2007 befaith Runner Up ...

ANDRE JACKSON

André’s inaugural role as Othello with the Wichita Shakespeare Company would mark the beginning of an award-winning career for this young actor often nicknamed “the next Denzel” by fellow cast mates. Following his critically acclaimed performance, André continued to make his mark as a student accepted to the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts. As the first freshman in the school’s history cast in a graduate company production, André’s instructors at the academy encouraged him to forego his second year and immediately begin his professional acting career.

Within months of leaving the academy André landed his first professional role in the award-winning Los Angeles run of The Scottsboro Boys, for which he received the Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actor. His work also helped the play garner the Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Award for Best Ensemble Cast and the LA Weekly Theatre Award for Best Ensemble Cast. That stellar performance was soon followed by a lead role in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, which would go on to win the LA Ovation Award for Best Production and the NAACP Theatre Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

In addition to his work in theater André also has a fledgling career in television and film. He has been seen on The Bold and the Beautiful and cast in numerous independent films, including Brooklyn’s Bridge to Jordan, a multiple award winning film prominently featured in festivals throughout the United States. André is now winning rave reviews in his portrayal of “Simba” on the U.S. national tour of Disney’s award-winning musical The Lion King.

Visiting the Village

In retrospect, it was the inadequate national celebrations of the 200th Anniversary of the abolition of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade which stands out as the greatest disappointment for me for 2007 (yes the outcome of the General Elections was equally as disappointing). But I think we squandered the opportunity to share with our youth, the significance of this milestone, and we lost out on a chance to have wholesome discussions on that moment as a gift from a liberating God, which was a turning point for Western civilization, and of particular importance to the African Diaspora. Two great truths could have been revisited as clues to the seeming breakdown of our Bahamian communities and most predominately Black societies – that Black Africans sold Black Africans into slavery, and that it holds true for descendants of Africa that it still takes a village to raise a child.

I have deliberately pointed out without pointing fingers (because we are all in this thing together), some of the dysfunctions of our people, especially those which affect us politically over the course of the past few weeks so I give them no special place during this Season. It is the significance of the “Village” which captures my heart and attention, and will be my focus should I live to see the New Year. This idea of the nuclear family as the root of our problems and solutions may not be as well thought out as we think. The developmental journey of the family structure in The Bahamas has always been one of intrigue. The “village”, extended family, and a network of key institutions (like church, the junkanoo shack, and school) have always had to help overcome the impact of rampant sweet-hearting, single parent children and those once taboo, teenage pregnancies. So many of us now however have tried to cling to the American facade of success which includes this concept of husband and wife, two point five (2.5) children and the family pet, oh yes all in a nice house with a white picket fence. This has been to our detriment as these nuclear units have been so selfishly insular in their functioning that they may have contributed in a round about way to the deterioration of supposedly interwoven communities.

Christmas for me this year ironically, involves a process of letting go of two very special members of my “Village” – non biologically related Bahamians who didn’t have to help raise me but they did, and how I thank God for them. The first is from the community of West End where almost every adult had the right as well as responsibility to love me, even scold me as a child. Although she married my Daddy’s second cousin, Austin Grant, and was one of my Mother’s closest friends (as they were both duty paid imports to West End) Mrs. Ann Grant or “Aunt Ann” as I called her was a special part of my childhood. You see, my brother and I had to walk home from kindergarten school to my Grandmother’s house as children in West End. On our trek we passed whom I refer to as the seven business matriarchs of West End – Ms. Doompey (matriarch of Johnson’s business), Sister Lilly (Hollingsworth bakery), Ms. Miriam from Butler and Sands, Aunt Ann from the STAR Hotel, Mable Colton had a take-out, then Ms. Mearle and Ms. Gregs (short for Degregory) had neighboring convenience stores. My brother and I enjoyed a special privilege on that long walk to Grandma’s however. We were the only two children often allowed in the Star as Aunt Ann if she saw us passing, was always good for a can of Canada Dry Ginger-Ale, to share between the two of us. Throughout our lives she always found a way to make us feel especially loved. God rest her soul.

The second, who is harder for me to let go, found me in my late teens but our politics caused us to attend the funeral of the late Sir Lynden Pindling together as well as a few PLP Conventions. She was not my peer and therefore I question whether I have the privilege of calling her friend, while I know I have no given right to call her Grandma or “Mama” as Biminites would say. But Mammy Syl, Sylvia Bain of Bimini assumed an unconditional loving role in my life, although we found each other late – she would fix my favorite, corn pudding whenever I went to Bimini, she pinned my clothes during wardrobe malfunctions while in hotels in Nassau, we hung out at an after convention Party one night in Nassau until the wee hours of the morning, she showed me off to her friends whenever I delivered a moving speech or popped up on her television screen during my almost first round of frontline politics, and all of my friends know the story of how she sat me down one day and made me promise to give up Gin, at a time when alcohol was such a challenge for me to overcome. I have kept that promise and her intervention in my life eventually has led to a very controlled relationship with Al (alcohol) notwithstanding the occasional glass of red wine or a cold Kalik. For all this and more I thank her, and although sadly difficult, I release her so that she may enjoy her eternal rest in the arms of The One who loves her best.

Twelve years ago, I buried my biological father, Moses Hall, one week before Christmas so I know the potential impact of loss/death on what should be a yuletide season. Enough time has passed however for me to have learned and now share that grieving over the ones gone should not take away from Christmas as being a time of celebrating life with our loved ones who remain. What I also know for sure, as Oprah might say, is that stepping outside of home and returning to the ideal of “Village” opens a world of opportunities, rights, and responsibilities to give, receive, and share in the magic and boundless mystery of love – and God is love. If not friends or family, let us be “village” then - we may end up raising our next generation in the process. Happy Holidays!

Paradox

Double mindedness is certainly causing a great degree of instability in this Country. On one hand, as a people we say we want peace in our homes and on our streets, we all on some level hope for a bright future for the next generation, and although probably unconscious to many, we are all yearning for the kind of leadership, civic, religious, political, that would move us once more to a collective sense of purpose and renewed patriotism. Yet on the other hand, we revere those things that do not in the least benefit these noble longings, rendering our behavior paradoxical at times.

We like “beating the system” whether that means getting away without paying adequate customs duty or receiving proceeds from illegal activity. We are also more attracted to those things that do not make for peace: confrontation, “sassy-ness” of mouth and spirit, and the condition of “not letting anyone run over us.” And we prefer style over substance any day when it comes to leadership personalities. These are the things which so many of us have been tricked into believing represents strength, when in actuality they are in direct contradiction to the characteristics and philosophies needed to move our Country forward.

When the Free National Movement assumed Government in 1992 its first order of business was to finish off what it started during its election campaign. It wasn’t enough to vilify/demonize, humiliate, and defeat Sir Lynden and the Progressive Liberal Party. So just after top hat and scissor tails came off, after the pageantry of swearing in, that FNM Government led by the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham launched a multi-million dollar Commission of Inquiry. It was an exercise which at the end of the day proved nothing. However, it consolidated the pervasive idea that the “Father” of the modern Bahamas and his team were gangsters from hell who did nothing good for their Country. And, it sealed the notion that Government and politics in The Bahamas is for the wicked few – fueling the apathy and self hatred of our youth whose potential heroes were transformed in a matter of days into public enemies.

Life holds no sanctity in the eyes of so many of our young sons because politicians whether out of anger, pain or revenge, tore away the decency and honor of good men, their perceived enemies. We entered and possibly lost this battle against violence “spiritually” some time ago, when internal and external powerful forces with lots of money, found the formula to encourage un-reconciled men to put personal un-forgiveness above the patriotic duty of upholding the beauty and legacy of the foundation of our people. Our children then only know the stories of treachery, deceit and failure which have been sung louder than the songs of victory, pride, unity, and “how we got over!” And so, our young sons pull real triggers in this new age because they have been socialized in an atmosphere where their Governmental leaders set the tone and engaged in a kind of violence which assassinated/murdered the character and spirit of heroes, and by extension wiped out a meaningful and inspirational part of modern Bahamian heritage.

For the past few weeks in the House of Assembly, through the debate on the Appropriation Bills, some members of this new FNM Government in true FNM fashion, sought to engage in the same kind of senseless violence perpetrated against the Bahamian spirit through the Commission of Inquiry. Thankfully, the Christie led PLP held good ground and very little damage, if any was done. But in an age where we are almost in a state of crisis as a people with even an economy which recently has lost its “equilibrium” we need a Government that will take a time out from playing destructive politics and by action, not words, lead us into a state of peace, reconciliation, ingenuity, and purpose. This is no time for double-mindedness – we cannot speak of peace while allowing our behavior to breed discord. We must see and work towards ending the paradox.

Getting Back To The Future

When you speak with senior Progressive Liberal Party Stalwart Councilors or persons who were eligible to vote for the PLP in the 1962 General Elections, repeatedly you will hear that the PLP’s loss in that Election was perhaps the most devastating of all time. So many of them were certain that the “Movement” which had begun in 1953, and really transcended partisan politics, would have proven successful in that not so fateful year. Notwithstanding the disappointment, there was a greater victory for all Bahamians despite that PLP loss. Not only was it the first time that all sane men 21 and over, irrespective of race and class, could exercise the right to vote but forty-five years ago, 45 short years ago, women finally got the right to vote in this Country, and vote they did in 1962.

Fittingly, the person who appeared on the Love 97/ JCN TV programme Jones and Company, at the beginning of what is embraced as National Women’s Week, was first female deputy leader of a major political party, and first female Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, PLP Deputy Leader, Cynthia “Mother” Pratt. Amidst all that was educational and even controversial about what was said during the interview, was a response by “Mother” to a question put by Mr. Jones with respect to the way forward for our Country. In no uncertain terms, The Hon. Mother Pratt, a former Nurse, Educator and presently a Minister of the Gospel in addition to her political duties made it clear that we needed to “go back” before we move forward. She insists that as a people we must go back to the basic principles of respect, love, and though increasingly unpopular in a political context, the “fear” of God.

If you didn’t know any better, you could quite easily be persuaded to believe that the progress of this small developing Island Nation is hinged first and foremost on matters of economics, foreign relations, and infrastructure – only. These after all are areas in which solutions are readily available via the history bank of what other countries have done before. And so where it is difficult to dream and have vision in these areas, copying at least sustains us in our pre renaissance state. However, there exists no readily available formula to tell us how to resolve the problems in the area of that which this Nation’s future is truly hinged upon, the “soul of Black folk” (to borrow from W. E. Dubois). Or is there?

Nestled beneath the facts of the modern political history of our Country, and by extension, the early history of the PLP, rest the stuff which once overcame the darkness of a seemingly impossible era of our time. Through it universal suffrage was achieved, as a crowning constitutional victory in what had been a trying struggle on the battle ground of our Parliament. But where all of these victories fell short, there stepped in, the will of a last minute but convicted people who went on to secure Majority Rule, Independence, 34 years of sustainable development, and continued parliamentary democracy. It was the love of Country, respect of self and others, and inspiration that comes only from God which awakened in our people the wherewithal to secure the future of the next generation. As broken as it was, and apathetic because of centuries long denial of fundamental rights and freedoms, and even harsher realities, it was the soul of Black Folk when challenged which overcame, centuries old injustices, White men, their money and their accepted inherent right to control the coffers of this Country. And there in the midst all the while was an ordained man of God, Rev. Harcourt W. Brown, preaching always, the power of those things basic – Respect, Love, God.

We know that it worked then. Like "Mother" Pratt, I can only admonish that we all return to those principles and get back to the business of our future. The next generation is counting on us.