things are so very bad for all Bahamians.
And so, we would suggest that, in the ultimate analysis, then, real bridges have to be built between where we are, who we truly are and what we are prepared to do with and on behalf of whom.
Otherwise, brave words about what we wish amount to little more than windy rhetoric and a most pious bleating about social justice.
November 18th, 2010
The Bahama Journal
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.