The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE murder of Inspector Carlis Blatch has rocked this nation. As it should. He is gone. We wish we could turn back the hands of time. We can’t.

As I read the accolades from co-workers, family and friends it was hard not to feel the sadness, pain and anguish myself.

As I thought about it for a while longer, I wondered about his family, especially his children, and us.

I especially wonder about us; who we are, what we stand for, and where as a nation we will go from here?

How can you ever be the same; whole, free, joyous, confident, when your father was shot dead in front of you?

Doesn’t this harden us too, to the daily injustices done to our family and friends?

All loss of innocent life should be mourned. The outpourings of official sorrow, while understandable, classifies our pain and loss according to social status.

How have we developed the coping mechanisms to allow us to carry on daily life as if these many, too many murders are meaningless?

Unless you are someone loved by all.

Minnis showed his true stripes, as he said, “He will not rest in this Bahamas and we will not allow him to have offspring, which may possibly be like him.” Wow. How is that for a truly unchristian, ignorant statement?

And then our PM says, to further illustrate his inability to reason, “I must work within the frame work of the law, but if you allow me to work outside of the law and that is legal, believe me you’ll see a changed man.” Can a second grader not see the holes in this statement?

But, this isn’t about the clear and present intellectual shortcomings of our FNM Saviour. It is about the failings of us, who elected Minnis in the first place.

This is about the idea that we have so degraded ourselves as human beings that we can move on with our lives day after day while these injustices ravage the country around us.

We have erased the needed sorrow from our souls, carrying on our daily lives as if all is well here in Bahamaland.

It is not. The first part of Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker.”

And yet, The Bahamas now has as a major industry, the web shops, that do just that. Can any honest person deny this? Can any person not make the clear similarities between the web shop owners and drug dealers? Do they not both prey on the addicted, downtrodden, and hopeless, the poor?

We need to quit talking the talk, if we can’t walk the walk.

The government’s implementation of VAT, on top of all the other taxes we pay, is another example of penalising the poor for being poor. Or rather, it is taking advantage of those who have no voice in this country, placing the bulk of the tax burden squarely on their shoulders?

I am not satisfied waiting till death to see justice. I want to see justice here on earth, here in The Bahamas.

I am tired of the failed and flawed interpretations of the Bible, of the excuses for not passing the needed laws, of not enforcing the laws on the books aimed at protecting our most vulnerable.

I am truly saddened by the death of Inspector Blatch.

I am more saddened by the state of this country that cries out only when someone “valuable” to them is harmed or murdered.

We are murdering our most vulnerable on a daily basis by decree.

Our regressive VAT is killing people as surely as with a gun.

The web shops are killing people as surely as with a gun.

Our failed PMH hospital is killing people, as surely as with a gun.

Our corrupt politicians are killing people as surely as with a gun.

Our careless and callous driving in Nassau is killing people, as surely as with a gun.

Our very poor parenting skills are killing people, as surely as with a gun. Our dysfunctional education system is killing people, as surely as with a gun.

While we mourn the loss of a loved one, I feel it is essential to reflect on the state of our country that has allowed this tragedy to occur.

I would also ask for a reflection on our governmental policies that contribute so much to the misery and suffering which eventually affects us all.

We need a good dose of compassion in this country.

Somehow, we must figure out how to be human again.

And, how to begin the slow, but necessary march back towards a civilised society.

PORCUPINE

Nassau,

September 16, 2018.