A Time for Reflection and Sobriety

We believe that when the history of the twentieth century is written, we are fairly certain that some scribe or the other will take note of the fact that once the Second World War was ended; so – too – did the British Empire unfold.

In the twilight of empire, new nations were birthed, inclusive of some of this world’s smallest state entities.

Today some of the smallest, tiniest and weakest of states are nominally sovereign.

With this as background, we celebrate this nation’s achievement of Independence.

As we do so, we feel obliged to reflect on some of those matters that today seem to threaten the Bahamian people and their accustomed way of life. Here the reference we make has to do with a crime rate that is high and growing.

There is that plethora of economic, social and cultural challenges we face as part of a region which is itself mired in a host of problems.

No problem we face is materially different from those faced by our neighbors, inclusive of Haiti and Cuba.

The problems we face derive from a common source, namely in our collective relations with the region’s great neighbour to the north.

For better or worse the United States of America remains this region’s most important partner. In a sense, their problems are our problems. And assuredly, some of their solutions will soon enough be ours.

Indeed, whether the reference made is to human trafficking, gun violence or the trade in drugs, policy decisions made in Washington ramifies, resonate and reverberate from Guyana in the south to Jamaica and the Bahamas, among other regional players.

More to the point, history – as we understand the term –

is being made every day. History is always being made by those who lead and those who follow.

On occasion, history is made when people decide that they will up-end accustomed ways of doing things.

Indeed, this is – quite literally speaking – the way of the world.

As every school child would know, the celebration of the achievement of Independence marks a now accustomed date on this nation’s calendar.

Clearly, no date in this country’s history is as important as Independence Day. But even as we make this point, we do admit that there are Bahamians who would argue that Majority Rule Day is as important.

Both dates loom large in the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of Bahamians.

But looming even larger in the minds of people in the wider region is the history of the Haitian Revolution, a cataclysmic set of changes that continue to inspire people around the world.

That great Revolution continues to inflect celebrations everywhere else in the region, inclusive of our own beloved Bahamas. This is – in part at least-being driven by the fact that tens of thousands of Haitians now live and work in this country.

As we know, very many of these people were obliged to seek asylum in this country, as they fled the tyranny of Papa Doc and his murderous Ton-Ton Macoutes.

Incidentally, most of these Haitian people hail from the northernmost parts of Haiti; these being precisely those parts of Haiti that are closest to the Bahamas.

As Franklin Knight so correctly observes: "Within fifteen turbulent years, a colony of coerced and exploited slaves successfully liberated themselves and radically and permanently transformed things."

Professor Knight tells us that, "It was a unique case in the history of the Americas: a thorough revolution that resulted in a complete metamorphosis in the social, political, intellectual, and economic life of the colony. Socially, the lowest order of the society—slaves—became equal, free, and independent citizens…"

He also tells us that, "Politically, the new citizens created the second independent state in the Americas, the first independent non-European state to be carved out of the European universal empires anywhere."

These changes, however, were not accomplished without extremely painful dislocations and severe long-term repercussions for both the state and the society.

Today we can report that while it might be true to say that all is not well in either Haiti or the Bahamas, progress is still – one way or the other – being achieved.

In other words, we – like the Haitian people and a host of other peoples around the world – are also making history.