© 2015 Anthony A. Newbold
There is so much going on I don’t know where to start, but I guess a safe bet would be to say: Good evening Kiwanians… and thank you executives for this invitation. Let me also thank especially for this invitation, Distinguished President Thompson, Chairperson Davis and, of course, Karen, who got the ball rolling.
Preparing for this presentation I checked the names of some of your former executives and I went way back… a couple of citizens for whom I have great respect… former MP Sylvia Scriven; Senate Vice President Joseph Curry… your tradition is good, proactive and active leadership continues, and it is always a singular pleasure for me to speak to anyone involved in good community works, with works being the operative word. More about that later.
“Who are we (Bahamians) and where are we headed as a country?” What wonderful question! It is certainly most appropriate in the circumstances. In three days we will mark 42 years of independence, and I say mark, because a whole lot of people don’t have a whole lot to celebrate this year. Independence though, took a lot of work, and effort and sweat and tears, and most of all courage. Where are we headed? Disaster if we don’t find the grit and mettle that took us to independence.
I note that your theme this year is “Getting Back to Basics by Recommitting to Kiwanis Objects”. Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. That is a part of what happened at the first Independence on a hot July night in 1973. There was change. And we need to change The Bahamas again but, unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of doing so one child at a tie. Because I believe we are facing some challenges that are not going to stand still and wait for us to muddle our way through. In fact, that is not what the founders of the modern Bahamas did! They took decisive action! That is why we can mark / celebrate on Friday! So who are we and where are we headed?
Whether we are from the Americas and called Lucayans and Tainos, or from Senegal and Sierra Leone and called Africans, whether we came from Bermuda or jolly old England, or whether or not we were brought here by a wind from the Carolinas, we have always been a melting pot of the world’s peoples, an amalgam of those who looked for adventure and a better way of life and were prepared to reach for it, wherever they could find it! So, it is a little disconcerting to see the xenophobia that is sometimes so visibly exhibited in our little country.
As early as 1834, one Stephen Dillett, originally of Haiti, became the first person of colour to be elected to our Parliament. He was also Postmaster General and Solicitor General. He was one of those we now despise.
Another Bahamian of Haitian extraction, with a little Jamaican thrown in, once occupied the highest office in the land! His name is Foulkes, Sir Arthur! The early 20th Century saw a few Greeks, some Panamanians, some Cubans, a few Chinese and more of the much vilified Haitians, make their way to these shores. Where do we go? One way is to undertake to integrate the Haitian underclass / underground into our wider economy and society as we did the others and stop pretending that they are not here. There is so much evidence, more than enough actually, to disabuse us of that notion!
That ostrich like approach threatens to further loosen us from our societal moorings, as we struggle with the challenges not acknowledging their presence creates. Later in the 20th Century there was a flood of West Indians… in fact most of my teachers throughout five years of high school were West Indians… Jamaicans, Barbadians and Trinidadians. A lot of them also came to police us and to work in other areas of the law… and because some of the name sound like ours, you may not know that they did not originate here… Williams, Carter, Smith, Deane, Thompson… as others have pointed out, we’ve had Trinidadian prison overseers, Barbadian policemen (Babb & Mason), Haitian tailors, Guyanese surveyor (Carew & Yaralli)… and then there are names that reflect our French connection… like Bodie, Deleveaux, Dupuch, Duvalier, Godet, More and Marche, Benjamin… for Cuba, we get Palacious. And let us not forget the Turks and Caicos… at one time they were a part of us. And so, again, we have always been an amalgam of peoples, borrowing from the United States a little… e pluribus unum… one out of many. We should also not forget that before the change of Government in 1992, the men occupying the two top jobs in the country, the only two men to serve in every cabinet form 1967 to 1992, had West Indian roots… Jamaica and Barbados… Sir Lynden Pindling and Sir Clement Maynard… So, who is a Bahamian, or should be considered one?
Well, to my mind… that’s a Sir Clem expression… a Bahamian is anyone who swears undying loyalty to this country, shares its overriding values, has an appreciation for its culture and is prepared to build upon it and defend it with his or her last breath. That person to me is a Bahamian. You can have whatever name you want, be whatever colour, speak whatever language you want, plus English.
There are many of us prepared to do the work needed to move The Bahamas into the 21st Century and beyond but I don’t think there are enough of us at this time. Would you believe that The Bahamas is under populated? For economies of scale we are no good for manufacturing locally. Did you know, for example, that the City of Freeport, built 60 years ago, can accommodate 250,000 or a quarter of a million people? At resent you probably have about 60,000 in all of Grand Bahama. Our Islands are under populated, 1,000 here, 2,000 there won’t do.. We need lots more worthy, committed people to do what needs to be done, And, in the absence of a birth explosion, controlled migration.
I am speaking to you tonight in my capacity as the president of The Bahamas Press Club. My Treasurer, who has been recording the history of this country over the last 46 years, Vincent Vaughan, is with me… a Philly boy who has called The Bahamas home for that long. I don’t know too many people who I consider more Bahamian than he is! This, by the way, is my fourth and final time engaging in any such effort with the Press Club. I just mentioned the need for more worthy and committed people. I am having the same challenge with the Press Club. Not enough people are committed enough to drive an organization such as that to reach heights it can reach. The press, of course, serves a necessary role, in and of itself, as the fourth estate… Societies’ watchdog, societies’ mirror, but we all, all of us need to be engaged!
Where are we headed? Well, I put it t you, that each and every one of you, holds that determination in your hands. But we must seize the time… as advocated by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver 45 years ago as they fought against racism in America. Sir Lynden Pindling and is comrades seized the time. He was 36 when he took over this country… scared the crap out of some people! Where are the young people? At 42 years old Lynden Pindling took The Bahamas to independence! That’s seizing the time! Young people must find something to commit to; something that wakes you up in the morning and puts you to bed at night!
What was it that drove black Bahamians and a few really brave and committed mulattoes? Actually, it was the mulattoes who started the PLP! Finding that common vision is part of what is needed to take us where we need to go. That is one of the challenges of the 42nd anniversary of independence. I also believe that we need change the way we govern ourselves! The system used today was left by our colonial masters even though you will find many who say there is nothing wrong with it, there is, because, the masses or the lumpen proletariat as my friend Lionel Carey would say, are still operating at a disadvantage. Do you know who Lionel Carey is? Did you ever hear the slogan “Dare to struggle, dare to win”? Well, Lionel was one of the founders of the Vanguard Nationalist and Socialist Party, part of the Bahamian story that I try to continue to tell with “Legends, The Untold story”.
Speaking of disadvantage… it is now legal to own a web sop… primarily to sell numbers. Where are these places located? I call it a plague and a pox on all of our houses. I believe we will rue the day the law was passed… instead of rooting them out we legalized them.
But back to governing ourselves….Why not local government as opposed to just the central government? Should the people not have more say in how their affairs are governed, other than every five years going to the ballot box?
Is our education system serving our needs? Why is the College of The Bahamas not the crucible in which national ideas and national initiatives are birthed? Are we embracing technology as much as we should and, are we educating our people to be able to do so in a healthy way other than surfing the net? What about our civil servants? Remember, no politician works for the education / finance / health or works/ or customs. Our cousins, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers do. So who is screwing up the system with bad attitudes, when you go to access service at BTC or BEC or Water & Sewage Corporation? And in addition to bad attitudes, we’ve allowed our politics to corrupt us. We are prepared to do damage to those we believe are our political opponents at the expense of the country. That’s a recipe for disaster!
Are we training ourselves to own the economy or will we continue to put ourselves at the mercy of the mega investors like Kerzner or Izmirlian? Bahamar was and is a bad idea, in my estimation, because the lives and well being of so many Bahamians should never be placed in the hands of one man! What is wrong with 4 stand alone hotels, all showcasing Bahamian food, and music an dress, a little wood carving and straw work to go with it… that signals what is Bahamian? Why do we not think that visitors to The Bahamas want the same thing we want when we visit another country… a taste of that country’s culture?
Where are we headed? Glory or disaster, but that depends on us; each and every individual! I have said and continue to say that we talk too much as Bahamians, we love to talk, but not too many of us are prepared to act! Until we change that attitude, outsiders will continue to determine where we are headed, why, after 50 years have all of these brilliant black Bahamians, not been able to improve on the financial model left to us by Sir Stafford Sands… a man who is still vilified today?
Is it okay to invest $9 million in Carnival and not spend that kind of money on the Crab Fest, or the Cat Island Rake and Scrape Festival, or even Junkanoo? Are we going to have the wherewithal to fight off what will surely be a challenge from a reopened Cuba? You have heard many of the ideas and propositions I posited tonight, before. You will probably hear them again.
As I close: a lesson for you, as I constantly remind fellow writers of a quote from writer Elizabeth Engstrom:
“I have come to believe that there are no new photos and few new stories, only unusual recombinations of things that have been told before, but what is new, and fresh and original, is the author’s lens through which these situations are viewed. Our gift and consequently our responsibility as writers, is to view life situations in our naturally unique way and report the truth about their meanings and values to the reading public, so they can have fresh insight into the human condition. We are each unique in the universe and therefore, so are the stories we tell.”
We are back again, I believe to personal responsibility and involvement. And so, I say to you lift up your heads to the rising sun… there is still much land to be possessed. Each of you must pledge to do what you can to build up the common good. As we say in the Anglican faith, I you would commit to that, then a glorious future awaits us all.
Thank you and good night!
Anthony A Newbold