Racism in The Bahamas

The spectre of racism
By ADRIAN GIBSON
ajbahama@hotmail.com


I pledge my allegiance to The Flag and to The Commonwealth of The Bahamas for which it stands, one people united in love and service.

- Bahamas' National Pledge of Allegiance


THE spectre of racism continues to linger in the Bahamas today, complemented by the emergence of a new, black oligarchy and an observable classism that further stratifies the nation along economic/class lines.

These days, there remain persons who, however subtly, continue to have an epidermal obsession, judging people on the hue of their skin (whether black or white) rather than adhering to Martin Luther King's magnanimous urging to assess a person based on the content of their character.

Undoubtedly, due to people imprudently judging others based on their skin tone, Bahamians across the spectrum of colours may have not had fair chances at jobs or bank loans.

Over time, our race relations have been shaped by issues such as slavery, minority rule and the fight for majority rule, mass illegal immigration (particularly from Haiti) and so on.

Although there is a maturing air of racial harmony in the Bahamas, there are occasions where antipathy and racism surfaces, particularly when self-seeking, narrow-minded politicians exploit the psychological effects of slavery and the racist injustices of the past.

In the years since the UBP's dismantlement, black Bahamians have become apprehensive about white Bahamians ascending to political power, mainly due to the angst that these Bahamians could have a stranglehold on both the economic and political structure, turn the country into some kind of racist backwater where the masses are oppressed and/or accrue more wealth in the process (something that several rapacious black politicians have also done).

According to former Director of Culture and College of the Bahamas (COB) lecturer Nicolette Bethel, the appointment of a "self-identified white Bahamian as Deputy Prime Minister has raised the fear that the oppressive force that was fractured in 1967 will return and change the Bahamas back to what it was before Majority Rule."

Nicolette Bethel asserts that the appointment of a "self-identified white Bahamian as Deputy Prime Minister has given white Bahamians a chance to feel as though they belong in The Bahamas again." (In the wake of US President Barack Obama's ascendancy to the Presidency in 2008--the first time for an African-American--I've decided to comprehensively explore the prospect of a white Bahamian such as Brent Symonette, or any other, ascending to the Prime Minister's post and, to an extent, the place of white Bahamians in local politics in next week's column).

Racism--a terminal disease--and classism has deepened the social divide and has led to the imposition of Judeo-Christian values that have caused the denigration of some indigenous culture and contributed to the ghettoisation and residential segregation of countless Bahamians in what historically are, in some cases, African heritage sites that have today evolved into crime-riddled, dirty war zones with sub-standard housing.

Indeed, while Judeo-Christian values have its merits, it could be because of such outside influences and historical ties to slavery, that some black Bahamians are mentally enslaved and in some instances become virtually fixated with bleaching their skin and/or, among themselves, comparing who has a lighter skin tone, with the lighter coloured persons being viewed as more beautiful or, as is proven sometimes, more likely to be presented with opportunities.

Does the rhetoric of racial propaganda echo the real social values inherent to Bahamian society as is seen during political rallies? Outside of politics, to what extent is race really an issue in the Bahamas today?

In the Bahamas, race issues and classism go beyond the sphere of political discourse, but also influence attitudes, social interaction and settlement patterns.

In New Providence, in some cases, there is little interaction for some people outside of a certain class/race of friends. Nicolette Bethel asserts that there is an unspoken air of separation along racial lines as "there are still churches and clubs and parks and professions and schools that are avoided by whites (and) blacks."

Having been raised on Long Island, while I can presume that some small-minded people possibly harbour restrained racial prejudices/thoughts, for the most part the island (particularly young people) is a melting pot with white and black Bahamians sprinkled in the various settlements and both black and "Conchy Joe" Bahamians rush with junkanoo groups, work together, inter-marry, patronise the same restaurants/clubs, etc.

While I have a diverse background and a heterogeneous group of friends, I've found that for some Nassauvians, there's an air of suspicion and a lack of interaction outside of established race/class groupings.

According to Alan Gary LaFlamme's 1972 study of the bi-racial community of Green Turtle Cay, he discovered that various forces, ranging from the relative physical isolation, residential segregation, segregated work schedules, recreational segregation to social distance, have kept the two ethnic groups apart.

LaFlamme asserts that, socially, there was a preference for socialising within one's own ethnic group and consequently concluded that as a result of this, cultural differences are maintained or even created and derived from differences in resources, personal association and shared ideas.

Christopher Curry, my former college lecturer and a white Bahamian historian who has recently returned from university where he pursued his doctoral studies, claims that on Green Turtle Cay, "even the Loyalist Memorial Garden erected by the whites in 1983 symbolises the community's racial segregation with its central icon a heroic Loyalist woman waving the union flag and a loyal female slave 'a suitable' step or two behind."

In a 2005 interview with another daily, when addressing his heritage and culture, even DPM Brent Symonette appeared to assert his disconnect and apparent cultural demarcation, stating: "My heritage is France, hence the name "Symonette.' France to England and possibly to Bermuda and then here. When Alfred Sears stood up and talked about Clifton, he painted this very emotional picture of the black slave captured in Africa (sic) and landing into freedom in The Bahamas. I didn't come that route. So my cultural history isn't based in the navel string of Mother Africa, so how can you ask me to celebrate that heritage?"

According to Mr Curry:

"Within New Providence, residential segregation is evident although racial lines in many instances have been obscured or even subsumed by class values. As such, professionally-trained and educated blacks were able to achieve upward mobility after majority rule, many moving out of the Over the Hill areas to more lavish housing in the eastern district or newly-developed sub-divisions in the southeast and western ends of the island.

"While it is true that there has been some integration by blacks into traditionally white communities, the degree of social interaction between the races is questionable.

"A recent survey in 2003 suggests that many Bahamians still prefer to live in ethnically homogenous communities. Accordingly, only 58 per cent of respondents lived in a residential area with persons of another race and only 50 per cent of persons living in an all white or all black community would consider living in a mixed residential area," he said.

Throughout several Family Island communities, a common thread of residential segregation and racial attitudes is entrenched, although young Bahamians are rapidly breaking the cycle. Michael Craton and Gail Saunders note in their historical work 'Islanders in the Stream' vol.II, that Spanish Wells was known as the most prejudiced of all the white communities, forbidding blacks from remaining on the island overnight.

Chris Curry, who also conducted a survey/research on that island, states:

"Today, except for a handful of government officials the entire population of the original settlement remains 'Conchy Joe' white, the majority are blood relations and more than one quarter rejoice in the single surname Pinder. Similar configurations, (albeit with a higher 'sprinkling' of blacks) are also found on the offshore cays in the Abacos, including Guana Cay, Elbow Cay, Man o' War Cay and the mainland settlement of Cherokee. While the obvious and explicit forms of racism may have subsided in these communities, their values and preference for living apart from others encourages social distancing and latent forms of racism."

Two years ago, I watched a two-part CNN report that, while feeding into some stereotypes, delved into the topic of being "Black in America" and attempted to examine interracial relationships, AIDs statistics, educational gaps, successful black Americans, unemployment and the inability of educated black women to find an educated or employed mate of equal footing. Even more recent, I watched the sequel to that earlier report as well as another CNN special report that purported to address the issue of debt among black families.

While racism/classism may exist in both the US and here, by contrast, it appears that black Bahamians have a greater sense of self-worth and equality unlike some black Americans who appear to have an inferiority complex and a mental enslavement that has been overwhelmingly poisoned by hundreds of years in slavery and a vicious civil rights struggle.

Nevertheless, America's race relations appears to be improving, and the presidency of Barack Obama, in this industrialized nation where the majority of its population is Caucasian, is indicative of this.

Frankly, when looking at the racial tensions in the US, persons such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and the late, white US Senators Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, have contributed to racial divisions.

During President Obama's campaign, Jackson engaged in an uncensored tirade against the then Democratic-nominee's urging of blacks to plan families instead of bearing bastard children with multiple partners out of wedlock.

Indeed, it is because of opportunistic, monied so-called black leaders such as these purveyors of disharmony that some black Americans have adopted a racially contemptuous psyche and, in some cases, an outlook that isn't appreciative of hard work and blames the white man for everything (and this does not excuse injustices or racism by whites).

Locally, although the unambiguous and overt forms of racism may have receded since Majority Rule and constitutional changes, the continuance of residential segregation and what appears to be a general lack of interaction between the ethnic and class groupings is noteworthy.

In 2006, Helen Klonaris, a Greek Bahamian, noted that race is "a conversation that white Bahamians by and large, either want to dismiss, with common phrases such as 'I don't think about race,' 'race doesn't come into it,' or 'we're over that', or, become defensive and speak of 'reverse racism', that 'the tables have turned' and white people are now the victims of Black oppression."

Sir Durward Knowles' One Bahamas campaign is a noble idea, but it cannot be made a reality unless, as Christopher Curry suggests, "further discussion on the historical antecedents of racism in The Bahamas would provide a meaningful understanding of the present race issues that divide our great nation."

November 05, 2010

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