My niece has been trying to get me up to speed on instant messaging lingo – o m g = oh my God, l o l = laugh out loud, s m t = suck my teeth, etc., etc. It really is a new cultural phenomenon sparked by this international technological revolution. Our young people have essentially come up with a universal digital language that in many instances crosses borders, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, you name it. However I must admit that I haven’t really been able to concentrate on our “how to keep Aunty young and in touch” time or very much else for that matter, because of all of the violence plaguing our Country, The Bahamas. There is a groaning deep within my spirit, a preoccupation really because of a prophetic realization, that if we do not find a way and find it soon, to become more peaceful, more tolerant, more loving as a Society, history will not record that we were one of the first predominately Black developing Countries to reach First World Status. Rather, the story may very well read that despite our economic potential, despite our geographical make-up and positioning in proximity to the most powerful Country in the World, despite our rich history and long and peaceful love affair with democracy, despite the very natural indomitable Bahamian spirit prone to overcome even nature’s fury, and despite our ability to compete tenaciously on any world stage, somehow we were so overcome by violence, hatred, and unforgiveness, that not long into our existence as an Independent Nation, we found ourselves in a condition as grim and uninspiring as that of today’s Haiti.
Often time, we believe that the definition of violence is limited to physical altercations involving fists and or weapons. However, violence is so much more! It is in the harshness of our words, it is in so many of our actions and inaction, it is in the pens/keyboards of our writers, journalists and public figures, it is in our refusal to be each other’s keeper. Violence is in the silence of those who claim to love and serve God but refuse to be His voice in response to injustice, and violence with an intolerable prevalence seems to be infesting our political culture, as well as many of the hearts of those who have the privilege to be called our leaders. This morning I read where 23 adults and sixteen children are being violently chased out of a make-shift trailer community in Bootle Bay, West End Grand Bahama. In the article titled, “A Cry For Help” the author quotes a female resident who is also a mother in despair as the electricity has now been turned off to aid in forcing them out. She says, “We are willing to move, but we need more time, I have six young children, ages four, six, eleven and fourteen and John my six year old suffers from chronic asthma and requires constant care and special medication.” There is no greater violence than the kind perpetrated by the State against a child.
Often time, we believe that the definition of violence is limited to physical altercations involving fists and or weapons. However, violence is so much more! It is in the harshness of our words, it is in so many of our actions and inaction, it is in the pens/keyboards of our writers, journalists and public figures, it is in our refusal to be each other’s keeper. Violence is in the silence of those who claim to love and serve God but refuse to be His voice in response to injustice, and violence with an intolerable prevalence seems to be infesting our political culture, as well as many of the hearts of those who have the privilege to be called our leaders. This morning I read where 23 adults and sixteen children are being violently chased out of a make-shift trailer community in Bootle Bay, West End Grand Bahama. In the article titled, “A Cry For Help” the author quotes a female resident who is also a mother in despair as the electricity has now been turned off to aid in forcing them out. She says, “We are willing to move, but we need more time, I have six young children, ages four, six, eleven and fourteen and John my six year old suffers from chronic asthma and requires constant care and special medication.” There is no greater violence than the kind perpetrated by the State against a child.
One perspective or account as to why former UBP senior man, “Sir” Stafford Sands left The Bahamas after the attainment of Majority Rule is that allegedly, he had no confidence in the ability of Black people to Govern and manage this Country. This sentiment you can bet is shared by many former UBP’s and their offspring. Suprisingly it also uncosciously crept into the writings of a very distinguished “colored” member of the now FNM as he tried to justify the FNM’s once anti-independence stance. I was astonished and disappointed because as a writer, and an objective Bahamian, I somewhat respect this particular man. But in his own words, in an open letter to a sitting PLP Senator, he penned the following, “You know full well that the Sir Cecil who advocated independence in 1967and warned against independence under Sir Lynden Pindling in 1972 was the same man but with an added experience. The Sir Cecil who spoke in 1972 had, along with the rest of us, been publicly condemned as a traitor by PLP colleagues. In an orchestrated attack at Lewis Yard he had also been beaten over the head with a metal chair because he dared to criticize the leadership of the PLP. There had also been an attempt on his life by a knife-wielding would-be assassin in Parliament Square. Do you wonder that under these circumstances he questioned whether we had attained the level of maturity necessary for a successful transition to an independent and tolerant democracy?”
Our gross and prevalent expressions of violence, again, even those penned, because the pen is still mightier than the sword, cause the concerns of those who question the potential success of Independent predominately Black societies, to hold some legitimate weight. Can we indeed reach beyond our differences and dysfunctions to display that maturity necessary for a continued independent and tolerant democracy? I alone can never answer this question. All I know is that I don’t want that sentiment about us to ever be proven true. In the potential shadows of Sir Stafford Sands and his kind, I therefore make a call for peace, everywhere, from our homes and streets to our schools, churches, Halls of Parliament and seat of Government, adding my own instant messaging lingo to it all: l y c – e t v. So that these men are not right about us, l y c: Love Your Country - e t v: End The Violence! Love Your Country – End The Violence!
