The Tribune

By Gary Christie

Valley Boy member since 1962

There is no doubt about it. Winston “Gus” Cooper is the indisputable “King of The Valley Boys Junkanoo Group”, in life and in death. There is no Valley Boy from the Gus Cooper era who does not recognise and value the immense contributions and sacrifices of Gus Cooper and that of his family to the perennial success of our beloved group in the annual Junkanoo festival.

But let’s be clear. There are other families who made stellar contributions to build The Valley Boys into the powerhouse Junkanoo group it is today.

Doyle Burrows has been a work horse for our esteemed group since 1958. A search of the archives of the local print media will show pictures of Perry Christie with his lifelong friends Gus and Doyle in full costume splendour as Scottish Highlanders in 1960, when The Valley Boys achieved their first Junkanoo win. The recently deceased Eddie Ford and the ageless and indefatigable Ed McPhee, have been active Valley Boy faces for countless years and were both staunch Gus Cooper loyalists.

Second generation Valley Boys like Stephen “Eggie Boom” Bain grew up dancing with Gus’s and Doyle sons in our group and evolved into a key costume designer/builder. His mother, affectionately called “Big Vese,” danced on the side of the group from Bay to Shirley Street.

In brief, my point is that there are many persons and families who feel that they also have a legitimate stake in the Valley Boys group they love and have contributed much to. That cannot be ignored.

It is unfortunate that The Valley Boys are involved in a protracted and at times bitter battle with each other. One newspaper article suggested that it was about “group management”. In my view, it is more broad than that.

Our Valley Boys inevitably reached the cross roads on “what should be the philosophical direction of the group in its choice of leaders”?

There are two opposing sides. One seems to favour “Delegated Selection”. In Exodus 18:21, Moses father-in law Jethro, told him , “You da big Man, the chosen one. Select capable men from amongst the people to work with you.”

The other side takes the view that they and the group they love operate in a 21st century Bahamas and leadership is not selected but earned.

Like political parties, labour unions, religious bodies and other key Bahamian institutions, leaders should be chosen by a democratic vote in properly organised and supervised elections.

Folks, that’s the beef, nothing more, nothing less.

The differences in view should not have resulted in a hostile environment with family members and old friends on opposite sides of The Valley Boys Junkanoo Group.

Thomas Moore, an 18th century Irish poet, could not have said it any better, “Alas, how light a cause may move dissension between hearts that love”.

Yes! There have been efforts to bridge the gap between the two philosophical sides. A lifelong Valley Boy who has been a historical fixer for the group anytime there were troublesome organisational issues, made a sincere effort at unification. He was disappointed that his efforts were impolitely rebuffed. Bahamians believe in prayer to solve problems. Therefore, I made an approach to the group’s de facto spiritual advisor, a respected and active theologian who like all of us, loves his Valley Boys.

In Old Testament times, spiritual leaders were metaphorically described as shepherds. Shepherds developed a deep, lifelong bond with their sheep and their mission was to lead them to the best pasture.

I felt there was no one better to guide The Valley Boys flock out of the quagmire of confusion it finds itself in.

Frankly, my hope was that our shepherd would have been able to corral us all in one big room and similar to voting in a new Pope, admonish us to come out with our choice of leaders.

Perhaps, the timing was not right, as our spiritual advisor was dealing with more pressing issues.

It remains on my bucket list to enhance the “one group” winning legacy of “King Gus” by cajoling The Valley Boys to achieve the blessing of Psalm 133:1, “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity”.

I also want to take this opportunity to opine that the Bahamas Government’s thrust for a more active role via The National Junkanoo Committee (NJC) in Junkanoo culture is a positive development for Junkanoo groups and the artisans who expend significant personal funds and time on production of costumes.

I am close to a young man in The Valley Boys who produces exceptional lead costumes at substantially his own cost. On one hand, he is desirous of attracting marketing clout to sell his costume in or out of the country as a major tourism exhibit and on the other hand he is screaming as a Junkanoo Corporation Of New Providence (JCNP) sympathiser for government to stay the hell out of Junkanoo. I told him point blank, that telling the government to stay out of culture is like telling them to stay out of sports.

You need an entity like government, that wields a big stick to expand the economic benefits of Junkanoo. The Bahamas carnival groups can attest to that.

Once government’s interest in and support for carnival declined, so did the festival.

I do not know what the specific concerns or expectations of the JCNP are with the new proposed administrative structure for promotion and management of Junkanoo. I fully support that Junkanoo groups via their leaders should “have a voice” in the structure and deliberations of the NJC, but it is regrettable that they appear to have chosen a confrontational stance with government on “who gat the biggest Junkanoo muscle?”.

The NJC must review the rules regime of the JCNP. A lot of unnecessary energy and goodwill has been spent by the JCNP on insisting on flawed protocol to parade as an A group.

Junkanoo is an expensive exercise and to rush as an A group with a credible showing can cost six figures. It is a punitive policy to request any potential A group to first parade as an exhibition group.

Colours and Fancy Dancers are accomplished B groups who arguably may be better than some A groups. What happens if they wanted to step up to the A category and met all of the technical criteria on group and costume size? It is an illogical and unfair rule and as the JCNP is comprised of Junkanoo group leaders, one can reasonably accuse them of operating as a Junkanoo Cartel with the intent of discouraging rather than encouraging competition with anti-competitive stipulations.

I hope that the new administrative structure for Junkanoo will strive to promote fair competition. Now, let’s all get ready to rush in peace.