REV KEITH RUSSELL WRITES ON THE DOUBLE STANDARDS ON RACE AND CLASS IN THE BAHAMAS
About original sins
It is amazing to me that many Bahamians are still reluctant to have a discussion about the place of class, race and privilege in this country. Moreover, it is astounding how many Bahamians are infected with a collective amnesia about or are historically ignorant of the fact that the FNM party has ingrained in its DNA the putrid poison of white supremacy, inherited from the UBP (United Bahamian Party) who remains an integral part of its patrimony. This is not to say that all FNMs in leadership are similarly contaminated; some have been vaccinated. Still, many of the persons who are the financial contributors to the Party, and therefore heavily influence the Party’s direction, hold these views and are resistant to any form of vaccination that will make them more human.
Curiously, we are astonished and befuddled when the party behaves in a way that is natural to its organizational and innate psychic make up. The fact that the “Competent” Authority and his Cabinet can operate two open, but inequitable, systems of laws and procedures is natural to the viewing of reality by the moneyed people in this FNM organization. The lock down is for us poor black and white people; it is not for the rich, particularly not for the white rich. The fact that we don’t know this is tragic. If there is such a thing as collective delusional disorder, it may aptly describe our malady concerning race, class and privilege in this archipelago.
The wonderful lady from Lyford Cay who called into Eye Witness News is so wrapped up in this twisted and rancid narrative of privilege, class and race that she claims matter-of-factly: “I did nothing wrong. In fact, I would never engage in anything wrong”. She does not see the country’s closed boarders as applying to her. She says “I followed the protocols.” She means that she followed the protocols that apply to her and her class. She doesn’t see herself as existing within the framework of the lock down. She knows that there is a special protocol for her. And all she has to do is connect to the relevant authorities and she gets in. She can confidently say that she didn’t break any laws, because she followed the strict guidelines that apply to her ilk. And further, she knows that those in authority are familiar with the dictates of privilege and will dutifully and obediently follow these selected or special rules.
She doesn’t hide what she has done in the midst of the brewing controversy. She comes out of the shadows. As far as she is concerned she is a law abiding citizen. She is happy to be home. Loves and is proud of her adopted country. She doesn’t see what all of the hoopla is about. There is a video circulating on social media of the Late Honorable Sir Lynden O. Pindling saying “if Bahamians are not willing to fight for their country then they don’t deserve to have it!”
To be sure, there are black and white people, poor and rich, who are constantly working for us to become One Bahamas, a Bahamas where red and yellow, black and white all are precious in God’s sight; a Bahamas where rich man, poor man, beggar man and thief all are adjudicated by the same law. We cannot sit by and allow the puppets of the rich and privileged to destroy our land with its twisted narrative of a tale of two cities.
We must stop electing these people who believe that white is right, that privilege is supreme, who use class and race as essential ingredients in policy making. And we poor and working-class black and white Bahamians have to stop allowing the FNM party to use us as pawns in their devilish enterprise. We now know without a doubt that we have been bamboozled. It is those peoples’ time. Ya heard.
I write; you decide