"Lincoln", a dramatic film directed by Stephen Spielberg and released in 2012, is a wonderful cinematic piece of work portraying the presidency of Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War. In one of the scenes in the movie, Abraham Lincoln says these words, "Can we choose to be born? Are we fitted to the times we are born into? We begin with equality; it's the origin isn't it? That's justice. See we've shown that a people can endure awful sacrifices and yet cohere. Shall we stop this bleeding?" The words on their own are powerful but heard in the bosom of the movie's creative setting, they are transcendent.
We live in trying times. The hour calls for extraordinary virtues - love, peace, reasoning, courage and strength. We need legendary leadership that is able to speak to our better selves and lead us to a higher awakening. At the core of nationhood is "coherence" or "unity". Corporate bond is the very essence of nationhood. In this hour, we need leaders who can protect, preserve and perhaps even re-establish our corporate bond.
Subtly and perhaps not so subtly, there are those who seem to be creeping into our body politic, again, some of the schisms employed in the past to disunite us. Under the old guard PLP, it was not uncommon just before the general election to have ZNS, the nation's only radio and TV station at the time, play the mini-series "Roots". Why? To remind us that once we were dominated by a white minority and that if we did not want it to happen again, we should vote PLP. Did it work? I don't know, but the mistrust of white people, white Bahamians, was egged on and the PLP spent many years in power. But as a people, I fear we lost some precious time and opportunity to be a better than we are.
Fast forward to 2016 and now we hear people who have the ear of the media talking about white oligarchies seeking to influence political outcomes through their money or the attendance of white personalities at political council meetings or who is for the poor man versus the rich man or Over-the-Hill versus Bay Street. Racism and classism are rearing their ugly heads as factors to be considered in our political dynamics. To be sure, they have always been part of the undertones of our election. What appears new is that what once was a political calling card of the PLP now seems to be a tool being adopted by some factions of the FNM. If we allow this to happen we threaten to start a bloodletting, virtual or real, that won't easily be stopped. Across the globe, racism and classism are re-emerging as overt, not covert, influences in the political dynamics of nations and the results are not good. It is a setback.
We should not endorse that playbook and we should resist it. We must vote against the group that employs it. Exploit race or class to seek to win this election and we should vote against you and encourage all we can to do so. The 21st century Bahamas must endure diversity in person, creed, color, gender and political persuasion, among other things. A progressive Bahamas must place unity of citizenry at the core of its social fabric and its leaders must be irrevocably committed to its promotion. If diversity offended God He would not have created it.
A disunited country is abundantly more likely to fail than a united one. The only thing that trumps unity as a boost to national success is integrity. Disunited nations seldom win and corrupt nations even less so. Unity matters. This is the reason the FNM must be so concerned about what is happening in its ranks right now and what is likely to be the case after its upcoming convention. Both Dr. Hubert Minnis, the present leader, and Loretta Butler-Turner, the contender for leadership, are calling for unity. Many of their supporters and others are hoping for it following the convention. But unity is more than a word. It is the reality of a commitment to work together toward a common cause despite differences, in fact, sometimes through the benefits of differences. If leaders cannot keep their more monolithic political parties united, how are they expected to keep the more diverse nation together?
The leadership of the FNM therefore has an extraordinary opportunity to show that they are up to the challenge of this difficult hour. This is more than a run to take the helm of a party; this is a run to capture the hearts of a people. Fail at this and we all lose. Succeed and perhaps a new day dawns in our land. Whatever you do, please, stop this bleeding while you can.
o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.
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