By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
GRAND Bahama Human Rights Association President Fred Smith has called on the government to pass a Human Rights Act and make it an offence to “abuse people hatefully in public”.
His statements were in response to an anonymous group that donned hats similar to those worn by Ku Klux Klan members and paraded in protest against Mr Smith and conservationist Louis Bacon during the New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade.
A subsequent video of the “protest” went viral on social media, with Bahamian residents expressing how “ashamed” they are to “be Bahamian”.
Last month, Mr Smith and with Save The Bays director, Joseph Darville, said they feared for their lives after allegedly being targeted by an aggressive group of young men holding menacing and defamatory banners bearing their names and faces during a “hijacked” rally in support of a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Responding to the protest on New Year’s Day on Friday, Mr Smith called it a “national disgrace” that sends a “clear message of hate, racism, xenophobia and anti-foreign mentality to the world”.
He also said he would be making a complaint to Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade because he is in “fear for (his) personal safety”.
“It is shocking that my government, the police, Junkanoo committee, organisers, should have allowed people dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan parading down Bay Street, sending a message that white rich foreigners, Haitians, and Bahamians like me of Haitian descent are not wanted in the Bahamas,” Mr Smith said. “I think that was a national disgrace, and it was an embarrassment to human rights in the Bahamas. It should never have been allowed by the authorities. I am shocked that the Junkanoo community put that on. It sends a clear message of hate, racism, xenophobia and an anti-foreign mentality to the world.”
During the first week of December, Mr Smith and Mr Darville pleaded for police protection after the FOI rally was disrupted by what they claimed was a “bought and paid-for mob.”
During the New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade, an unknown group, armed with placards and donning KKK masks, marched in protest against Mr Smith and Mr Bacon. One placard called Mr Smith a “Haitian infidel,” while another read “Is Fred Smith a Bahamian or an illegal Haitian?” Another person could be seen carrying a placard saying “Fred Smith, another foreigner in the conspiracy to overthrow the PLP.”
Another read “Skin Coalition to Banish Bacon.” On the other side of that same placard, a picture of a burning cross could be seen, with text beneath it reading ”Bacon is KKK”.
One Facebook user, in response to the video, said: “As a white Bahamian, I am disgusted that this is ok in the eyes of the black population and it is another nail in the coffin for me and my family to leave because it shows no balance and no equality for the white population. If the white population ever had to display such a nasty protest, what an uproar we would have. It shows the divide between black and white (people) which shows no respect for the white Bahamians unless black Bahamians stand up to stop foolish and disgusting behaviour which this Junkanoo group displayed. I am ashamed to be Bahamian.”
Mr Smith echoed the user’s sentiments, and called on “all right thinking people in the Bahamas to condemn this outrage”. “As president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, I call on my government to pass a human rights act, which will include anti hate laws, anti corruption laws, and make it an offence to abuse people hatefully in public.
“I will be making a complaint to the Commissioner of Police because I fear for my personal safety, and that of Louis Bacon, Joe Darville and Dianne Phillips, all of whom have been the object of horrible, hateful public demonstrations, social media and YouTube video hate-mongering.”
Comments
JJSherman 9 years, 3 months ago
If the black Bahamian people don't change of their dirty ways they are going to continue to bring torment and suffering to the Bahamas. As a Bahamian myself, this is one of the reasons I left, most Bahamians are mean spirited people on the whole no matter how much you give to them they want to continue to take and not give anything back. Face it I am not the only Bahamian that feels the way that I do. With all of the murder's and trials the Bahamas has been dealing with is not getting any better but it's going to have to really get worse before these people will do better by God's laws. Simply loving people for God's people instead of their nationalities or color. I thank the Lord that I don't have that kind of mentality it's so sad when people ask me where am I from and when I let them know the Bahamas, there is nothing been said good about the country. As for Fred Smith I don't blame him and he should leave for to be put in the position that him and his family is been put in he shouldn't stay if he has somewhere else to go. I said it in 1975 to my Step-Dad that the Bahamas was going to get worse, and I have said it to many people and I am saying it again it's going to hit rock bottom. Because God is not pleased with what is going on in the country etc.
TruthHurts 9 years, 3 months ago
"Simply loving people for God's people instead of their nationalities or color."
I can understand your point in some respects but not all. Bahamians love to interact with different nationalities and races hun. What is a known problem and a fact is that when people from different races migrate to other countries they don't assimilate. They bring 'their' culture with them and expect to carry out the very same practices in someone else' country; and expect people to just 'DEAL WITH IT'! "Haitian and proud", "Dominican and proud", "Fill in the blank and proud" are statements that's pretty superfluous if you ask me! No one is knocking your culture, if you're so proud why have you migrated? This is the question I pose. People need to make sense!
My thing is this... If you migrated for the reasons of a better life. Obvious if the country of your choice is better off than where you left; can't it be that their doing something right??! If you're gonna migrate and DEMAND that the country bends to your needs is very very selfish way of thinking. YES! An individual should be treated as a human being with dignity, but No, I wont change the system that's been in place to accommodate you! If you don't like the way things are done, you have the option to leave just as you came. Simple!
GrassRoot 9 years, 3 months ago
yes, but there are many people that cant leave - because they were not allowed a decent education and work in jobs that don't allow them to give their kids a decent education. If we want to be part of the 2nd or 1st world, we have to be able to get everybody to read and write and use a computer, so we have all the knowledge to make up our minds and decisions what is right and what is wrong, rather than sheepishly being herded around by some self proclaimed and subsequently elected (non knowledgeable and clueless) saviors' of the Nation. Too many are selling their votes literally for a bucket of fried chicken. The Gold Rush is still going on, just in a different format, and many Bahamians are paying the price for the benefit of a few Bahamians. It has nothing to do with foreigners or other countries, this beautiful Nation needs to teach its citizens that "it is about us before it is about me". Then things will finally change.
birdiestrachan 9 years, 3 months ago
JJ Sherman you are not a prophet. So all of your pronouncements on the Bahamas means nothing. As far as Fred Smith goes with his hate laws. He should start with him self .Because he comes across as a very hate full persons. Now those of us who love the Bahamas will stay in the Bahamas and try our best to make a difference.
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