Updated for:
Thursday, February 09, 2012 8:07 PM
Helpful Tools
Subscribe to:
The Myth of Identity and Our Dirty Little Secret
- read comments (81)
- recommended ( 16 )
- print this page
- email this page
Share This Article:
Diigo/FurlPublished On:Monday, February 08, 2010
By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMIANS base their very survival and sense of self worth on preserving what is believed to be the quintessential Bahamian way of life. With a possessive, sometimes almost fanatical sense of pride, they stand unwavering in defence of this identity. Unfortunately, the concept of a Bahamian national identity is so problematic it essentially boils down to an evolving fantasy.
Just one generation ago, in the era of my father as a young child, Bahamians were British subjects with British travel documents. The first concept of 'The Bahamas was formulated in the 1600s by the Eleutherian adventurers. The first Bahamian constitution was brought into being only in 1963.
The basis of the Bahamian national identity is the political framework established by the constitution. This legal document, inherited from the colonial era, defines who is and who is not a Bahamian.
The Bahamian national identity, in this sense, is a political identity that emerged by necessity, along with all other post-colonial nation-state identities, as a pragmatic way to construct modern constitutional democracies.
The matter becomes problematic when this political identity is mistaken for an actual cultural identity, because it was for similarly pragmatic reasons that the collective cultural expression of European and African descendants in the Bahamas became known as Bahamian culture. At best, the Bahamas as a cultural identity could be described as embryonic, but it would probably more accurately be described as a myth.
The cultural identity of people living in the Bahamas prior to the adoption of the nation-state identity was primarily African or European. The Yoruba in the Bahamas identified with their Yoruba cultural heritage. The same was true for the Kongos. This extended into the twentieth century, as Dr Cleveland W. Eneas documents in his autobiography, "Bain Town".
At some point along the way, being African became irreconcilable with being Bahamian in the psyche of Bahamians of African descent. The mythological Bahamian identity was all they now accepted. This came at the expense of being disconnected from the deeply rooted cultural and genealogical connections to Africans across the colonial empire in the West and on the African continent. This leaves Bahamians of European descent at the same place Africans are, in need of reconnecting to their cultural heritage, before "The Bahamas", which is the true source of their identity.
This explains why Bahamians feel no sense of kinship with Haitians, Jamaicans, Cubans or Africans; they are completely identified with their modern political identity and have little depth of character when it comes to cultural heritage. The perceived threat Haitians pose to the Bahamian identity is a farce, because culturally speaking the two countries share the same African heritage, even though the colonial experience produced diverse cultural expressions. Yoruba in the Bahamas, Santaria in Cuba and Voodoo in Haiti - all afro-religious retentions - are expressed differently, but the parallelism is unmistakable.
Perhaps the root of the hostility is the fact that Haiti is the Bahamas' biggest secret. This secret is bigger than any news of any number of "outside" children; it is disruptive to the status quo. The Bahamas was populated by Haitians; at least, that is what Haitian elders say. They have a saying, "se Haitien ki peple naso". To them, it is laughable that Bahamians are contemptuous towards Haitians, all the while being ignorant of their heritage, as if they are unable to recognize themselves in a mirror.
It is true that Haitians have been migrating to the Bahamas from at least as early as 1804. Bahamians already accuse Haitians of breeding like lionfish, so with more than two hundred years of migration it is not difficult to do the math. United Nations statistics from 2001 show the fertility rate of Haiti was 4.4 while the Bahamas was 2.6. Considering the population of the Bahamas just exceeds quarter of one million, one could expect the density of Haitian heritage to be high.
"We have had blood relationships for hundreds of years with Haitians and the rest of the Caribbean. About 17 per cent of Bahamians have direct blood relationships with the rest of the Caribbean. Amongst those blood relationships, the majority come form Haiti, starting from 1804. It is a historical fact for which there is documentation that there have always been Haitians coming to the Bahamas," said Dr Eugene Newry, former Ambassador to Haiti. The large majority of the remaining 83 per cent have indirect relationships.
These Haitians were not simply of the breed many Bahamians picture today - economically depressed citizens sneaking in at the wee hours of night on questionably stable wooden sloops - these were middle and upper class Haitians. Some were free people of colour and some were light skinned mulattos, who fought with the French, among other categories. These were the men and women who started the nation building project that led to majority rule and the modern Bahamas.
Prominent men in the clergy, politics, judiciary and across society were Haitian born Bahamians or Bahamians of direct Haitian parentage. Goodman's Bay is named after John Goodman, who by current Bahamian standards would be a Haitian. Stephen Dillet, the first man of colour to be elected to serve in the House of Assembly, would be by current Bahamian standards a Haitian. The same goes for Peter Laroda, who is also a former member of the House of Assembly. The three men were brothers.
Anglican priest Canon Cooper is reputed to be a direct descendent of King Henri Christophe of Haiti, the black ruler who built the famous World Heritage Site in Haiti, the Citadel. Sir Arthur Foulkes, Bahamian civil rights activist, has a Haitian mother. Fred Smith, recently appointed Queen's Council, also has a Haitian mother.
Check any number of Bahamian names -- Deveaux, Moncur, Bonimy, Bonamy, Godet, Benjamin, Paul, Dillet, Maynard, Martin, Darvel, Bethel, Nicolls -- and you find they were originally Haitian names or have Haitian counterparts. The matter is further complicated because the British Empire forced immigrants from French colonies to anglicize their names. Many in the Lewis family, for example, were Louis.
Even the most internationally recognised cultural icon of the Bahamas, Sir Sidney Poitier, finds the notion of his Bahamian identity problematic. In his autobiography, "The measure of a Man", he writes: "As a matter of fact it's hard to tell where I came from, Poitier obviously is a French name. Given that we were in an English colonial possession and that Poitier in the Bahamas is associated only with black people, there is the strong implication that the bearers of that name came from Haiti, the nearest French colonial possession to the Bahamas."
Sir Sidney assumes his ancestors left Haiti on their own accord, considering there is no record of a Poitier family of whites in the Bahamas, and Africans in Haiti were free from 1804. The other French colonial possessions in the Caribbean were Martinique, St Martin and Guadeloupe. Sir Sidney found it hard to believe blacks from those territories "way, way, way deep in the Caribbean" would have migrated into the Bahamas.
"The speculation is that the family originated in Haiti and moved by escape routes to the Bahamas, settling eventually on Cat Island. Now mind you, the French in Haiti supported slavery as did the British colonies so at the time of my family's migration to the Bahamas, they were not coming from a slave state to a free state. But Cat Island was such an isolated place they probably had no difficulty in finding if not a family to work for then at least land that they could share crop and live on," he stated.
With such a rich and proud history and culture, it would seem like an honour to be able to own the fighting spirit that is embodied by the Haitian. I was personally disappointed in my genealogical research to learn the Haitian matriarch of my family, Hester Argo, mother of Stephen Dillet, was not a Haitian after all, but an Indian priestess from South America, according to elders in my family. So far my efforts show Stephen Dillet to be my great-great-great-great-grandfather through his outside son John "Papa Johnny" Dillet.
Historians say the story of Hester Argo's South American origin is a family myth that was probably propagated because of discriminatory attitudes towards Haitians. I say so at risk of fueling the fire within the family, which itself is a living case study of the battle between those trying to run away from their Haitian heritage and those trying to honour it. The records still show Stephen Dillet was born in Haiti to a Haitian mother.
An infusion of Haitian culture in the Bahamas does not have to be a threat; it could be an opportunity for the Bahamas to be enriched by the culture from which I dare same many if not most Bahamians came.
Here further is the dilemma of identity. I have Jamaican ancestry on the maternal side of my family. My mother and her descendants were Jamaican, but I know my great-great-great-great-grandmother was an African slave woman in Jamaica. There is barely any record of her name, which is still unknown to me, not to mention the village in Africa from which she came. She is buried in an unmarked grave beneath large white-stone boulders on family property in the hills of Westmoreland. The man who owned and impregnated her, Alexander Johnston, was a Scotsman. Who are we really as Bahamians?
Shea Edgecombe has done extensive research on her Haitian-Bahamian heritage, and her family roots in general, which stretch back to the Yoruba of West Africa. She is convinced that someone went to great lengths to deprive the Bahamian knowledge of self. She believes if Bahamians ever discovered who they really are, which can only be done through history in her view, their perspective on matters concerning Haiti and Haitians would change drastically, "guaranteed".
"The conspiracy to suppress the Haitian connection in the Bahamas is so grand. It is as deep as it is wide. What happened was this, the European plantation owners in the Bahamas sought to demonize the Haitians and turn the Bahamians against them because they were afraid the free Haitians who were coming here would introduce the Bahamian slave workers of plantation owners to the concept of freedom. So this stems way back and it is still alive today," said Mrs Edgecombe.
The research of Sean McWeeney, former attorney general, reinforces the insights of Mrs Edgecombe. Mr McWeeney did extensive research on the Bahamian reaction to the revolutionary upheaval in Haiti in the early nineteenth century. He documented how there was an intensification of racial control by the colonial government in order to suppress any chances of free people of colour and slaves from organizing to act out potential revolutionary sentiments.
"When the slaves of Saint Domingue rose up in 1791 on a scale wholly without precedent, slave owners everywhere trembled in fear that insurrectionism of similarly apocalyptic tendency might prove contagious. Perhaps nowhere was this more keenly felt than in The Bahamas itself. For one, the sheer closeness of the madding crowd exacerbated the sense of terror. But it was not close proximity alone that accounted for the dreadful foreboding among white Bahamians," states Mr McWeeney.
The arrival of migrants in the advent of the Haitian revolution was a major concern. This was the first recorded wave of Haitians arriving to populate and develop the Bahamas. Middle and upper class Haitians fled the country, having been supporters of the French, and arrived in the Bahamas in droves with horror stories of the revolution. They arrived with Africans of every assortment: "Negroes, mulattos, mustees and other people of colour."
In a coincidence of history, this was the same era the white Loyalists from North America arrived with their enslaved Africans. There was an unprecedented and dramatic shift in the racial composition of the Bahamas, with non-whites significantly outnumbering whites.
The colonial government moved swiftly to contain revolutionary sentiments. In 1793 a tax was levied on Haitian slaves and free people of colour. The importation of slaves from Haiti was later outlawed. Free people of colour from Haiti were later given a two month amnesty to leave the country or risk arrest and deportation at their own expense. The Night Patrol Act of 1795 was put in place in the wave of a foiled plot, allegedly spearheaded by "French Negroes" to burn down Nassau.
This is the colonial mentality that lingers in the Bahamas today. It is not simply a matter of national security or economics, which is the typical rational for the intolerance of Bahamians today. It is politics. It is history. It is mental slavery, alive and well. Bahamians who spew out unsubstantiated, derogatory and prejudiced claims about Haitians would be hesitant to believe that their hate is an evolution of the mentality of their very own slave masters.
It was always the African element of Haiti with which the European world had a problem, and today that remains true with the West, Bahamians included. The vitriol expressed for the practice of Voodoo, is just one example of how the intolerant Christianized mind of the modern Bahamian has been disconnected from its roots. In the nineteenth century, the colonial government in cahoots with the Anglicans and Presbyterians, implemented strict regulations to suppress the Methodist and Baptist churches to which Africans belonged. They were not "real religions", in their view, and were prone to inciting insurrection and subversive behaviour, according to Mr McWeeney.
Today, the most venomous feelings towards Haitians are concentrated at the lowest end of the social ladder, according to some Bahamians and Haitians alike. Mr McWeeney said the United States has a similar problem, where the most radical and vocal critiques of progressive policies towards African Americans come from poor whites in the deep south, often labeled as "poor white trash."
Unlike the original migrants from Haiti, the other significant wave began in the post 1957 environment; this was after the social, political and economic destruction created by the repressive Duvalier dynasty. Haitians arriving in the Bahamas from this time were primarily from the North. This group contained few mulattos, and few who could pass as middle class. They came, as they continue to come, in search of economic opportunity.
Since 1957, many Haitians have fully integrated into Bahamian society and are indistinguishable from Bahamians with no Haitian heritage. Over time, many of them steadily moved up the social ladder.
"There is a special type of prejudice reserved for Haitians. They assimilate as a survival mechanism," said Mr McWeeney. He recalled that Sir Lynden Pindling's Jamaican father never lost his Jamaican accent, after years of living in the Bahamas. He said Haitians ensure that they do, because there is so much pressure on them to assimilate.
Ten years ago, Jessica Robertson, a master's student in international journalism at City University in London, wrote a thesis titled, "Haitians in the Bahamas - Burden or Contributors to Society." Her thesis could very well be published in its entirety today and be passed off as current research.
"Most Haitians interviewed said the brunt of the prejudice they have experienced has been dealt out by members of the lower class Bahamian society. Poor and black, like the Haitians they resent, the dispossessed and marginalized Bahamians are closest on the feeding chain to the poor Haitian immigrant. They compete for the same jobs, the seats in public school classrooms, and care at the public health clinics. It follows that they feel most threatened by the growing Haitian community," stated Ms Robertson in her thesis.
It is bad enough that so-called 'Bahamians' have no appetite for all things Haitian, but to deprive Haitian Bahamians of a sense of pride by failing to pay due respect to the contribution of Haitians in the Bahamian nation-building project is a recipe for ingrown hate and social upheaval.
For some time historians and social commentators have wondered in wait about when the generation of stateless Haitian Bahamians will rise and revolt in protest of their rights.
"We are facing the possibility of civil war or, at least, civil unrest; a threat to the domestic stability of the Bahamas," wrote Alfred Sears, former Minister of Education, in a 1994 edition of the "Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society." He was not speaking of an inherent violent streak in Haitian Bahamians, but rather their dispossession by the state and wider society.
Some people boast of their Bahamian credentials by saying this is where they "born and grow", but that is entirely problematic for the group Mrs Edgecombe calls "ghost children." Children "born and grow" in the Bahamas to a Haitian father, irrespective of the citizenship of their mother, are stateless for the most formative 18 years of their life. They have a one year window to obtain Bahamian citizenship, between ages 18 and 19, or else they are no longer entitled.
Up to age 18, who are they, if not Bahamian? The social implications of this statelessness are probably more real than the perceived negative social impact of the Haitian presence. Haitian Bahamians, for example, are made to pay international tuition rates when attending the college of the Bahamas. This is not likely to provoke the feared civil unrest, but it is still a significant reminder, not to mention financial strain, of that failure to belong experienced by many Haitian Bahamians.
"When the country you are born in does not want you. The country they claim you should go to has no knowledge of you. What positive attributes can a position like that manifest? What happens to children who have no sense of belonging? Aren't these more likely than not the children who are going to gravitate toward gangs and so on? The Bahamas is not just for Bahamians. The Bahamas is for Bahamians and people who live here and make a contribution. That is what our history tells us," said Mrs Edgecombe.
She recently staged an ambush on children at Stephen Dillet Primary School to ask if they knew who Stephen Dillet was and his contribution to the Bahamas. She said two out of three children in the group she spoke to were of Haitian heritage, and no one knew the answer.
When she informed them he was a famous Haitian-born Bahamian writer, orator and politician, the children were flabbergasted. They begged her to come back and tell the children in their class. The same happens when Haitians come to her husband's barber shop. The same happened when she gave a talk at the Kemp Road Urban Renewal Centre on the topic of Haitians in the Bahamas. They were surprised to hear a Bahamian speaking positively about Haiti and they were thirsty for information.
"When I was done they were like can you please come back and tell us more. They are sceptical, because for their entire lives they have been ostracised, criticised, condemned, and ridiculed, because they are children of Haitian ancestry," she said.
Aside from the political contributions to nation building in the Bahamas, and the genealogical connections, the Haitian impact was probably most profoundly felt in the area of agriculture and small business. Dr Newry said Haitians were always excellent farmers and builders, and some of their descendants still are.
"Haiti provided a significant contribution of food supplies to the Bahamas during World War II. That is significant. It is very interesting when Bahamians are now collecting food for Haiti (since they were struck by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake). That is what you call communal living and sharing," said Dr Newry.
"Without the Haitian agricultural worker in the Bahamas there can be no agriculture. (It is) not because Bahamians are stupid, but because Bahamians have a different perspective on the social prestige of being a farmer than a Haitian does. If you had a magnet that could suck out all of the Haitians, the Bahamas would be in economic chaos if you did that. That is why they make the occasional raid, but they will never get rid of everyone because they are needed," he said.
As far as the international community is concerned, Haiti also made history-shaping contributions. Haiti was the place of refuge for Simon Bolivar, who was the leader of the South American revolution. His direct actions are said to have resulted in independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Free blacks in Haiti, who had secured their freedom by conquering the French colonial empire militarily, financed and supported by other means the revolution to the south. Some say, Haiti will always be a friend of South America because of its instrumental role in supporting the fight for freedom there.
Haitians also fought in the American War of Independence. According to Ambassador Joseph, they sent soldiers to fight in Savannah, Georgia. Last year the city built a monument to commemorate the Haitian contribution to the war. The founder of the city of Chicago was Haitian born Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable.
It could really be "better in the Bahamas" if the country recognised its Haitian roots and the Haitian presence, truly representing its rich and diverse cultural heritage. Imagine the positive impact Haitian Bahamians could make if they felt truly accepted as Bahamians and proud to be Haitians; if they were confident enough to emerge from behind the shadows.
Haitians and Haitian Bahamians are not a contained social group that can be rounded up and excised from the country to prevent them from infiltrating. Frequent news of raids or mass deportations may have Bahamians believing so. The cat is already out of the bag. Haitians are fully integrated into Bahamian society at all levels of the social ladder. "They been here and they ain goin no where."
"It is not true; it is not fair to say they are only employed in menial jobs. They are a part of the middle class. They are a part of the business sector. They do not mention that because now they are living as Bahamians, but if you go back you will realise they have Haitian origins and they contribute to this country," said Louis Harold Joseph, Haitian Ambassador.
"Even though some people do not mention that, very quietly you find a lot of Haitians living here working in the public sector, private sector, in the banks. These are Bahamians of Haitian origin who contribute proudly to this country," said Ambassador Joseph.
I know there are people who would prefer if the government based its policies on tactics from the Apartheid era. At a community forum hosted by psychiatrist Dr David Allen, a participant vocalized what some Bahamians feel privately that Haitians should carry a passbook.
I think it is fair to say, xenophobic policies and ignorant attitudes win out at the eventual peril of Bahamians. Those committed to the war against Haitians might as well keep banging their heads against the wall. What is needed is sensible and informed attitudes, behaviours and policies towards Haitian immigration and Haitian integration.
Reader Comments - 81 Total
House Rules
- Be nice. Everyone is entitled to an opinion even if it differs from yours.
- Be honest. Check your facts before posting.
- Don’t curse. Surely you can find a way to communicate without resorting to profanity or delving into the gutter.
- Keep your comments relevant to the topic of conversation.
- Links to outside sites will be deleted.
- If you want to sell something, contact webads@tribunemedia.net to book an online advertisement.
- If you’re doing something illegal, don’t write about it here. And don’t encourage anyone else to break the law.
- Let us know if something offensive, slanderous, libelous or just plain illegal has been posted by clicking on the ‘report this post’ link.
- We like feedback, so let us know what you think of a story. If you have more information, share it.
- If you spot a spelling error in one of our stories or think we've got our facts wrong, email jrobertson@tribunemedia.net or call 242-322-1986
Posted By: EMPATHY On: 1/6/2012
Title: Seems Like This Is Where The Bahamas Is Headed After All
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1907, François Duvalier had a front seat for an era of Latin American political turmoil. The invasion of US Marines on Haitian soil in 1915, followed by incessant violent repressions of political dissent, and American installed puppet rulers left a powerful impression on the young Duvalier, as did the latent political power of the resentment of the incredibly poor black majority against the tiny, powerful Haitian elite.Lucky enough to be schooled and literate in a country where all but a tiny handful were illiterate, François attended medical school and participated in a US funded public health campaign to eliminate yaws (a common bacterial disease that had crippled thousands). Parlaying his modest involvement into tales of his single handed eradication of the disease, Doctor Duvalier became more and more involved in the negritude (black pride) movement of Haitian author Dr. Jean Price Mars, and began an ethnological study of voudou, Haiti's native religion, that would later pay enormous political dividends.When FDR withdrew the Marines, the puppet governments left in power by the Americans were quickly chased out of office as years of resentment from the populace exploded. The reigns of power shifted with dizzying speed, with the average President holding power for less than two years. Military brasshats came and went, as did senators and populist rabble rousers, but through it all, the "quiet country doctor" held his cards to his chest, seeking his foothold in Haitian politics. He finally got it when elections were held in 1957 to replace deposed military strongman Paul Magloire, and through hook and crook (not to mention outright election fraud by the Haitian army), François Duvalier was inaugurated as president of Haiti that same year.No sooner had Duvalier assumed power when he made immediate moves to consolidate it. The formerly timid and passive appearing Doctor Duvalier (who had affectionately nicknamed himself Papa Doc, noting that "the peasants love their doctor, and I am their Papa Doc") transformed himself, to everyone's amazement, into a firebrand. He reformed the loosely controlled gang of thugs he'd utilised to annoy his opponents in the 1957 election into a tightly controlled secret police, nicknamed the Tontons Macoute after a mythical Haitian boogeyman that grabs people and makes them the disappear forever. Papa Doc's opposition was fractured and jockeying for their own share of government kickbacks and fraud. Papa Doc wasted no time in sending his enemies to the ghastly Fort Dimanche to be tortured to death. The country's leading newspaper editors and radio station owners were jailed for specious sedition charges, and it soon became clear that the good doctor would not simply be a transit ory authority figure as his predecessors had been. And being a friend of Papa Doc was not much safer than being an enemy, as Papa Doc quickly learned to dispose of his allies when he thought them too ambitious, including his dear friend and Tonton Macoute chief Clement Barbot.Within the space of two years, Papa Doc had politically castrated the Haitian Army, which had traditionally been the largest threat to the power of the Haitian presidency, with his Tonton Macoutes and his draconian "Palace Guard", his own personal army. He also survived scattered invasions from exiled opponents, including the one that came closest to toppling his regime, an eight man invasion team half composed of Haitian exiles and sheriff's deputies from Dade County, Florida. He'd also deliberately terrified the uneducated peasantry by posing as Baron Samedi - the vodou loa (spirit) of the dead. And indeed, when wearing his top hat and tails, Papa Doc was the spitting image of the Baron, and wasted little time printing posters that suggested quite straightforwardly that Papa Doc was one with the loas, Jesus Christ, and God himself. His endless harangues broadcast on the radio built his bizarre personality cult in a similar fashion. His most famous propaganda image shows a standing Jesus Christ with his right hand on a seated Papa Doc's shoulder with the caption "I have chosen him".On the international scene, Duvalier quickly attempted to warm his regional rivals over to his regime with bald faced insincere flattery, and his penchant for promising to fight communism in Haiti. He quickly found ways to deal with his cross border rival, the infamous Dominican dicator Rafael Trujillo Molinas, who had planned various political intruiges against Papa Doc until they reached an understanding that amounted to "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours". Papa Doc was no less adept in Cuba, awarding Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista Haiti's highest (and newly invented) medal of honour for a small $4 million loan which went straight into Papa Doc's pockets. When Batista was ousted by Fidel Castro, Papa Doc didn't skip a beat and quickly lionized Castro without a trace of irony. Latin American embassies in Port-au-Prince were filled to bursting with Papa Doc's political foes seeking asylum, yet the doctor and his cronies always placated outraged embassadors with yet more bald faced (and often incomprehensible) flattery until things quieted down.However, all the backyard foreign diplomacy paled when compared to the way Papa Doc played Washington like a fiddle. Papa Doc shamelessly played the race card, chiding Washington for cozying up to Trujillo while leaving the "poor negro Republic out in the cold". When Washington stopped falling for that, Papa Doc then shifted to the fight against communism. When Castro and America were at loggerheads during the Cuban missile crisis, Papa Doc shifted into high gear, promising Washington everything short of his bank account to help depose Castro. After the crisis, incredibly, Papa Doc resumed to cozying up to Castro, letting Washington know in no uncertain terms that more aid money would probably warm him back up to Washington's foreign policy directives. Papa Doc extorted Washington in this fashion until the day he died.On the domestic front, kleptocracy was the law of the land. Citizens and foreign businessmen alike were shaken down to the last dime for a bizarre project to ostensibly build a utopian town called "Duvalierville". Needless to say, nearly every cent stolen for Duvalierville went straight to Papa Doc himself. Papa Doc similarly cowed the Vatican by expelling almost all of Haiti's foreign born bishops in the name of nationalism and replacing them with his political allies, an act that got him excommunicated from the Catholic church. With his enemies cowed and the entire nation in fear of his secret police, Duvalier declared himself "president for life", and rewrote the constitution after a rigged election to pass power onto his hefty and dim-witted son Jean-Claude upon his death. Through it all, the Haitian GDP plummeted as did the living standards in Haiti. Intellectuals and college educated professionals fled Haiti in droves, creating a brain drain that exacerbated an already serious lack of doctors and teachers. Peasant land holdings had been confiscated and alotted to Tonton Macoute bigwigs, the miserable slums in Port-au-Prince swelled with the homeless and desperate country folk who had fled to the capital seeking meagre incomes to feed themselves. Malnutrition and famine had become endemic. Almost none of the aid money given to Haiti was appropriated properly. Instead, it fattened the bank accounts of Papa Doc and his small handful of cronies.When Papa Doc finally died in 1971, he had managed to bring an already poor nation into unimaginable poverty and misery, as Haiti became the poorest nation in the Americas as a direct result of his wild kleptomania. His twin legacies, the 15 year rule of his son (deposed in 1986), and the creation of millions of political and economic refugees. It is fitting that his grandiose mausoleum in Port-au-Prince was demolished by angry mobs who had finally learned to stop fearing the quiet little country doctor, only 20 years after his death. A TRANQUIL NATION EXISTED UNTIL HUBERT INGRAHAM SOUGHT TO ENSURE THAT THE SPIRIT OF DUVALIER CAME TO THE BAHAMAS UNDER HIS REGIME. THEN AGAIN EVERY MERE MORTAL WOULD MET THAT WHICH CAUSES THEM TO LEAVE EVERYTHING THEY SEEK TO TAKE FROM OTHERS AND IN THE END ALL IS VANITY NO MATTER WHAT.
Posted By: 47 Ronin On: 1/6/2012
Title: 40plus
Be encouraged my friend. Do not allow an isolated and misguided minority make you feel that their opinion is superior to yours. I am addressing YOU and not them because I see value in you, and your heart. IF I were to address THEM, the only thing I would say is something like:
"May The Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."
Now remember also 40plus, another quote :
"Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, than beat you with experience"
Peace, my friend.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 1/5/2012
Title: @40plus
I guess you can't read. Read my posts below. In no way, shape or form do I support illegal immigration. I point out that our roots as BAHAMIANS are diverse and cosmopolitan. I said nothing about recent Haitian immigration. So, who is the fool? Read my actual comments below, don't assume you understand my position.
Posted By: 40plus On: 1/4/2012
Title: @ Erasmus Folly
When you're on your deathbed, let's hope you remember how you spouted nonsense and didn't think much of God, heaven, right and wrong. You are the one who thinks you are morally superior - it is your ego that even cyber world can't sustain - your big opinioin and vanity that is putrid - and your moral superiority complex that is laughable. How sad. For all of the learning you think you have, you really are a hateful person and with attitudes like yours, it's little wonder this country is in trouble. You may be just ok with illegal immigrants coming in almost daily and being a burden on this country but I am not and if with all of your 'education' you can't figure out that these people have an agenda that will only lead to the destruction of this country, then you are indeed an educated fool! How idiotic to try to sell the overrunning of this country by illegal Haitians as making the country richer and cosmopolitan! And you call others idiotic! They come here and do as they like while the rules apply to the rest of us. So, if you don't want to pray and believe in the Word of God - fine - but don't complain when you get what is the result in taking God out of everything - utter mayhem. So you continue to worship at your altar of self where you reign supreme but some of us have to live in areas where our real estate is being depreciated by their presence and their dumping. So until you have to build a wall 8 feet high just to try to insulate your children from the bags of human feces that they dump near your home or have to endure their worship chantings and burning of fire- save us the self righteous rhetoric. Since you love it so, come and live in it and THEN you can go on your soap box and comment on the stench, the noise, the lawlessness, the disrespect! Try that on for an education and let's see how you love it.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 1/4/2012
Title: @40 plus
You God freaks are all the same. Little knowledge, little understanding, little reading, little learning, little facts, little science... big opinions, big egos, big moral superiority complex, lots of vanity. Grow up and learn something and get educated and stop prattling on about nonsense. Bahamians need less church and more school, then they might actually develop some common sense, cause there ain't nothin common about common sense in the Bahamas right now. Too many ignorant people with no sense of history and little to no education. Sad. The Bahamas is so much richer and cosmopolitan and interesting than you idiots would like it to be with your simplistic Jesus view of everything.
Posted By: 40 plus On: 1/3/2012
Title: @ 47 Ronin
Thank you for standing up for BAHAMIANS in the BAHAMAS. The writer and others like her have an agenda that have absolutely nothing to do with the advancement of this nation. Bahamians have not only a right but an obligation to stand up and defend the land the one true and living G-d has blessed us with. It is a fact that the things that separate us from our neighbours to the south are the things that really matter and belief in ONE true and living G-d is the biggest divide. Bahamians will do well to remember what happened to the children of Israel when they started to do as the heathen nations around them. The Bahamas acknowledges the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These other people believe in false gods and enshrined their worship of these false gods in their constitution. Bahamians should be alarmed that these people are being given the right to vote. We cannot allow them to do to this nation what their idol worship has done to theirs.
Posted By: 47 Ronin On: 12/30/2011
Title: In defence of Our Bahamaland
I'm long overdue to respond to the writer of this article (who clearly has issues with Bahamian people DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS ALLOWED HER TO ACQUIRE CITIZENSHIP - AND AFFORDED HER AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION THAT HER IMMEDIATE FAMILIAL TIES WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRIVY TO IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY)
I have seen what you (and others like you) have printed so often that I am now compelled to address you, and ask you several questions: Why is there a dogmatic determination by you (and others like you) to convince the Bahamian populace that everything Creole is the best thing that ever happened to this nation of ours?
According to my research (and probably the same sources you used), Stephen Dillet was the son of Etienne Dillet, a French officer. Is it not possible that Mr. Dillet, being a French officer in that era was more likely to be a Frenchman instead of a Haitian?
Everything French does not necessarily translate that it must therefore also be Creole. If that were so, every Englishman would be a Bahamian and every Bahamian would be an Englishman. Is every Frenchman a Haitian? Is every Haitian a Frenchman?
My research has also shown Stephen Dillett's mother to be named Mary Catherine Esther Argo. The Argo name (if properly researched) shows quite clearly it's origin is Scottish (from Scotland).
You are also quick to bundle together Bahamian surnames and label as Creole in origins (Poitier, La Roda, and Deputch in particular). But I have yet to meet ONE Haitian with those surnames. Poitier and Deputch I concede are indeed French, but we must agree that being French does not automatically qualify for Creole. LaRoda is an entirely different kettle of fish. In all of my searching I have not found ONE Haitian with that surname. Worse, no Frenchman with that title. That is because LaRoda is not a French surname, but actually Spanish. This is evident by the thousands of Spanish speaking LaRodas on the Internet, and the presence of a centuries old town in Southern Spain bearing the identical name (next door to LaMancha 39 degrees N. Lat - 2.5 degrees w. Long).
The fact that Joseph LaRoda it is the half brother of Stephen Dillett is not something I would debate. Joseph was older than Stephen by several years. My research has also shown that their mother arrived in Haiti (from Panama) with Joseph already a youngster, so Joseph could not possibly have been Haitian. It seems likely that Mary Catherine Esther Argo was not married to either Joseph's or Stephen's fathers. According to the Bahamas Nationality Act as it stands today, neither Joseph or Stephen would be Haitian.
But, why have you (and others like you) stopped at Haiti in your argument that more Bahamian ancestors have arrived by boat and we would care to admit? Why not take it all the way back to Africa, which is where ALL BLACK PEOPLE CAME FROM.
Don't get me wrong people. I am not knocking the significant contributions Haiti and the Haitian people have made to our Bahamaland over the centuries. Their generosity and sacrifices have not gone unnoticed by the Bahamian masses.
I simply will not allow you (and others like you) to paint and bash ALL Bahamians with regards to our Creole roots. An ignorant minority of Bahamians should not cause you (and others like you) to believe that ALL Bahamians are anti-Haitian.
The Bahamas continues to absorb thousands of undocumented illegal immigrants on a yearly basis. They continue to tax our natural resources, pose significant health risk (Colorea, tuberculosis, etc), and stretch already overburdened medical and educational institutions. These are facts. There are almost 10 million Haitians and tree hundred thousand Bahamians. If the proper checks and balances are not done, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what the end result will be. Haiti is a sovereign nation. Last time I checked, so was the Bahamas.
You (and others like you) appear to be fixated on convincing the Bahamian populace that we must allow our nation to be overrun. Bahamians (apparently) must allow our sympathies for the plight of the Haitian causes to cause us a nation (essentially either expanding the territories of Haiti, or creating a second Republic of Haiti).
What I also find interesting is the fact that no one seems to be addressing the religious issues of our Creole comrades. In the global scheme of things, it would appear that every nation who has recognized and accepted God (the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) as the only and living God, have done well for themselves and their people. What do the Haitians believe in? Which god (or gods) do they serve?
Please don't see this as Haitian bashing. But it's about time somebody stood up and defended the sovereignty and integrity of this nation, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. May God continue to bless this nation of ours. Bahamian people, it's time to pray for our nation.
Posted By: Elder S. A. Kennedy, Sr. On: 12/14/2011
Title: Very Good
What a fantastic article. It would be good if the thoughts and ideas expressed would be a part of social studies in the school system of the Bahamas. People of African ancestry have, for too long, allowed themselves to be divided and by current political and national boundaries as well as false perceptions promoted by another dominant culture. Most have not seen their true heritage and contribution to every nation where we have been dispersed. "Rise Up Africa ... embrace the dawn of a new era". Stop hatin' ya peoples dem. Dey just like we because dey is we.
Posted By: Hubert Ingraham On: 11/6/2011
Title: Nonsense..
Yeah? I don't know bout ya'll.. but I come from da' Arawaks!!
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 9/10/2011
Title: Waste of space...
You're playing an ignorant and arrogant know it all ass in your own right. So, I repeat, unless you actually have a point about an article, please refrain from commenting without saying anything of merit that isn't simply an ad hominem attack. Jack ass! The Bahamas is a cosmopolitan place. It's time we wake up to that reality. We have many and diverse roots. It isn't simply African or British or black or white - we're mixed up with Seminole indian, British, continental European, Haitian, Jamaican, other parts of the Caribbean, Chinese, South American... It's time the fact that there is a diverse cultural heritage and legacy here be explored and vocalized and celebrated, rather than constantly being cast in the ignorant and arrogant shadow of robust politically motivated and culturally crass 'Bahamianization' attempts. These programs, in their very approach, foster ignorance and invite an introverted, shallow, uninformed, simplistic and ultimately culturally solipsistic world view. The very kind of world view, that you, Jimbo, betray with every imbecilic post you write. It doesn't matter how far you travel if you don't open your mind and learn when you get there. Wake up! Grow up! Evolve! This is the information age and you're an anti-information, ignorant ass it seems!
Posted By: Jimbo On: 9/10/2011
Title: @folly
Folly I know who the loyalists was, I also know educated as**s like yourself.I never said that Bahamians was not from those places, I just said most of our roots are from Africa and Britain. Trust me I know you have to be a woman because no man would bit*h like you do. You can call me uneducated all you want, I can read, write and have countless trades. I'm also traveling like mad. So you can push on lady because if being educated means being a like your arrogant know it all a** i'm just fine.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 9/10/2011
Title: @Jimbo
Your ignorance is demonstrated in all your comments. I don't call you anything that you haven't revealed. Do you even f^%&^*ing know about the Loyalists? They were American Brits, not just Brits. Their slaves were in the new world for a while before coming here. Do you know about all the Haitians, Jamaicans, Europeans and Asians that are here? You stupid ass! We are not all only from Africa and Britain, although if you want to say that all humans are from Africa ultimately, I'll concede that. Calling me a woman etc is just further proof of how f%^&ing dumb you are! Grow the f%^& up and learn something and don't comment about me or my points unless you actually have something coherent and intelligent to say. So many f^&*ing ignorant losers like you in the Bahamas! F%^&! Such a beautiful country and so many f^&*ing stupid, ignorant and uneducated people!
Posted By: lol On: 9/9/2011
Title: @ joy
Had you continued to read the Canadian constitution, you would have found this excerpt that relates to 3 (1) (a) "Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply to a person if, at the time of his birth, neither of his parents was a citizen or lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence". I didn't make this up, check the website for the Department of Justice Canada - www.justice.gc.ca.
Further, read the excerpt from Canadian Citizenship Act prepared by Margaret Young of the Law and Government Division - Government of Canada. An exerpt from the debate in 1997 over this very issue in Canada follows. After this national discussion, the law was changed to what it is today and that is a child cannot claim Canadian citizenship if neither parent is a Citizen or Permanent resident of Canada.
Any number of renowned legal commentators confirm this is the position. If a country with the size and resources of Canada (and the Uk and others) made this change to their Constitution, surely, a country as small as the Bahamas must be able to put in place similar restrictions for its protection.
"There has recently been some discussion and controversy in this country about whether or not Canada should modify the aspect of its current citizenship law that grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on Canadian soil.(6) In May 1994, Citizenship and Immigration Canada raised the issue for discussion in a paper entitled A Citizenship Strategy, prepared for the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.(7) The document posed the question:
• Should the current practice of extending an automatic right to Canadian citizenship as a result of being born on Canadian territory be dependent on one of the parents being a permanent resident or a citizen, unless the child would otherwise be stateless?
In its June 1994 report Canadian Citizenship: A Sense of Belonging, the Standing Committee noted that the entitlement to citizenship arising from birth on Canadian territory could be subject to abuse. It noted particularly that some women appeared to be coming to Canada solely for the purpose of giving birth here and thereby assuring their babies of Canadian citizenship.(8) The Committee therefore recommended that children born in Canada should be Canadian citizens only if one or both of their parents is a permanent resident or Canadian citizen. As had the government, the Committee stated that this rule should not apply if its application would render a child stateless; it also recommended that there be an exception for children born to Convention refugees and refugee claimants whose claims are accepted.(9)
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Hon. Lucienne Robillard, was quoted in the press recently as saying that the issue was being studied for possible inclusion in a citizenship bill to be presented to Parliament. The Minister spoke of an additional factor to that mentioned by the Committee:
We have a situation with the Immigration Act where we decide to remove people to their countries and suddenly the kid was born in Canada, the kid is Canadian. But neither of the parents are Canadian or landed immigrants. The kid is. So do we have to do something about that?(10)
Posted By: Jimbo On: 9/9/2011
Title: @folly
Please take your fat out of shape self and get a man. Most of our roots are from Africa and Britain you damn loser! How can you call me an uneducated ignorant a**? Folly you know nothing about me, you may think these things about me but my fair lady I have worked all over Great Britain and have a road so long of things that I must accomplish. So Folly my tribune friend who has a secret crush on me I got three words for you ''get a life''
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 9/6/2011
Title: @Jimbo
You're an uneducated, ignorant ass. Bahamians roots are from far more than just Africa and Britain. They're from those places, but they're also from Jamaica, the United States of America, Trinidad, Haiti, continental Europe and beyond. You're just a moronic simpleton. Stop wasting people's time, especially yours. Try reading some books and open that thick, dense skull of yours to some intelligence, education and reason. Sick of so many f%^&ing stupid people here with their petty world view and outsized egos of patriotic vanity. Grow the f^&* up!
Posted By: Joy On: 8/21/2011
Title: Wrong Again - keep sparring!
Get your facts straight. Here is an excerpt from our citizenship act....actually if you were born here after a certain date (just like your Citizen rules) you ARE INDEED a citizen of Canada. Where do you get your information? Not too educated from the looks of it. In fact, our previous Governor General was born Haitian and we had a vigorous program to bring Haitians to Canada during her tenure. It was quite successful. And that was BEFORE the earthquake and cholera epidemic. But the universe sees to the age old adage "what goes around comes around" and so multiple sorrows are visited upon you once beautiful nation.
PART I
THE RIGHT TO CITIZENSHIP
Persons who are citizens
3. (1) Subject to this Act, a person is a citizen if
(a) the person was born in Canada after February 14, 1977;
(b) the person was born outside Canada after February 14, 1977 and at the time of his birth one of his parents, other than a parent who adopted him, was a citizen;
(c) the person has been granted or acquired citizenship pursuant to section 5 or 11 and, in the case of a person who is fourteen years of age or over on the day that he is granted citizenship, he has taken the oath of citizenship;
(c.1) the person has been granted citizenship under section 5.1;
(d) the person was a citizen immediately before February 15, 1977;
(e) the person was entitled, immediately before February 15, 1977, to become a citizen under paragraph 5(1)(b) of the former Act;
THERE'S MORE...LOOK IT UP. And OMG, it is not only rich Asians who are emigrating here. Honestly, you don't know what you are talking about - there are Sikhs all over my province, most of whom are NOT wealthy. There are Phillipino nannies, there are thousands of Somalians - patriated here simply because of their plight in their homeland. Same goes for Ethiopians who came in the 1970s and the Ismaili's from Kenya and Tanzania who also came in the 1970s...you really should write a thesis on Canada's immigration policies and the success (or not) thereof as compared to the Bahamas....but then again, you might not now what a Thesis is.
Posted By: lol On: 8/15/2011
Title: @ joy
sorry, should read Canadian citizenship is not bestowed on children born in Canada to non Canadians - especially if they are illegal.
Posted By: lol On: 8/15/2011
Title: @ joy
Canadian citizenship is not bestowed on children born in Canada to non Bahamians - especially if they are illegal. It is true that Canada welcomes immigrants, but having lived there for years (legally), let's be honest that in the most recent years, they have been economic immigrants from Asia in particular who are granted status if they have a particular net worth. Canada is NOT open to the poorest of refugees from any country in the world who can make it their shores. If you were, we would have gladly sent thousands of persons we cannot absorb to your borders. Your policies are NOT designed to simply absorb whoever comes to your border. There was a deliberate decision made to attract wealthy immigrants from Asia in particular which is why so many of them have dual status - Canada and elsewhere. Canada has the immigration policy it has chosen for itself in the fact of an aging underpopulated nation. You also have the capacity to detect and monitor illegals better than a small archipelago. In fact, if Canada was as open door as you suggest, after the earthquake in Haiti, they should have airlifted as many of them to Canada as wanted to get out. If you accept whoever wants to come - how is it that your embassy in Port au Prince was careful to let Haitians know there was NO open door policy for Haitians. Anyone who doubts that should just call ANY Canadian embassy today - start with the ones in Haiti and Jamaica. Let's be real here. If you are prepared to let them in - we can IMMEDIATELY - send you tens of thousands of Haitians no other country in the world has opened its borders to. We have done are share - where is the compassion from the largest economies in the world.
Posted By: Tim On: 8/12/2011
Title: @joy
your writing showed me you don't understand. WoW!!!! is all I can say to you just read everything I said ok!! Like I said Canada has the resources we don't.Think of the size of The Bahamas so you would never compare it with Canada. If we don't protect our borders we would be a failed place just like Haiti. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day I know I will. p.s nothing is little about me!!!
Posted By: JOY On: 8/12/2011
Title: Even more from disillusioned
At the risk of making myself look as ridiculous as you (by my reiterative post) I wish to add that while Canada is, indeed, the second larges country in the world, most of our land is tundra and frozen, and in fact (you can look it up if you know how), almost the entire population is concentrated along the southern border with the U.S. and 62% of the population resides in either Ontario or Quebec. So we are definitely feeling crowded...but you could come live here in Nunavut if you wish to get far away from the Haitians who are "ruining" your country. You could live on whale blubber, baby seal, caribou and bush berries. That should make you happy. And one more statistic for you....In Canada about 12,700 people were deported between 2005 - 2008. In contrast we receive (and welcome) between 240,000 - 265,000 immigrants annually. Canada has the highest per capita net immigration rate in the world. So don't try to tell me I don't understand.
Posted By: JOY On: 8/12/2011
Title: More from disillusioned
Tim I can say Bahamians hate Haitians because that is the impetus behind the original article. I believe in the research conducted to support that article. However, I want to amend my just submitted note - In fact Tim, in 2006 (the best data available at present) the population of Canada was 53% "Canadian English". The remaining 47%, nearly half of our population identifies as being from elsewhere. So don't talk to me about immigration. Canada is a nation of immigrants (as is the Bahamas if you would read the original article). I only have to read your newspapers every day to see that the majority of Bahamians do hate Hatians. But I am impressed to see those that have commented below with wit, compassion, intelligence and understanding for their fellow man. Do you think I like Asian tongs killing each other in broad daylight in my city? No, but I don't support my government rounding them up and sending them back to Viet Nam or Hong Kong unless they commit murder, or some other equally heinous crime. When they are guilty of cleaning the toilets and kitchens and offices of the office towers downtown AND everywhere else, then they deserve to stay because no one else wants to do it. Cheap labour is cheap labour, and only those willing to do it get paid. Your citizens frequently indicate that what you desire are the best paying jobs with the least amount of effort. Again, I get that from reading your newspapers. Mea culpa if your newspapers are misrepresenting you to the world.
Posted By: Joy On: 8/12/2011
Title: Whatever you like
Tim, you already proved back in January that you are an idiot. Jesus teaches compassion. He shared his one loaf and one fish. And by the way, take a walk through my city and you will find that there are more Asians here than what are referred to as WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Protestants - who, incidentally, decimated all the Blackfoot, Peigan, Blood, Cree and various other native peoples - like they did the Caribs, Arawaks, etc. in the Caribbean), so my city and country are also subject to whatever our immigrants bring us....West Nile Fever, Bed Bugs, Encephalitis, but we still let them come and make their homes here, and yes some Canadian say they are ruining our country. But those are the ignorant ones. The face of the world is changing, and the Bahamas can't believe that they are immune to the migrating global community. Little Timmy can.
Posted By: Tim On: 8/11/2011
Title: @JOY
You are really disillusioned, How in the world can you say Bahamians hate Haitians? How can you compare The bahamas one of the smallest countries in the world to Canada the second biggest in the world? obvioulsly your not aware of the facts!!! The Bahamas is a real tiny place Haiti is a country with over 8million people and millions outside of it. The Bahamas has a population of about 350,000 people which haitians are like 70,000 to 100,000. So honestly think how Bahamians feel with a primary school that has 80% Haitian. ''Bahamians hate Haitians'' HELL NO WE DON'T HATE HATIANS, WE HATE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO OUR COUNTRY. The Haitian population in The Bahamas is ALARMING!!!!!!, Canada has the resources to take on boat loads of immigrants we don't think about it.
Posted By: Joy On: 8/10/2011
Title: Disillusioned Canadian
I have written here before. I simply cannot believe that Bahamians hate Haitians so much. I have told all my friends about the pandemic of hatred in the Bahamas and have begged them not to spend even one more tourist dollar in your nation filled with hate. We accept immigrants - yes from BIG boats - every day in Canada. We have some issues too, but we rarely send them back. And yes we do give them a place to live, furniture, bus passes, education (particularly English as a Second Language classes at college) and health care. Canada is a compassionate nation. The Bahamas are an ignorant nation.
Posted By: Jimbo On: 8/4/2011
Title: @folly
Smt women can you please get a life, Bahamian roots are from Africa and Britain bottom line.I don't care how much Haitian try to twist things around and stick their head in another man country. Bahamas and Haiti only have two things in common which does every country, we all came from the mother land. So you and Nicolls can take you'll B.S somewhere else. Nicolls taking the time to write about her controversial Haitian brothers and sisters. Nicolls should take her time and energy to write to her country on how they can better themselves,and stop relaying on such a small country to help them out in some way after so many years.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 7/7/2011
Title: @Scribe
Pharisee too hey? What an eloquent way to say nothing at all of substance. Your argument is essentially that Bahamians don't think about being Bahamian, they just are Bahamian? That's it? That's what you have to offer this discussion on the complexity of our culture's historical background? You need some schooling and you could do with a little more thinking. This whole country could. You sound more like an American than a Bahamian to me. "If you know your history, then you would know where you're coming from." Bob Marley said that a long time ago. You need to know and understand your 'roots' to know where you going. And everyone's roots are complex and multifaceted in the Bahamas. We are all mixed here to one degree or another. The simply 'categories' of black, white, etc are irrelevant here, because if you scrape even one or two generations back in every family, there is a more complicated story. Please, don't advocate for the dumbest among us or for the least common denominator or the 'normal' people. That isn't interesting in life. What's interesting in life are things that are unique and exceptional and what's amazing about most Bahamians is that there story, our story, is quite unique and exceptional, but the UBP and the PLP perpetuated two great lies on this country. The first, black is evil. The second, black is good. Black is neither good nor evil. People are good or evil, not their race or tribe. It is the choices that individuals make that determine whether good or evil triumphs in this world. I say again, we are all Bahamians and each of us has a pretty unique story to offer the world. The more we embrace our multifaceted and multicultural history, the more interesting and dynamic this place will become and the MORE, not the less, we will strengthen what is REAL Bahamian culture. Not 'pop' or 'commercial' Bahamian culture - we are the culture. Our stories, our lives, our journeys and those of our ancestors. Wake up Bahamas!
Posted By: The Scribe On: 7/6/2011
Title: Bahamians have an Identity
Dude! The Bahamian identity is an "evolving fantasy"? I remember once when i was a kid my dad had to explain to me that i did have an accent like everyone else but since the accent was my norm I could not realise it even existed. The writer does not realise Bahamians have a national identity because it is the norm for him. The Bahamians have an identity, it may not be sufficient or glamorous enough for the writer to recognise or accord the status "an identity", but it exists nonetheless. Only a bahamian, understands what it means to say the writer is a "boongie!" What is identity if not a discernible culture and its many ingredients? Our identity is less where we came from and more who we are. Our identity is our culture bey! For example, it is not our culture to insist that our identity is an "evolving fantasy". Those who identity themselves as Bahamians often do not say stuff like that.
Posted By: Bossman general field marshal inspector On: 6/17/2011
Title:
Bey saying Haitians ein pose a tret ta der bahamas cause ya share der common african heritage one of der dumbest tings i eva heard bey. bahamas an aiti got bout 400 years of divergent political social and economic development general. while some bahamians and aitians share a common african heritage der experience of slavery was totally different here vs there, colonial administration totally different (haiti french, bahamas part of der "most beneficent form of empire"), plus haiti got der revolution right roun der time when der bahamas was experiencing a major population shift wit der arrival of der loyalists and dey slaves and der transition to a black majority, an den haiti got 200 some years of independence i could go on. ya gat a dumb point bredren. so much experience is stand between der modern bahamian and darkest africa it ein even reasonable ta make dat connection.
also ya totally mischaracterize slavery in der bahamas der plantation period was so limited in scope and duration.
Posted By: Lynette Adderly On: 5/26/2011
Title: Who gets to choose?
Bahamians
A naturalized citizen of the country born here or here before independence.
Individuals born here in the Bahamas to Bahamian parents; whether it be a Bahamian man or woman.
What is in the past is in the past.
We, (Bahamians) have to make a choice to secure our future, i don't care whether that Bahamian came from a haitian heritage or whatever but now in 2011 we allow people from all over to migrate to our country and destroy it because they are looking for a better life(this country has more Haitians than any other nationality, we owe them nothing). If they can prove ancestral roots then they get to stay (The Constitution) otherwise all need to go.
What about a better life for Bahamians? Let these people go home and stop leeching off the backs of the Bahamians who have worked to put this country in a successful state of progress. Bahamians be proud of your heritage whatever that may be. And to the Bahamians who have pledge allegiance to their heritage rather than their country; take your heritage and go where it lies!
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/23/2011
Title: @Pahiki
And they are as similar to each other, in both cases, as they are as different to Chinese or something else truly 'foreign'. To understand, one must compare and contrast, appreciating similarities, differences and degrees of both. Haiti has played a role in our history. To deny that is to adopt the blind man's pose. I prefer to see. Truth is better than fiction or ideology.
Posted By: A.H. On: 3/16/2011
Title: Wonderful!!!!
What a wonderful article!!! Very well written!!! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Posted By: Pahiki On: 3/1/2011
Title:
To say Bahamians are Haitians you might as well say they are Africans. The measure of the culture is not your roots but what you raised with. Haitian culture is as different from Bahamian culture as American from English.
Posted By: pappa doc On: 2/16/2011
Title: sweep your own front door
the country of haiti is in need of poeple like u to help in the rebuilding process.When are you going to contribute ? help to fix haiti
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 1/28/2011
Title: More sense...
http://www.tribune242.com/editorial/01272011_Humans-Africa_editorial_pg4
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 1/24/2011
Title: @Bahama Boy
Read my posts. I don't attack Bahamians. I attack ignorant Bahamians. It isn't my problem that your reading comprehension skills are lacking. The most empty headed fools always talk big patriotism and flag waving and nationalism, but the content of their thoughts and the content of their character leave much to be desired. My criticism of the Bahamas is always constructive criticism. It centers around three main points generally: A. We need to raise the quality, standard and cultural value and appreciation of education in this country. B. We need people to be more open minded and global in their thinking and in their approaches to problems. We have far too many people who think family or party first and have absolutely no idea how to put country first. They don't look to examples in the rest of the world for 'best practices' in how to approach or solve our problems. That is a colossal waste of time and money. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. Find a good wheel, use it and move on to the next problem. C. The overly religious, tribal and cult like way of thinking about things here is a serious problem. We live in a scientific and technological age, but our people are constantly embracing stone age ideologies and trying to apply them to modern problems. That simply doesn't work. We need to raise the standard of thinking and dialogue in this country if we are going to address our problems. We need to move beyond third world stupidity. This is an amazing place, but it is severely weighed down by the incompetence and ignorance that is tolerated by far too many of our people and our leaders. It is also one of the most international places in the world, yet we don't celebrate our very rich and multi-cultural heritage as a people, embracing a very myopic and ignorant view of our own history; one buried in shame and resentment, rather than true pride, grit and determination that a better future is always possible.
@Tim I don't debate complete idiots. Bahama Boy at least tries to make coherent arguments. They might not be the brightest, but at least he is debating. You're just a typical uneducated, ignorant small minded Bahamian - the worst example of our people and nothing worthy of comment. Get a life.
Posted By: Bahama boy. On: 1/23/2011
Title: @Erasmus Folly
I am a patriotic Bahamian,...... like many (others)...... who love, live and will die for this Country...... It is sad,...... it seem (Erasmus Folly)..... you dont feel that way. For one thing;...... you need to say something good for once about the Bahamians and the Bahamas;.......... instead of mouthing and dragging us and our country down; or, is that hard to do....... I would be the first to admit;...... Yes, we have so-much problems in our country,...... but we have to work it out among ourselves: And to "you people"; who are "hell-bent" on digging the Bahamas under ground,...... I want you to know, I will be there, "step n step" to defend (Her).
Posted By: Tim On: 1/22/2011
Title: @folly
You suck lady, I told you before you need a man or just maybe your fat and have a bad attitude and no one wants that. I honestly feel you got some haitian parents or have haitian children not a thing was wrong with what bahama boy said your just a loser. GET A MAN AND GET A SHAG PLEASE!!!!
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 1/20/2011
Title: @Bahama Boy
A typically myopic and ignorant post. You really do yourself in with your truly basic and uninformed commentary. You're trapped in a PLP time warp mentality. I hope more Bahamians are more open minded and more confident in themselves and their heritage than the blatant racism and small minded thinking that your views tend to represent. No one is trashing the Bahamas. To praise the fact that this is a far more cosmopolitan place than the average imbecile assumes is not to trash it, but to praise it even more. The cultural strength of the Bahamian people is not in doubt, except for small minded people like yourself.
Posted By: Junkanoo On: 1/16/2011
Title: @ bahama boy
I honestly agree with you so much, dude you hit the nail on the head. I feel real good inside, I will have a cold KALIK and CONCH proud of my country 242 big homie. writer u suck!!!
Posted By: Bahama boy. On: 1/15/2011
Title: Don't Trash our Bahamas.
I find this story is about nothing. Nothing but, simply to validate and or massage one's legitimacy into a great (Country) as the Bahamas; and while at the same-time, it seems the writer relieves the brunt of feeling humiliated in not having the courage to have stayed and face the the world from where her farther came, an unsuitable place: Normally I would not mention the writer but in this case I felt compelled to and the "jest" is she interjected herself thus, making it fair game. This story to me is about, (Opportunists and Blood Sucking) and at the expense of the Bahamas, culture and it's people. I found it offensive, the writer, within her mind and a stroke of her pen demolished our Bahamian culture and History. If she was informed, she would have known that our Heritage the (Slaves) landed in the Bahamas four hundred years ago. They having built this Country, the lease she could have given us is ownership, certainly, after four hundred year of free-labour. Yes, we are descendants of Africa so are Haitians, Jamaicans, and Black Americans and truly, we all may have been related at some point. However, we all now have a right to claim what we inherited and that is the Country of our Heritage, in-which they worked and died for in our case the Bahamas. It is the same rights as Jamaica, Haiti or America. The writer, bolster the other failed countries while discounting the Bahamas. The writer should give thanks to God that her Forefathers who stole away and landed in the Bahamas and for that she should be great-full for the position she holds. It may seems a luxury for people to brag of the many places they are from but they seem never to want to leave the Bahamas. It is one thing to be proud from where you came, but don't do it at the expense of my Country the Bahamas.
Posted By: GOGO On: 1/2/2011
Title: GOOD TOPIC
YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY
Posted By: Ears to Hear On: 11/28/2010
Title: Take abit of advice - God don't like ugly
Please learn from the mistakes of the U.S. My grandmother use to say "God don't like ugly" I was raised by a Bahamian father and African American mother. Most of my life was spent in th U.S. While reading ...
"When the country you are born in does not want you. The country they claim you should go to has no knowledge of you. What positive attributes can a position like that manifest? What happens to children who have no sense of belonging? Aren't these more likely than not the children who are going to gravitate toward gangs and so on? ""
I thought of the neighborhoods that I grew up in the U.S....true words. This is not a light topic...the biggest mistake to make is to assume that one group is superior than another....that's a recipe for disaster.
Posted By: Bossman On: 11/11/2010
Title: Nice try...
but most of the French names you refer to came with South Carolina Loyalists descended from French Huguenots who settled there in the 17th century.
Posted By: cordell_thmpsn@yahoo.com On: 10/21/2010
Title: Haitian priests
Great Stuff Ms. Cooper..but it was not CVannon Cooper and you may be referring to Cannon Milton Cooper. It was Father Marcian Cooper, the first Black Anglican priest inteh Bahamas and he was descended from Henri Christophe. Fathr Coooer was my great grandfather. Another relative, Mr. Garth Reeves, the publishser of the Miami Times actually has Christophe's sword. You may wish to seek him out for another perspective.
Posted By: Cordell_thmpsn@yahoo.com On: 10/21/2010
Title: Haitian
Great Stuff Ms. Cooper..but it was not CVannon Cooper and you may be referring to Cannon Milton Cooper. It was Father Marcian Cooper, the first Black Anglican priest inteh Bahamas and he was descended from Henri Christophe. Fathr Coooer was my great grandfather. Another relative, Mr. Garth Reeves, the publishser of the Miami Times actually has Christophe's sword. You may wish to seek him out for another perspective.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 9/22/2010
Title: Bigger picture...
All of our cultures? How about all of humanity? The human race was born in Africa, not just blacks. All human beings are from Africa. Science has proven this beyond a reasonable doubt. How about celebrating that? Why think in terms of narrow groups of 'race', 'ethnicity', 'culture' or 'colour'? All figments of racist imaginations, when you can think in terms of science and realize that all human beings are descended from a few primates that decided to stand up and look to the heavens and wandered, what are those stars? Today, we know. They are distant suns. We have come a long, long way, but we continue to allow our petty jealousies and insecurities to hold back the human race. Divide and rule will only tear us apart... We are all Bahamians and we are all immigrants. The difference we have to watch for is illegal vs legal immigrants, because without the rule of law, this country will fall apart.
Posted By: BLACK LION On: 9/22/2010
Title: KNOW THY SELF!!!
WE (MELANATED PEOPLE) ARE ALL OF AFRICAN DESCENT! SO STOP TALKING FOOLISHNESS BOUT, "I IS BAHAMIAN, AND YOU IS HAITIAN!" SUCH BUFFOONERY!!!
WHEN IN REALITY ALL OF OUR CULTURES CAN BE TRACED BACK TO KUSH AND NUBIA (ETHIOPIA)! LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF AND EACH OTHER! TO HELL WITH RACIAL SEGREGATION! HAITIANS LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER! MAYBE BAHAMIANS SHOULD GET OUTTA THEIR LITTLE BOX AND TAKE NOTES!!! THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN NASSAU, BAHAMAS YA KNOW!
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 8/17/2010
Title: ?
Debate the points?
Posted By: Watching On: 8/16/2010
Title: Truthfully
Why do you assume I was referring to you seeing your name is not mentioned at all? Or are you trying to create an "illusion" that things are the way you say it is? 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 8/10/2010
Title: @Watching
I am Bahamian, therefore I am in my own land. How about the fact that you insult me by assuming that I am not Bahamian and not reading what I wrote with enough care to know the difference, just because I think different to you? Did that ever occur to you? Overly religious Bahamian Christians love to talk about respect, but they really don't respect anyone that thinks different to them at all. They are quite happy to say that people who think differently are 'living in sin' or to casually imply that they are 'going to hell' or that they are 'bad people'. They do these things without a second thought to the individual being so offended because they believe their religion gives them license to be casually judgmental of others, whether those others are good, decent, respectable people or not. They'd faster forgive a thug who claims to believe in Jesus, than a decent person who has their own thoughts on things or a respectable person who happens to be homosexual. It doesn't really matter to them. They are quite happy to assume that the vast majority of Japan, China, India, the Middle East and the rest of the non-Christian world are 'going to hell'. I can respect Christians, but not overly religious evangelicals. The latter are not about anything genuinely spiritual, in my experience. In fact, they strike me as quite far from the genuine spiritual message of Christ, which teaches people to love their neighbor and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Real respect, not the hyper-judgmental variety preached in this country.
Posted elsewhere, but relevant: Pointing out scientific facts is offensive? I am proud to be Bahamian, but I am not proud of my country's hatred and ignorance of science. We are an ignorant country, because we have low levels of education. That is a fact. It isn't an opinion. Don't confuse ignorance with stupidity. They are not the same thing at all. Stupid we are not, sadly, ignorant, on average, we are.
ignorance ('?gn?r?ns)
— n
lack of knowledge, information, or education; the state of being ignorant
Sadly, in 2010, it is an undeniable fact that we are a woefully ignorant people. I don't say this to bash, but to point out a fact. Denial gets us nowhere. The longer we deny reality, the longer we remain in ignorance and the longer we condemn our people to a future steeped in continued ignorance. Our lack of care for math, languages (including English) and science and our obsession with over religiosity will perpetuate that ignorance until our children have only gospels to eat and, like the Taliban, violence becomes the only 'economy' they understand. Is that what we want? That is always the result of too much religion without genuine spirituality, violence. Look around, it is happening already.
I would add that our woeful ignorance of history, our own and the world's is a massive factor in our continued overall ignorance. Bahamians pretend that the only 'history' that matters is biblical history and/or the history of our country since the rise of LOP. This is another major contributing factor to the overall ignorance of this nation. Again, I don't say this to bash, but to spark critical thinking and perhaps a reevaluation. Over religiosity has bred a society that has now embraced gangsterism and a ghetto way of life, that is reality. Perhaps it is time to try actually educating people so that they are empowered to think for themselves, not follow 'leaders' like blind sheep over a cliff... then again, Haiti and Jamaica are right around the corner and their pattern was ours, lots of religion, a drug boom, ghetto-ization... I guess history repeats itself, because we definitely don't learn from anyone else's mistakes. How can we? We are too proud to even contemplate comparisons. We aren't even aware of them to begin with. We just think Haitians have problems because they are 'inferior'. That is the general attitude of our people. Incredible really, considering our own history.
Posted By: Watching On: 7/23/2010
Title: Where Are You Going?
Like it has been said, "It doesn't matter where you come from, but it does matter where you are going." If truth be told, all nations biblically on the earth today are the descendants of Noah as everyone on the face of the earth was wiped out during the flood except Noah, his wife and three sons and their wives. And I am not forgetting some of you say you don't believe the Bible. But where are you going in this journey of life? Hell or heaven? When it is all said and done "Only what you do for Christ will last!" What have you done for Him who died for you lately?
Posted By: Watching On: 7/23/2010
Title: Another Comment
Speaking as a Bahamian Citizen, we generally don't like the practice of obeah and vodoo and we don't buy the lie that everybody is doing it! The majority of Bahamians despise it because it is clear the devastations that it brings on lands that adopt it, the poverty, and confusion. Would to God it be eradicated from our land! And we say, it cannot deliver those who put their trust in it. This view is directly taken from the Holy Bible which I ascribe to and live by as my forefathers. As for hating Haitians, it is these practices which they say is their national religion we hate. I call on everyone to put their faith and trust in the true and living God, by confessing their sins, forsaking them, and surrendering their lives to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died to pay the price for the sins of all mankind. Jesus receives all who come to Him in truth.
Posted By: Watching On: 7/23/2010
Title: Some Advice
You don't despise a man when you are in his land. That's what Bahamians don't like. People in the Bahamas who have utter contempt for the Bahamians. Then why are you here? If you don't like us, why are you in our land?
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 7/10/2010
Title: Bahamian
It being Independence Day and all, why don't you start it? Pose the question, give your idea of it and see what other's say.
Posted By: Just a wondering citizen On: 6/30/2010
Title: Questions
Interesting and insightful article. In light of the global influence on our country, from U.S. media, European education, immigration, etc, what or who is a Bahamian? What is our culture? Would like to hear comments....
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 6/30/2010
Title: @TIM
Stateless people are far more dangerous than those with status. That isn't opinion, that is historical fact. Bahamians ignore that at their own peril. I don't share Mrs. Bernhardt's views, so lumping us together isn't effective. My argument is very different. We are running a huge risk perpetuating a stateless society within our own borders. Either kick them out or naturalize them and co-opt them, but business as usual is not an option. It's like gambling, the limbo status of its legality is retarded. Either legalize and move on or make it illegal and shut it down. Rule of law is what we need. Hypocrisy is what we have.
Posted By: TIM On: 6/28/2010
Title: TO MRS. BERNHART, LAST PART TO FOLLY
I HONESTLY DON'T GET MOST PEOPLE ON THIS PAGE, HOW CAN MOST OF YOU GUYS SAY BAHAMIANS DON'T LIKE HAITIANS AND JAMAICANS. IF BAHAMIANS DON'T LIKE JAMAICANS WHY IS THERE MUSIC ATTRACTED SO MANY BAHAMIANS? IF BAHAMIANS DON'T LIKE HAITIANS WHY HAVE WE CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THERE LIL CORNER SHOPS ? WE HAVE THEM WORKING ALL IN THE STRAW MARKET AND EVERY WHERE ESLE. MRS. BERNHARDT YOU DON'T HIRE HAITIANS AND JAMAICANS BECAUSE OF WORK ETHICS
YOU HIRE THEM BECAUSE YOUR TIGHT AND WANT CHEAP LABOUR. IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT HAITIANS WOULD ALWAYS HAVE JOBS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT I WORK REAL HARD FOR MY MONEY. BAHAMIANS DON'T HATE HAITIANS BOTTOM LINE! ALOT OF US JUST DON'T LIKE HOW THEY LIVE, THEY WANT EVERYTHING FREE! LAND, SCHOOL, HEALTH CARE AND WHATEVER ESLE THEY CAN GET MOST OF THEM. THE HAITIAN POPULATION IS TO LARGE HERE THAT IS THE PROBLEM, SO TO USE THE WORD HATE THAT IS NOT A FAIR COMMENT. WHEN I WAS A LIL BOY IN KEMP ROAD I HONESTLY
COULD COUNT HOW MANY HAITIAN FAMILIES THERE WAS, NOW I CAN ONLY COUNT THE
BAHAMIANS THAT IS SAD. I REMEMBERED WHEN ATLANTIS LAYED OFF ALL THOSE PEOPLE, NOW IF YOU GO OVER THERE AT NIGHT ALL YOU WILL SEE IS HAITIAN EMPLOYEES WORKING AS BUYOUTS THAT IS SAD TOO. SO WITH ALL THIS (HAITIANMANIA) THERE WOULD BE ALOT OF PEOPLE THAT DON'T LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON. HAITI NEEDS TO BE REBUILD BUT THEY DON'T EVEN WANT TO HELP THERE OWN PEOPLE. HOW MANY OF THE PROUD HAITIANS
ARE GOING HOME TO HELP? NOT MUCH. HOW CAN PEOPLE EVEN PUT HAITIANS AND JAMAICANS TOGETHER WHEN JAMAICANS WORK AND GO HOME DON'T HAVE 5 TO 6 KIDS.I FOR DON'T LIKE HAITIANMANIA BUT THAT DON'T MEAN THAT I HATE HAITIANS. HEY FOLLY IF YOU THINK A HAITIAN OR HAITIAN DESCENT WILL HELP WITH THE ILLEGAL HAITIAN PROBLEM WE HAVE, LOL! JOKES ON YOU THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
Posted By: Mrs. S. Bernhardt On: 6/5/2010
Title: Xenophobia at its best!
This is the best article ever written that has been published in a bahamian newspaper...period! The grammar and everything else is second to none! Honestly, the person who wrote this made me start to wonder if they were bahamian...but i guess the article itself proved that they are mixed with jamaican and haitian...
I have always felt that the bahamas is the most xenophobic society that I have ever encountered. My husband absolutely loves the bahamas so he opted to buy property and built a house in the lyford cay area where we visit for winter seasons and to host parties.
If it werent for my husband and his love, I never wouldve set foot back in this place again. When i tell my friends how haitians and jamaicans are treated there, they find it hard to believe. when they go to the bahamas with us for a vacation, they are absolutely horrified about what is said in the papers about haitians and jamaicans and their hatred towards these people.
I handle most matters in the family, and while not all bahamians are like that, I have specifically hired only hatians and jamaicans....because of their work ethics and the hate that some bahamians have for them.
This article is really an eye opener and I will share it with all my friends. I will also, print, laminate and frame a copy. I hope the bahamians who detest these people so much....one day snap out of it.
Once again, a wonderful.....the best article EVER!!!
Posted By: M. H. Coleby On: 5/22/2010
Title: My Distaste for Discrimination
I have agreed wholeheartedly with everything that was written. I have LONG advanced a severe disgust for the way the 'typical' Bahamian treats his Haitian peer.
Yes, racism exists, yes, prejudice exists, yes discrimination exists. However, the extent to which Bahamians have historically gone to belittle and psychologically attack the integrity of Haitians living in the Bahamas has always baffled me. How do Bahamians feel when they are attacked and stereotypically grouped in countries like the USA where they go to seek a better economic status? How would any Bahamian feel about his discriminatory feelings towards Haitians after possibly visiting Haiti and experiencing the economic obstacles they must face day by day? Bahamians sit at home, buy large cars and homes they can barely afford and hire Haitian housekeepers and gardeners. Today, and every other day, we celebrate how slaves revolted and created the equal (seemingly) society today. The way the typical Bahamian treats the poor depressed Haitian exhibits remarkable resemblances to slavery. All that's missing is the whips and torturing. Haitians are severely ridiculed, belittled and psychologically hurt. They are West Indian, they are black, they are HUMANS, just like you and me, just like any other Bahamian. Why treat the tourists like masters but treat Haitians like slaves? Why complain about the amount of Haitians living in the Bahamas then turn around and hire a Haitian gardener to do 3 days of work for 50 dollars? They are people, just like you and me. There is no excuse to treat them the way Bahamians do.
In my family, we have had a Haitian maid involved in the family for a large number of years. She has ALWAYS been treated as an equal, always fairly paid and always given bonuses and paid vacations. We have never belittled her nor discriminated against her. The capitalist society of the modern world has, in my opinion, eradicated our morality, in the sense that we feel the need to fracture our society into different classes and groups. Haitians have unfortunately fallen into the lower class of society. So what if a Haitian can't speak English 'enough'? (Without acknowledging the fact that Bahamian English isn't the best in the world). We have many tourists that come to visit that barely speak English, yet we treat them like kings, all in the aim to further our country (and our lives) economically. Unfortunately, in today's capitalist society, people that cannot satisfy our own self-interests fall in importance. Again, Haitians have fallen into this category.
Discriminating against haitians is going to take its toll on Bahamian society one day. I could honestly write for days and days about this subject, for the sake of space on this website, I will stop here, I've been passionately interested in this topic for years. I hope that this wonderful article reaches the minds of the typically narrow-minded discriminatory Bahamian. We all need to open our minds, and subsequently open our hearts.
M.H.C
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 5/10/2010
Title: Positive suggestion?
@Tim
You gripe, but you offer no solutions. I am offering a solution. We need to try something different if we don't want the same results. So, what's your suggestion? I made one. What do you offer? If we celebrate this place as the cosmopolitan place that it is and treat all the people who have built and contributed to the Bahamas fairly, then we may be able to assimilate the Haitian-Bahamians and they may help us root out new Haitian illegals that keep arriving. That is my suggestion, what is yours?
Posted By: Tim On: 5/10/2010
Title: TO ERASMUS FOLLY
Why in the world do you go on so long. I read and understood everthing you said.I know there are a number of haitians who contributed to the BAHAMAS. There are alot of countries build off immigrants like the USA. My thing is words carry a tone and with your tone haitians would feel like the BAHAMAS has something for them. The way you make it sound is like Bahamians are mostly of Haitian desent. The way I see it if the government don't start to implement new laws and eliminate most of this Haitian promblem, in years to come Bahamians will honestly be number two in this country. The thing is Haiti have such a massive country with millions,yet they want to overhaul little NASSAU to suit them. I said before knowing where you come from is cool but where your going is what matters. The bottom line is we are in the BAHAMAS "love it respect it" because this is our home not AFRICA or HAITI. This is the 242!! later
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 5/7/2010
Title: Who said we don't have a problem? People really can't do subtle thinking in this country.
@Tim
I didn't say we don't have a Haitian problem. My point is more subtle than that. We have a Haitian problem on two fronts - those who are here legally and aren't made to feel a part of the Bahamas and those who are here illegally and we 'accept' them quietly. Please, don't attack my position without reading it thoroughly or understanding it. We need to get tough on our illegals, but in order to do that, we need to be more accepting of the legals that are here and admit and honour the contributions that Haitians and other nationals have made to this country. If you want to be simplistic about it and look at it as if it is an obvious 'black' and 'white' issue (not racially, but contrasting points), then that is part of the problem. Immigration is not a black/white issue, it is necessarily gray, especially in a country of IMMIGRANTS! We are all immigrants to this place at some point, to ignore that is to LIE outright! It is not an easy issue, I never said it was. We have to admit to ourselves that Haitians and the history of Haiti is part of the Bahamas history - part of our story, part of how we got to where we are today. We then need to figure out what we are comfortable accepting and what we need to reject. The current version of history is just bogus! Let me be clear, I reject wholesale the continued influx of illegal Haitians, but if we don't change the way we go about doing this, we will never win. Does what we currently do make any sense to you? It doesn't make sense to me. We need change. Part of that is making those Haitians who are here and have status understand that they are welcome to be here, but that those who come here illegally are not. The assimilated Haitians, in acknowledging their Bahamian status will then join with us in trying to keep illegals out. If we don't win over the ones who have status, then we will never find the new illegals. I am Bahamian so how DARE you tell me to leave the Bahamas, because you have some stupid idea that I am pro-illegal immigration. Get your facts straight! Perhaps all these people who are content to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that business as usual will work should leave the Bahamas, then we could actually fix this place instead of drowning in ignorance and bad attitude neanderthals. People continue to embrace ignorance, short sighted thinking, simplistic 'black/white' thinking and ignore history at their own peril. If you aren't part of the solution, then you are part of the problem and if you take a sledge hammer to a problem that requires a scalpel, then you are s$%^ surgeon! Which are you?? Looking for a real and workable solution or business as usual! Tired of myopic, racist, nationalistic, simplistic people! THINK, OPEN YOUR MIND AND THINK! I love this country more than most Bahamians. I hate that most Bahamians demonstrate complete apathy when it comes to their education, their values, their work ethic, their well being, their families. I don't hate the Bahamas or Bahamians, I hate what we have allowed ourselves to become. You should hate that too, because everyday, there is just more and more ghetto and everyday, people accept bad behaviour, bad service, bad quality, bad ways... or do you live with blinders on? How many stories of crime, abuse, rape, theft, robbery, gun violence, stabbings etc etc does it take for people to WAKE UP and demand that this apathetic, pathetic material culture take some bloody responsibility for the sorry state we find ourselves in. How many more nationalistic rants and stupid excuses are we going to listen to! Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself!
Posted By: Tim On: 5/6/2010
Title: TO Erasmus
who ever this Erasmus Folly person is you need to pull out from the BAHAMAS. I think you honestly don't like this place. This is 2010 now this is the THE BAHAMAS bottom line. Knowing where you come from is cool but it is a matter of where your going,we do have a Haitian problem no matter what you say.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 4/23/2010
Title: @Noelle
Noelle said, "Although I disagree with much his online commentary, he and I are aligned on this issue."
Curious to know what commentary you disagree with?
I can be emailed at erasmusfolly.bahamas@gmail.com
I would enjoy discussing those points of disagreement as it is the disagreements of educated people that allow for true learning and growth. ;-)
Posted By: jamoz On: 4/7/2010
Title: If the truth be told...
As the law stands currently, Sir Lynden Pindling, who was either born here to a Jamaican father, or was born in Jamaica, would be considered for all intents and purposes a "Jamaican" and therefore would be ineligible to ever sit in the Bahamian Parliament. He would be seen as just another "foreigner stealing a 'real' Bahamians' work" and would be discriminated against simply because of something he had absolutely no control over. The law whilst "protecting Bahamian rights" is also on the other hand discriminating against those who were/are born here. How many more intelligent minds that are born here will continue to be pushed aside for the sake of a "real Bahamian"? How many future professionals possibly even leaders of Government will never see the light of day because of a law that discriminates against those who are born here, but are without Bahamian ancestry?
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 4/3/2010
Title: Truth = Beware 'false' prophets... actually beware of anyone claiming to be a prophet - they usually lying...
The 'true' revolution? What is that exactly? Is that when the Lucayans, Arawaks and Tainos rise from the dead and take back their country? Please, spare us your ignorance and your threats and your 'nativism'. There are many, many Bahamians here with very real ties to some place else. This 'nativistic' nonsense is stupid, trite, petty, myopic, ignorant, inaccurate and not really Bahamian at all. We are a big culture of immigrants, to try and say that my heritage stopped in 1973 is to perpetuate the BIG lie that LOP tried to shove down Bahamians throats. Bahamians will only really be able to celebrate and embrace their own 'culture' when they can finally embrace the myriad of influences that created it, be it African, European, Asian or Amer-Indian. Once we have embraced our cosmopolitan legacy, then we can all sit down and enjoy peas and rice, snapper, conch, macaroni and cheese, fried plantain etc etc together and celebrate our 'new' Bahamian culture and nation as well. As Bob Marley said, "If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from, then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the heck do I think I am." We must embrace our past fully to live the present and build the future well. This country is better than 'Bahamianisation' or LOP's drug legacy. It is also LONG history to draw from. Our country did not start in 1973 and to suggest that it does is to blind us to the truth of our past and destroy the many lessons we can learn from those who went before and made mistakes and had successes.
Posted By: New Prophet On: 4/1/2010
Title: Self-serving article
It's no wonder that the author (a self-confessed non-Bahamian, having Jamaican maternal roots, and Haitian paternal roots), seeks to paint the rosy picture of the impact of Haitians in our society. It helps her to sleep better at night knowing that she is part and parcel of the theft of Bahamian culture, resources and privileges. The truth is that we all come from "somewhere" if we are not Lucayans, but the real history of the Bahamas cannot be grounded in migration prior to Independence. Those who were here and contributed to the new Bahamas, have now integrated into the Bahamian reality. The Moncur, Lewis and Dillet families are no more Haitian because of some ancestor 100 years ago, than Michael Jordan Jr is a basketball star because of his Hall-of-Fame father. The issue of today's influx of Haitians is one that is a crushing problem, that if not solved, will destroy us all, whether we are Smith, Rolle or Dillet. The Bahamas is not for "those who live here". It is for Bahamians. PERIOD. Anything and anyone else enjoys it as a courtesy, nothing more and nothing less. If Ms. Nicolls, or anyone else doesn't agree, then when the true revolution comes, she may find life different and more difficult than ever perceived in her Haitian/Jamaican imagination
Posted By: Ready to discuss this issue in a new light On: 3/30/2010
Title: Well done!
Noelle,
I am always happy to read your contributions and this one in particular has gone a long way towards changing my thinking on this subject. And, since I think that's what you were going for (opening the minds of Bahamians) well then, congratulations! One down and only 249,999 more to go. I've never thought of my attitude towards this issue as hateful or ignorant (because I really try hard not to be either of those things) and I must say, I'm ashamed to find it has been.
However, I do find myself wondering what you would say about Carlos's post below; proposing we 'let the law state that anyone can live and work and vote or own property etc. in the Bahamas who has either a Bahamian or Hatian Passport".
What do you think we should do about our immigration issues in general, to be more humane while still protecting the fragility of our little nation?
Posted By: Carlos On: 3/5/2010
Title: Positive Comments
Wow. All but one are positive comments. Maybe we should just remove the "crutch" of the word "illegal" from those who oppose 9 million Haitians taking over 250 thousand Bahamians. Change the Law. Let the law state that anyone can live and work and vote or own property etc. in the Bahamas who has either a Bahamian or Haitian Passport. After 3 years of that, everyone will understand why Haitians are migrating away from Haiti.
Posted By: ME On: 2/16/2010
Title: BLINDED BAHAMIANS
I pray God your eyes are poened to the truth. Always remember God is a God of order which is why rules & laws are set by different countries and should be abided by and enforced by all who live, visit etc. I don't think sensible Bahamians are saying send haitians who are here illegally back they are talking about the illegal ones. Lets face it they been here for years and it has never been this kind of tension. Ralistically there are too many here illegally and its beginning to become apparent because of the large numbers. You guys are asking us to be ok with this. Firstly we can not acommodate them all and secondly if we could why would we be encouraging illegal practices? Are we law abiding citizens or not. I bet you could not illegally enter ayones elses country and be welcomed by acquiring free land, health care, education etc. under NO circumstances.Lets be of help to them but cutting off your nose to spoil your face is not wise and also its not something Bahmians practice toward one another. What a shame you feel sooo bad for another human being but not your own brother.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 2/15/2010
Title: @Clifton
You are spot on to equate the class situation of the USA and the Bahamas. For me, a 'red neck' and a 'nigga' are the same thing today. Both embrace a false identity as their defining trait - the colour of their skin, which is racism's very starting point. If you think of yourself as a human being first and that the knowledge of your mind and the character of your heart are what define you, then that places you in a very different mind set from the 'tribal' idiot who identifies with his perceived 'tribe' first. 'Red Neck' or 'Nigga', both embrace ignorance as a 'virtue', reject education as 'elitist' and resort to violence to resolve most conflicts, since they know no other way. Ignorance is the father of these lost 'white' and 'black' children, but, as the Christians say, we are all children in the eyes of God. I find it even more deeply ironic that a lot of these same 'red necks' and 'niggas' are super religious and use Christ's words to 'justify' their ridiculous racism.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 2/15/2010
Title: Required Reading
I second your vote for Michener's The Caribbean. I would add Tom Friedman's Lexus and the Olive Tree, The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded as well. These explain Globalization and the modern world quite well. Bahamians need to understand that this rock, this country and our people are literally a SPECK in an otherwise massive and complicated world. But, just like our weather, we have no control of the outside world and our small size means we are constantly 'surfing'. We have 'surfed' pretty well for the last 50 years or so, but we need to learn a lot more to stay afloat now - the waves are way, way bigger, faster and more dangerous than ever before. That is the Bahamas today. Oh, and our surf board has always been s%^& - it was always the skill of the rider that kept us afloat!
Posted By: Clifton H. Rodriquez, MPA, CPA, CIA On: 2/14/2010
Title:
In the words of the Vulcan Spock (Star Trek TV Series-Gene Roddenberry), "Fascinating". The bottomline is that we are all African brethren first. It just happened that the European slave traders dropped some of us off in the Lesser Antilles, Hispanola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, America. I really did not understand growing up in the Bahamas, why Bahamians hated Haitians in particular, but Jamaicans, and Turks Islanders were not far behind. Remember, both Jamaica and TCI were or former British colonies. As a matter of fact, TCI is closer geographically to the Bahamas than Great Ignua, and culturally, historically, and otherwise, they are the same descendants of African slaves. Haiti is exactly the same, except for the language difference. The longer that I live, the more confused that I become, but reading your article clarified a lot for me. Many Bahamians are still trapped in mental slavery-you eloquently discussed and Bob Marley sang about it. Until they realize their plight and make an effort to free themselves, this unwarranted hatred of Haitians and Haitian Bahamians will continue to consume those Bahamians who continue to practice these sentiments towards their own African brethren. In a sense, they really behave like the poor whites in America who simply cannot get passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They continue to be bitter and resentful despite the passage of time. They are consumed with hatred and in turn this hatred will eventually destroy them. There is an interesting connection-the lower class Bahamians are most resentful; the lower class white Americans, or what you refer to as "white trash" were most opposed to the Civil Rights Act, and are still most resentful to this day. These are the poeple who never prepared themselves for life, and simply blame others for their lack of economic achievement.
Posted By: Kyle M. Dorsett On: 2/9/2010
Title: Excellent
This is the best Insight article post-Marquis in my view! Simply amazing. As a young proud Bahamian and by extension West Indian, I'm glad to read journalism of such calibre.
Congratulations Noelle Nicolls and the Tribune. This is one article that I will be reading over and over in years to come.
Posted By: BBCafe On: 2/9/2010
Title: Fantastic!
Well presented and timely! Some fascinating information for those who continue to express error-riddled and xenophobic information! Bravo!
Posted By: Abaco Dinghy On: 2/9/2010
Title: well written
A thoughtful piece and timely published. well done. I think that Caribbean by James Michener should be mandatory high school reading, it puts a great perspective on the history of the caribbean and the interelation of the peoples. And its a good read too.
Posted By: Voltaire On: 2/8/2010
Title: Great!
Well done! The Bahamas is a country that urgently needs its myths exploded if there ever was one. Our problem is that we don't love the truth – we much prefer our collective delusion that we are a blessed, special, important, sacred little nation. I am sick of hearing that we must protect our special Bahamas, God's gift to us, from outside invaders who wish to pollute and and devalue our precious culture. This article has hit the nail on the head – our Bahamian 'culture' is a hollow sham. We desperately need to get over ourselves, and this kind of truth telling is just the antidote to our neurosis.
Posted By: Wife of a Politician On: 2/8/2010
Title: What an amazing article
Well done! Let the truth be told again and again until attitudes are changed and harmony is achieved.
Brilliant execution. Very tastefully done......Hats off to the author
Posted By: Alonzo Smith On: 2/8/2010
Title:
Masterfully written, well researched, very educational and quite engaging. Kudos to the author
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 2/8/2010
Title: Erasmus Folly
This is one of the most insightful and interesting pieces of journalism/academia I have seen published in a Bahamian newspaper - ever. I wish everyone in the country could read and 'understand' this. If the Bahamas could 'celebrate' our Caribbean heritage openly, we would smartly unfurl our various cultural banners for 3.5 million cruise visitors to see. We would have a Haitian quarter and a Jamaican quarter to go along with the Chinese, Greeks and other more prominent and openly successful immigrant groups - just to name a few. Instead, we could racist, myopic, xenophobic and moronic ignorant asses who claim to be 'superior' because of their vaunted Christian 'morality'. I assure you, there is NOTHING superior about just being from somewhere. The content of your mind and the depth of your heart are what render you a superior or inferior individual. While Bahamians are certainly big hearted people, the content of their minds leaves much to be desired. The heart doesn't love 'properly' without an educated mind to direct it. Our D- average is all we need to know. In the words of Yoda, 'That is why you fail'. Forward, upward, onward, together oh great little nation of immigrants. The sooner we embrace our rich cultural heritage, the better! Stop letting these ignorant, loud mouthed, bible thumpers 'represent' the true Bahamas - they don't. They never have and they never will. The silent majority here is far more sensible than these ignorant asses! Education reform is essential and the Pindling era PLP lie of Bahamian identity must be destroyed - it was simply a cover for manifest gangsterism and the whole sale robbery of the state by corrupt plutocrats. We should be proud of LOP's drive for Indepedence - eternally proud, but everything after that moment must be looked at with a critical eye and a new light if we are to right the ship of state he so perilously navigated.
Posted By: Happy reader On: 2/8/2010
Title: Great article
Very thought provoking and timley article!!
Today's Poll
Current Issue
Classifieds
Most Popular
- Call to end corporal punishment in schools
- Man eaten by killer shark
- Breaking news: Fight to control downtown fire
- The Myth of Identity and Our Dirty Little Secret
- Three confirmed dead following GB tornado
- Woman dead, husband fights for life after parasailing accident
- NACB president returns from International Council of Nurses Leadership Institute
- Marley Resort boss quits over owner's claims
- Police raid Lyford Cay billionaire's home amid dispute with Nygard
- Irene damages homes and boats in Abaco
To view this site, you need to have Flash Player 8.0 or later installed. Click here to get the latest Flash player.
