when Partisan Ludicrous Politics invokes the Fury of Noble Men

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.

lyc … etv!

l y c - e t v

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.

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!

R. I. P. - The Original Mr. BIGs!

We in The Bahamas do not honour our artists enough - whether painters or musicians, writers, actors, you name it. Despite the fact that it is the art of a society that outlives even sometimes its people (I wish we could ask the Mayans or even the early Egyptians), in The Bahamas if one chooses not to abide by the convention of becoming a lawyer, doctor, accountant or some other service oriented status quo professional, one is deemed almost a waste of time. Yet it is the Bahamian Calvin Lockhart or "Baha-American" Sidney Poitier who are among the best recognized by the world, out of all Bahamian citizenry.

When I met Mr. Lockhart it was certainly an honour for me because there sat a man who had represented his, our Country well on television and the big screen. Sadly however, he had not done as well as Sir Sidney, and was forced in his latter years to live outside of stardom, especially in his home Country. But as we sat in the 'Chicken Nest' in the settlement of West End, Grand Bahama, eating conch salad and drinking a cold one, there also sat a man whom outside of stardom had not lost his love for naturally entertaining others, and had not in the least grown bitter or discontent. And for me therefore, Calvin Lockhart, just the man, will forever remain in life and death, the original, "Mr. BIGs." May his soul rest in peace.

“One Day Out of Seven”

One day out of seven my parents in their earthly love, gave birth to me and made for me a home;
I went from babe to lady there, like flowers in their season I in time also came to bloom.
They trained me well, my early years, I grew to know my place in life, in stature, in God;
They spared no good thing from my youth, not gifts or nourishment, nor even love’s correcting rod.

One day out of seven God joined me to a man – I dressed for him that day in finest cloth and lace;
We two became one in love, in law, and walked together our ordered steps by Him who saved us by His Grace.
With children we made quite a life: Franklyn, Judith, Joel, Percell, Hardy, Leanora, Naaman, Todd and “Brucie” too;
Our earthly castle stands upon a hill in Bimini, while on Christ the Solid Rock our souls are standing true.

One day out of seven while looking in a mirror, time and chance so ordained that great-grandma was staring back at me;
My children had grown children who had children – wow – I raised my hand in thankful praise for such a bless-ed age to be.
Yet in the midst of all this joy, time and chance along with aches and pains would bring an unfair blow;
The man who was my better half in life and love had finished all his earthly work and to God’s home he had to go.

“One day out of seven” I would say, “The Lord will call me too and no more misery I would have to bear;”
I’d sing the hymns and cry and dream, “I will meet you in the morning” “Just over in the Glory-land” “Tell mother I’ll be there.”
My friends and loved ones tried to cheer me up and find good reason why I should not long for one day out of seven;
Now perhaps you’ll understand, my day has come – please do your very best to join us where everyday is never-ending happiness in heaven.

© 2007 Faith M. Hall
Penned for:
Mama Jo-Anna Rolle

Home-going Tribute

SAMUEL THEODORE GRANT, affectionately known as “Teddy” was born on the 6th day of October, 1918 to Ceva Wilchcombe and Manasseh Grant of West End Grand Bahama, The Bahamas. He was the 7th of 8 children born out of that union.

From his earliest years, Teddy Grant was always ambitiously striving, fun loving, and oh so full of life. He left quite a legacy from his youth in West End, the quaint, sea-side boating and fishing capital of Grand Bahama. Not only was he known for his exceptional skills in carpentry but Teddy was a premier fisherman and yachtsman, and was equally considered the premier catch for some lucky lady.

In 1949 or there about, Teddy met that special lady who would change the rest of his life for the better. It was in the meeting and marrying of American born, Verneda Hall, the daughter of the preacher and the missionary, Moses and Madeline Hall that he was led into a new life in Palm Beach Florida and eventually, a new life in God and the Church.

It was his boating and fishing, and business skills that immediately secured a comfortable life for he and his young bride in Florida. However, soon after Brother Grant discovered that like his father in law, his real life’s work was a call to Christian Ministry. And so after committing his life to the Lord, in 1955 starting as a Deacon and Sunday School Superintendent, Rev. Grant launched into what amounted to 45 years of dedicated Ministry in the Church of God, the better half of his 88 years of life. He is listed as serving additionally as State Youth Director, Pastor, District Overseer, Bishop, Member of State Licensing Board, and most recently, he served on the committee for the coordination of Senior Citizen Services.

Possessing incredible business acumen, as demonstrated through his ownership and management of Grant’s Laundry Mat on Old Dixie, Highway, Riviera Beach, the hierarchy of the Church of God soon identified Rev. Grant as a builder. His ministry therefore, took on the pattern of continuous movement. He would be sent to what seemed the most struggling church, where he would grow it to unprecedented success, financial stability and membership only to soon thereafter be moved on to the next vulnerable location.

Although this practice seemed sometimes unfair, Rev. did not mind, he viewed it as an honor and a privilege. Wherever they sent Rev. Grant he became a blessing to every member he met and by this gained more and more spiritual family members. For his obedience and faithfulness he was bestowed by his peers in The Church of God with the rank and title of Bishop. Over the course of his years, Bishop Grant shepherded at Dania Church of God, Ft. Meyers Church of God, Boynton Church of God, Pt. Salerno Church of God, Opa-Locka Church of God, and 35th Street Church of God. He spent his final years assisting wherever necessary at his home church, 5th Street Church of God.

Through it all, while God remained first in his life, Teddy Grant held an unwavering commitment to his family. He will be remembered best as husband to the love of his life, Verneda, Daddy to his beloved daughter Pamela, devout brother to his siblings, godfather to his many godchildren and as Uncle Teddy and moral anchor to a host of nieces and nephews.

On Friday February 9, just before leaving to attend to the gardens of the Grace Estate as he did three times weekly, Teddy Grant suffered a massive stroke. Exactly three weeks later on Friday March 2, Bishop Samuel T. Grant made his final and complete ministerial move. He has gone on to receive his crown of glory and has joined the heavenly host in their eternal praise to our Lord and Savior, God through Jesus Christ.

MAY HIS SOUL ENJOY ETERNAL REST

He is survived by: his wife, Vernada Hall Grant; daughter, Pamela Grant Williams and son in law Lenwood Williams.
1 brother, Wilbert Grant; 2 Brothers in law, Levi Wesley Miller and Grover Hall; 4 Sisters in law, Emma Grant, Delphene Miller, Christine Hall and Anna Hall.
18 Nieces, Muriel, Beulah, Aldeese, Alsette, Virgill, Mucine, Cynthia, Archilee, Duvella, Florida, Lonnie, Pamela, Dolly, Lois, Rossilyn, Blondie, Natasha and Faith.
11 Nephews, Nicholo, Shogi, Plato, Vascoe, Dugal, Joacum, Wesley Jr., Kevin, Peter, David and Damien.
God Children, Issie, Dashwood, Nette, Sheryl, Bernice, Zernobia, Vantrice, Cecil, Sheldon, Derek, and others.
God sisters and brothers, Geneva Martin, Minette Cooper, Mary Storr, Wilton, Glen and Clarence Bartlette.
A host of other relatives, spiritual family and special friends too many to name, and the church family of 5th Street Church of God.

40th Anniversary, Bahamian Majority Rule Day (Jan. 10, '07)

Just Before Entering ...

We must give it to the Hebrew people … their oral and written testimonies of God’s favor, faithfulness and redemptive power gave birth to the three major world religions, and thousands of years later, continue to influence political, theological and social realities, the world over. Even here, in The Bahamas where so many Bahamians flock to give their praise, time and money to our various churches, it is their reflection of God as the God of Moses and Abraham and the major and minor prophets in the history of the Jews, which inspires this devotion. But it must be noted, and theological emphasis must be given to this most important fact: God is also the God of Bahamians; God is the relevant and very present God of a right now Bahamas, a God whose favor, faithfulness and redemptive power has also brought us safe thus far. However, unlike the Hebrew people, we have failed miserably in our written and oral accounts of God’s glory, weakening our significance in the world, and threatening the true nature of the power of who we really are, CHOSEN.

January 10, 2007 will mark the 40th Anniversary of one of those significant, historical manifestations of our relationship to and with our God. The 10th day of the first month as it was for Moses and the people of Israel so it is for Bahamians. In 1967, this day heralded a new reality not, as it is so emphasized for Black Bahamians only, but for all Bahamians, as that much needed segment of Bahamian society, the average, the ordinary, the majority gained full rights to participation in Nation building, thus making Bahamian society in general, resemble more closely true humanity, true civility. We had on that day been liberated not from evil white men, NO! We had been liberated from the crippling effects of a twisted consciousness possessed by some and accepted by the rest, that somehow privilege (back then, money and power) vested in the few, gave inherent license to deny the less privileged fundamental freedoms and opportunities. We were to go from a reality where few owned and few ruled to a reality that guaranteed that all would own and all would rule by virtue of the fact that by citizenship, all belonged.

Perhaps because initial commentary made this milestone about the dynamics of race only, and not the dynamics of power, somewhere in this paradigm shift, we got lost. Black leaders through the very tool which brought about victory, partisan politics, got lost fighting to wield illusive political power. White leaders and not so white leaders just got lost (went underground), while holding on to economic power; and by not adequately regenerating the true essence of the cause of the movement, Bahamians as a people have found ourselves, some better off than others of course, lost, wandering aimlessly without a concrete collective consciousness and mission as to who we are, where we are, from whence we have come, and where we need urgently to go.

Well, progress is now upon us, all of us, with a fury more intense than that of the three hurricanes combined, which ravaged Grand Bahama not long ago. This Country, by its geographical positioning and make-up can no longer contain its investment potential and has become the envy and interest of the rich around the World. While they are coming in droves and buying and developing our birthright and subsequently owning more and more of our economy, we as a people are busy gearing up to massacre one another politically, and busy perpetuating the various destructive life philosophies born out of our divisive past, which focus on selfish gain over fraternal collective love. Our chance to fully own this Country, of going from care-takers to becoming real stake-holders, that opportunity of the ordinary majority becoming full participants, as was the promise is dwindling before our eyes. But all is not lost, the time of possession is now or never.

Forty years after wandering in their wilderness, a handful of Israelites and/or supporters of the movement, risked everything to catch a glimpse of their own promise that had drawn their fore-parents out of bondage. Upon returning to their leader, most concluded that the struggle to become and possess what God had promised was an impossibility. Focused on their limitations, and focused on the gigantic hurdles standing in the way of destiny, fearful because of the absence of a clear cut plan to victory and constrained by a divided people who had lost sight of the vision long ago, the then advisors tried to convince the appointed leader to settle for present reality … Needless to say with the right leadership, records reflect that in spite of their challenges, the Israelites eventually crossed over and embraced their promise, and their story convicts us today even as it did generations immediately following.

Just before entering a significant historical era of a Nation, leadership, influenced by those who would venture even where the brave dare not go, and convicted by a God who if one is obedient, always keeps His promise, remains focused. Leadership must decide even in the face of nay-sayers and the threat of peril, to at last, bring about that culminating great thrust toward the promise, (for Bahamians, a paradigm shift of heart and mind). And just before entering, real leadership points the way ahead, and inspires a people to follow. In this our 40th Anniversary of liberation and wandering, might I, the one unafraid of the future and the giants, remind our leaders along with my sisters and brothers on this journey that the way is still FORWARD, it is still UPWARD, it is still ONWARD, and the means by which we attain it is still by doing it TOGETHER! Majority however, must not just rule, it must be prepared to serve.

Faith Hall, LL.B (Hons).
Author

Happy New Year Folks!

I have started the New Year lost for words so I figure a baby with sunglasses and a cigarette, chillin’ out, with eyes of hope and expectation says it all.

Yeah, we’re in for trouble (smile).

God bless and keep you all this year. 7 is an historical, significant Hebrew number. It is said to represent completion – ending of a cycle, beginning of another. So I wish you all the beginning of a new cycle of good fortune and plenty. For many, dreams will unfold as the longsuffering of “the promise” will finally come to pass. For many, the various forms of famine will have ended, drought will be replaced with showers of miraculous blessings and the weeping of the long night will turn to shouts of joy in the morning light. In all these things remember to keep God first in your lives and acknowledge Him as the author and finisher of cycles.
Love etc.,
Faith