The family wealth of the former Premier, the late Roland Symonette, yes, the Honorable Brent Symonette’s father, was accumulated through the very lucrative but illegal venture of Rum Running. This is no indictment, as the economy of The Bahamas has always been boosted or maintained by some less than legitimate scheme, usually because of our geographical make-up and our being a stone’s throw from the United States. I had a grand uncle who died on a rum running “excursion” leaving West End, Grand Bahama, headed to the Eastern U.S. sea-board, God rest his soul. When you think about it, Rum Running was to that era, what the drug trade is to ours – except, a Rum Runner could emerge Premier while we castigate (as we should) the smuggler of today’s illegal drugs of choice. Additionally, the major players and beneficiaries of our Rum Running days were White or near White. And, although, there are some Whites or near Whites benefiting from the Bahamian facet of the drug trade, most of the major players are what you would consider, indisputably Black.
This particular article however, is not about the Bahamian drug trade or Rum Running. I actually want to talk about Partisan Politics as perhaps an even greater contributor than the drug trade, to the breakdown of Bahamian society. History reflects that when Rum Running was boosting our economy (and the pockets of those who emerged our leaders), the ordinary majority was becoming drunk with the kind of spirit that was hell bent on building a more just society, a truly better Bahamas, while near the end of the seventies, clearly into the eighties and thereon, the proceeds from drugs and its many scourges became tools in the hands of an ordinary majority, already high on the stuff that would aid in tearing us all down. This terrible “fix” was born just after Majority Rule in 1967, when the “Dissident Eight” eventually reestablished themselves as a political force with the “Symonettes,” and his kind, the UBP, Bay Street Boys, who never wanted to see the ordinary majority attain certain rights and freedoms, and moreover never wanted the ordinary majority to own a substantial piece of the economic pie. Some historians justify the actions of those PLP’s, known as the Dissident Eight, who moved a vote of no-confidence against Sir Lynden Pindling not long into his tenure as Premier, some justify the subsequent backlash levied against these freedom fighters, which forced them out of the PLP and eventually into the pockets of those they years prior, fearlessly wrestled on behalf of their people.
Every FNM I know has some personal reason as to why he/she is angry with the PLP. “You don’t know what they did to my mother!” is the kind of answer I get when I question an FNM supporter or “mother” is replaced with some family member. Sometimes, like the Dissident Eight and their supporters or those like the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, the response becomes, “You don’t know what they did to me!” And with this kind of response is ever present the bitterness, unforgiveness, and honest hurt in the voices of those scorned. It is the kind of pain that is only momentarily quelled when the PLP is defeated at the polls, the kind of pain that led/leads to those heated elections where family stops talking to family, and neighbours stop being neighbours, and Christians take a little break from Christianity. This coupled with an out of hand drug trade, is responsible for the crumbling of our “Gibraltar.” What came first, the spite or the vengeance? That debate would perhaps spark an all out war. One thing however, has not changed: while the ordinary have remained ordinary because we have been busily at odds with each other, a certain group of old friends and colleagues, hiding behind angry and hurting ordinary faces, have continued to secure their very substantial portion of this economic empire.
The PLP can never re-sensitize the Bahamian electorate about the historical injustices levied against us by the UBP (and it has to), until it effectively deals with the division, personal and national heartaches it has caused to so many others, itself. In its new age of compassion or attempt at compassion, the headship of the PLP must lead in the restoration of a kinder, gentler Bahamas by taking responsibility for the not so glorious actions of an over-all glorious past. “We Are Sorry” will go a long way in starting the process of healing so badly needed not just from the realm of our political culture but on all levels of Bahamian community and family life. “We Are Sorry” is a phrase that so many gone into the dust longed to hear, and so many living among us, PLPs as well, wish they could now hear, in many instances, just for peace of mind. A few on that long list may include, members of the Dissident Eight, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, and from recent readings, even Mr. Oswald Brown. Because, there is a greater struggle before us now that requires a solidarity achievable only through the reconciliation of our past, as was reiterated by the Hon. Arthur Hanna, who when sworn in as Governor General, said that the past is behind us “it is the future which beckons us come.” But until we change the formula so that more of us are able to own our economy, which is what the Christie PLP administration attempted to usher in, we have little control over our beckoning future. And, sadly, until we return to a more peaceful and unified collective frame of mind, we cannot change the formula.
This particular article however, is not about the Bahamian drug trade or Rum Running. I actually want to talk about Partisan Politics as perhaps an even greater contributor than the drug trade, to the breakdown of Bahamian society. History reflects that when Rum Running was boosting our economy (and the pockets of those who emerged our leaders), the ordinary majority was becoming drunk with the kind of spirit that was hell bent on building a more just society, a truly better Bahamas, while near the end of the seventies, clearly into the eighties and thereon, the proceeds from drugs and its many scourges became tools in the hands of an ordinary majority, already high on the stuff that would aid in tearing us all down. This terrible “fix” was born just after Majority Rule in 1967, when the “Dissident Eight” eventually reestablished themselves as a political force with the “Symonettes,” and his kind, the UBP, Bay Street Boys, who never wanted to see the ordinary majority attain certain rights and freedoms, and moreover never wanted the ordinary majority to own a substantial piece of the economic pie. Some historians justify the actions of those PLP’s, known as the Dissident Eight, who moved a vote of no-confidence against Sir Lynden Pindling not long into his tenure as Premier, some justify the subsequent backlash levied against these freedom fighters, which forced them out of the PLP and eventually into the pockets of those they years prior, fearlessly wrestled on behalf of their people.
Every FNM I know has some personal reason as to why he/she is angry with the PLP. “You don’t know what they did to my mother!” is the kind of answer I get when I question an FNM supporter or “mother” is replaced with some family member. Sometimes, like the Dissident Eight and their supporters or those like the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, the response becomes, “You don’t know what they did to me!” And with this kind of response is ever present the bitterness, unforgiveness, and honest hurt in the voices of those scorned. It is the kind of pain that is only momentarily quelled when the PLP is defeated at the polls, the kind of pain that led/leads to those heated elections where family stops talking to family, and neighbours stop being neighbours, and Christians take a little break from Christianity. This coupled with an out of hand drug trade, is responsible for the crumbling of our “Gibraltar.” What came first, the spite or the vengeance? That debate would perhaps spark an all out war. One thing however, has not changed: while the ordinary have remained ordinary because we have been busily at odds with each other, a certain group of old friends and colleagues, hiding behind angry and hurting ordinary faces, have continued to secure their very substantial portion of this economic empire.
The PLP can never re-sensitize the Bahamian electorate about the historical injustices levied against us by the UBP (and it has to), until it effectively deals with the division, personal and national heartaches it has caused to so many others, itself. In its new age of compassion or attempt at compassion, the headship of the PLP must lead in the restoration of a kinder, gentler Bahamas by taking responsibility for the not so glorious actions of an over-all glorious past. “We Are Sorry” will go a long way in starting the process of healing so badly needed not just from the realm of our political culture but on all levels of Bahamian community and family life. “We Are Sorry” is a phrase that so many gone into the dust longed to hear, and so many living among us, PLPs as well, wish they could now hear, in many instances, just for peace of mind. A few on that long list may include, members of the Dissident Eight, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, and from recent readings, even Mr. Oswald Brown. Because, there is a greater struggle before us now that requires a solidarity achievable only through the reconciliation of our past, as was reiterated by the Hon. Arthur Hanna, who when sworn in as Governor General, said that the past is behind us “it is the future which beckons us come.” But until we change the formula so that more of us are able to own our economy, which is what the Christie PLP administration attempted to usher in, we have little control over our beckoning future. And, sadly, until we return to a more peaceful and unified collective frame of mind, we cannot change the formula.
lyc … etv!
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