Why we can't wait

Mon, Feb 2nd 2015, 12:44 AM

Dear Editor,

More than 42 years ago the country obtained its independence from our former colonial masters amidst much fanfare and no recorded bloodshed. The majority of us had high expectations and great prognostications for the future. Many of us were even of the public view that heaven had arrived on earth. We saw the late Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, our then prime minister, as our own home-grown Moses.

We wrapped up Sir Lynden in Moses robes and expected him to walk with us across the mountain tops and into the promised land of milk and honey. I have no doubt that we did, indeed, cross over but just like it is recorded in the Bible, Sir Lynden and others of his generation did not make it over with us. Having crossed over, however, 42 years ago, what has the average Bahamian encountered since then?

Way back in 1963 the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King penned a book entitled "Why we can't wait" and that is the title of this article. In that book he wrote about the black man and woman's experiences and conditions during the early years of the 1960s, more than 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by the famous American President Abraham Lincoln.

The plight and status quo of the black Americans then are almost identical, politically and economically, to what black Bahamians are going through today, 42 years after Independence. Some who may not know where I am coming from will be quick to accuse me of "doom and gloom" but I am not a proponent of negativity. As a divine illuminator, connected to the greatest metaphysician of all times (Jesus Christ), I seek to speak truth to power.

Black Bahamians, by and large, are deeply disappointed over the pace of economic and real political changes in our wonderful nation. Political power is still being hogged up by two traditional parties... the "clueless" PLP and the "bumbling" FNM. The other fringe parties and groupies really do not matter, I submit, in the grand scheme of things, at this stage.

There is a semblance of political emancipation but is it really that in actuality? Yes, if you are Bahamian born, over 18 years of age and have no constitutional impediments, you are able to vote in various elections, inclusive of general elections. After one would have voted, however, that is the extent of one's input in the political exercise, save one engages in direct party membership and support.

We elect an incoming administration based on either disgust for one of the major parties or where we would have bought in to the election manifesto or charter for governance. It is my considered contention that fewer than 15 percent of the voting public ever take the effort or time to read and digest what might be in these patently bogus and misleading, slick publications.
There is deep disappointment in the performance and delivery of both major parties. Some suggest that we try some other political entity so as to move the nation forward, despite no track record and not even one seat in the House of Assembly (or is it house of confusion?). They say that Sir Lynden was in his 30s when he became premier. They say that he had no experience in governance. They go on to say that "Pretty Boy Floyd" is worthy of walking in Sir Lynden's shoes, but I beg to differ.

Sir Lynden, even at that tender age, had been a member of Parliament for more than 15 years when he ascended to the top of the greasy pole. He had already served, effectively, as leader of the PLP and had led many delegations all over the world for and on behalf of black Bahamians and cast off conchy joes. Yes, he may have had no ministerial experience but he was a seasoned leader, parliamentarian and possessed the societal acumen to be able to directly relate to and empathize with the masses. Is "Pretty Boy Floyd" able or capable of doing this?

The average Bahamian today can no longer wait for these boorish, childish and clueless politicians to hold our hands while we walk up and down in the promise land without focus. Collectively we seem to have no apparent destination. Some within our midst croon about a "sovereign wealth fund" and say that one will be created when we successfully drill for oil or when we set up an aragonite industry. There are tens of thousands of acres of Crown land held "in trust" for the people of this country, even if Her Majesty the Queen is the real trustee of the same.

We have had prime ministers who claim that they came up from nothing and that they believe in Bahamians. Ingraham was like a hilly billy and a mountain man while in office. Yes, he did do a measure of good, but what is his legacy with the stark exception of a massive cost overrun on the New Providence Road Development Project? What is Christie seeking to use as the cornerstone of his never ending quest for a legacy?

Apart from Carnival Junkanoo and the regulation and taxation of the web industry, show and tell me of one single achievement of value of Christie, at this juncture. The Carnival Junkanoo is pure and unadulterated shaving cream. Junkanoo is our traditional cultural showcase. While there is room for tweaking and a change in the way we conduct the parades, it is not broken and we really don't need to import, virtually, a whole new concept which is based on the traditions of other nations.

Successive administrations and politicians have oversimplified and grossly underestimated the real economic and societal issues which confront the average Bahamian today. A mere construction job will no longer cut it, especially as we overdevelop New Providence and "give away" choice Crown land to foreigners. Bahamians are fed up with the snail paced delivery of the long promised, but constantly deferred, economic emancipation.

Yes, some of us have become paper millionaires, with the direct assistance of cronyism and finessing the art of shaving cream. In many of these instances, some of these so called millionaires are mere "tokens". As we all know, a token is an imitation of and a substitute for a real coin. The lowest paid and most trifling jobs are reserved for the average Bahamian who is consigned to eke out the most miserable of existences while calling it a good time, especially if his/her political party is in power.

Back in the days of slavery, the average black person, Bahamians included, was relegated to hard labor, either field work or in construction. Today, here in The Bahamas, we have replaced the white master with the black bag men/women; pimps; tin gods and iron men. They still advocate the creation of "jobs" but make no mention of economically making provisions and concessions so as to encourage the development and growth of a real class of economically empowered Bahamians.

People who hold power, be it economic or political, very seldom, if at all, relinquish the same. I am not an advocate of violence in any way, shape or form. Non-violent resistance by the unwashed and unemployed masses may well have to be considered and deployed around the walls of Jericho.

Are you able to imagine, my brothers and sisters, the political fear which would be struck into the deepest part of the breasts of our political directorate, if just 2,500 unemployed Bahamians were to march in unison from Windsor Park down to the House of Assembly? I am not advocating a revolution but before the shaving cream hits the fan, something has got to give.

In his book, Dr. King also opines: "A methodology and philosophy of revolution is neither born nor accepted overnight. From the moment it emerges, it is subjected to rigorous tests, opposition, scorn and prejudice. The old guard, across the board, in any society resents new methods, for the old guard wear the medals and decorations won by waging battle in the accepted manner."

This where we are at today as a people and this is the one reason why we simply cannot wait any longer. The rich continue to get filthy rich. The middle class continues to be hammered and assaulted, via unfair taxation and user fees. The poor, as they say, will always be with us so not one person, except for me, is checking for that class.

A wealthy man/woman might be able to relate to poverty but too often they tend to conveniently forget the source of their wealth and the absolute necessity to be our brother's keepers. I intend to immediately agitate for real economic, political and constitutional changes in this country. To again quote the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.: "Well, I don't know what will happen now. we have got some difficult days ahead of us. But it really does not matter with me now. Because I have been to the mountain top and mine eyes have seen the glory of The Lord."

Both Ingraham and Christie have written the people of The Bahamas bank checks which when presented to the bank will be marked "refer to drawer". Unless and until the Dauphin Prince (Philip Brave Davis) assumes his ordained place, there will continue to be wailing and gnashing of teeth, where they exist and where they don't, dentures and gums will catch eternal hell.

Yes, there is no more time to waste and we can no longer stand or sit with tin cup in hand begging and expecting crumbs from the new plantation overseers who look just like us even if they act like the absentee slave owners. To God then, the Great I Am that I Am in all things, be the glory!

- Ortland H. Bodie Jr.

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