"I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Personal growth and change is a lengthy and illusive process. During the years of metamorphosis, because we do not get the luxury of the cocoon experience like the caterpillar which becomes the butterfly, the outward appearance can look quite paradoxical. To the observing human eye, the person undergoing change can by his/her behaviour appear to be changing for the worse while truly, God may very well be dealing with the heart. I am holding out hope that despite what can be seen of the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, particularly during the House of Assembly proceedings on Wednesday past, internally, it is all a part of his transformation of becoming a better man. However, I am known to be a fool in this regard, believing in the good of others, after all I walk around convinced that we as a people can pull ourselves together sufficiently to become a First World Country. But then, Ingraham never said that he was changing, he self confessed to have been changed, as though he admits that there were aspects about him that had to be done away with.
The Hon. Brent Symonette, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, son of former UBP Premier, Roland Symonette, and heir apparent to the FNM throne, must find it all amusing. There he was nudging, whispering, and sitting next to his new found friend and co-conspirator Prime Minister, who once had to relieve him of his duties in a prior FNM Administration, for what common, ordinary people call thiefin’, as Ingraham led in what became an all out personal attack session nearing the end of the proceedings on October 3. But then Mr. Ingraham did the strangest thing. After having already laid on the Table of the House of Assembly, the 18 heads of agreement negotiated under the Christie led Administration, which only proved that Christie had really been working, and after having made light of the plight of the so many people and their children who are suffering because they are no longer employed in the civil service, from his seat and therefore, off the record, Mr. Ingraham retorted to an Opposition Member that he was, “Black just like you.” “I Black just like you!” Of course his hellish laugh accompanied the statement, as it was loud and boisterous all day long, only confirming that nothing much has changed – yet.
There have always been at least three kinds of Black people. You have the kind that savagely captured neighboring Blacks of other tribes and sold them to Whites into what became the slave trade. These are similar to the ones who undermined the many attempts at uprising against slavery and other forms of racial oppression, even in modern day. Then you have the class of Blacks who are in the majority, they follow whatever is popular at any given historical moment, whether it is a time of passivity or great revolution. Finally, you have a small percentage of Black people who know that the road to freedom is long. And, we are conscious that Black people the world over no matter the appearance of privilege, remain on this journey to true freedom because systems of capitalism and trade so design that there is still no level playing field for Blacks, when it comes to wealth as power. Without economic empowerment, although we can vote and even be elected to Government, our people are still relegated to a second class existence, the apathy of which leads to a displaced energy and the many subsequent social ills which hamper the full success of our Predominately Black societies.
So the question I ask, in all fairness to the man, in whose goodness I choose now to believe, is “Black like who?” When you proclaim to be Black, which kind of Black are you? I know its none of my business ultimately, so just whisper the answer to the one who sits as your co and deputy in our Honourable House of Assembly to your left. After all, he now shares in our African heritage too.
Personal growth and change is a lengthy and illusive process. During the years of metamorphosis, because we do not get the luxury of the cocoon experience like the caterpillar which becomes the butterfly, the outward appearance can look quite paradoxical. To the observing human eye, the person undergoing change can by his/her behaviour appear to be changing for the worse while truly, God may very well be dealing with the heart. I am holding out hope that despite what can be seen of the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, particularly during the House of Assembly proceedings on Wednesday past, internally, it is all a part of his transformation of becoming a better man. However, I am known to be a fool in this regard, believing in the good of others, after all I walk around convinced that we as a people can pull ourselves together sufficiently to become a First World Country. But then, Ingraham never said that he was changing, he self confessed to have been changed, as though he admits that there were aspects about him that had to be done away with.
The Hon. Brent Symonette, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, son of former UBP Premier, Roland Symonette, and heir apparent to the FNM throne, must find it all amusing. There he was nudging, whispering, and sitting next to his new found friend and co-conspirator Prime Minister, who once had to relieve him of his duties in a prior FNM Administration, for what common, ordinary people call thiefin’, as Ingraham led in what became an all out personal attack session nearing the end of the proceedings on October 3. But then Mr. Ingraham did the strangest thing. After having already laid on the Table of the House of Assembly, the 18 heads of agreement negotiated under the Christie led Administration, which only proved that Christie had really been working, and after having made light of the plight of the so many people and their children who are suffering because they are no longer employed in the civil service, from his seat and therefore, off the record, Mr. Ingraham retorted to an Opposition Member that he was, “Black just like you.” “I Black just like you!” Of course his hellish laugh accompanied the statement, as it was loud and boisterous all day long, only confirming that nothing much has changed – yet.
There have always been at least three kinds of Black people. You have the kind that savagely captured neighboring Blacks of other tribes and sold them to Whites into what became the slave trade. These are similar to the ones who undermined the many attempts at uprising against slavery and other forms of racial oppression, even in modern day. Then you have the class of Blacks who are in the majority, they follow whatever is popular at any given historical moment, whether it is a time of passivity or great revolution. Finally, you have a small percentage of Black people who know that the road to freedom is long. And, we are conscious that Black people the world over no matter the appearance of privilege, remain on this journey to true freedom because systems of capitalism and trade so design that there is still no level playing field for Blacks, when it comes to wealth as power. Without economic empowerment, although we can vote and even be elected to Government, our people are still relegated to a second class existence, the apathy of which leads to a displaced energy and the many subsequent social ills which hamper the full success of our Predominately Black societies.
So the question I ask, in all fairness to the man, in whose goodness I choose now to believe, is “Black like who?” When you proclaim to be Black, which kind of Black are you? I know its none of my business ultimately, so just whisper the answer to the one who sits as your co and deputy in our Honourable House of Assembly to your left. After all, he now shares in our African heritage too.
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