The events that led to the formation of the first black majority government remain a celebrated moment in modern Bahamian history.
Many trace its genesis to the Burma Road Riot, the organizing efforts of the taxi union, the brave and determined suffragettes, the boldness of the members of the National Committee for Positive Action, and the community work of Dr. C. R. Walker, Milo Butler, Clarence Bain, Randol Fawkes, Henry Taylor, Cyril Stevenson, William Cartwright and Lynden Pindling.
There are other luminary figures who played a significant role in the attainment of this feat, who are perhaps too many to list. It was a people's movement, if only for the fact that many ordinary Bahamians were active participants in the early days of the struggle.
Historically, the origin of an organized fight against social injustice and inequality can be linked to the heroic feat of the slave in Exuma call Pompey, who led a revolutionary rebellion in 1830.
In truth, it was a journey that started from 1834, with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. There is no singular event that can be credited for what culminated in the swearing in of a government of majority Afro-Bahamians on January 14, 1967; and which changed the political landscape of the Bahama Islands and propelled it towards self-determination.
The change was designed to be transformative, with radical policies to level the social and economic platforms and to allow for land ownership by those who were denied such basic rights.
It is striking that just 50 years later, the Bahamian who stood to benefit from the movement feels a profound sense of betrayal, disappointment and outrage at those who were the protectors of the movement.
There is a disconnect of ideas and aspirations. They have not yet tasted the best fruits of the revolution. They feel that the scales of second-class rights remain their lot. They see a schism between the meaning of the revolution and its achievements. Their emotional disgust with the political directorate stands at the center of a dark intellectual rift brought on by poverty, fear, disappointment and hopelessness.
Majority Rule was a movement that sought to achieve an equal seat for the Afro-Bahamian in the day-to-day governance of these Islands. It was not focused on the simplicity of undoing the generational denial of opportunities for black Bahamians to share in governing.
Its mantra was neither shallow nor narrow in prescription. It was designed to be a large and all-encompassing movement of ideas and thinking.
The men and women of the movement were driven by a broad vision of the need to create a myriad of opportunities for ALL Bahamians and in ALL areas of life. The best testament of the thesis that the movement was a far-reaching view of class and race alliance is self-evident in the fact that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), the vehicle for change, was formed by three white Bahamians: Henry Taylor, Cyril Stevenson and William Cartwright.
There is no evidence that the revolution was intended to be defined by time.
None of the leaders could have honestly foreshadowed that the core of its goals was capable of full success in the course of their lifetime.
Many recognized that to unmask the shackles of generations of social and economic oppression required a long, focused and determined journey that went far beyond the daily rhetoric.
This too is buttressed by the fact that the prominent ethos of the revolution was a desire to create a nation state grounded in the principles of Christianity: religious freedom, equality and social justice, respect for the rule of law and one's neighbor, the value of hard work and industry and intellectual honesty.
In the usual public commentary and analysis, the most obvious takeaway is that the revolution created an incestuous culture of political dominance in a two-party system.
The PLP (formed in 1953) and the FNM (formed in 1971 with the merger of the Free PLPs and the UBP) remain the benefactors of the stability brought by the 1967 movement.
This is perhaps due to the lessons learnt from the English and American political experiments, where many of the architects received formal educational instruction and therefore for them represented the best models of governance. The bi-party political warfare is a result for other countries in the region who withstood similar revolutionary winds in the 1950s and 1960s.
It must be considered that the results of the Burma Road Riot in 1942, the General Strike in January 1958 and all of the other social unrest did not immediately culminate in the change that was being pursued.
It was 25 years from the workers' march from Windsor Field to Bay Street that change was achieved. The demands by the leaders of Burma Road were not utterly ridiculous (see the speech of Dr. C. R. Walker in Sir Orville Turnquest's "What Manner of Man is this"), yet they were not realized in 1942.
It was perhaps the view of the political class that small victories were essential to achieve the fundamental structural changes then needed in the colony.
As a political ideology, the early successes of the 1967 movement manifested a reality that there was little space for radical liberalism and progressivism in Bahamian politics. By its name, the PLP holds to a view that it is the liberal and progressive party; but its policies in government since 1967 in many instances fail to stand true to such a claim as they were largely conservative.
It is telling too that there have been no other successful third party-led coalitions in our modern history. The last coalition government was formed when Alvin Braynen and Randol Fawkes crossed the floor and agreed to stand with the PLP.
Braynen became speaker of the House of Assembly and Fawkes served as minister of labor.
Since 1967 the failed attempts to create a third party movement have been in part due to the fact that their formations were the result of schisms from the establishments of the PLP and FNM.
There has been no groundswell of disgust and annoyance with the status quo brought on by the failed policies of the PLP and FNM to catapult a movement rooted in the upliftment of the people.
The large percentage of those who participate in the electoral process manifest that the majority are content to decide whether the nation's direction should be placed in the sometimes incompetent hands of those who wear the colors of the PLP and FNM.

Restart and reset
In the 50th year of the attainment of Majority Rule, there must be an honest assessment of the nation state alongside those primary goals and values that the revolution intended to unleash.
There is no doubt that the successes are numerous, chief of which is the overwhelming number of qualified Afro-Bahamians who make the nation proud.
There is a stable democracy of smooth and seamless transition of political power. Discrimination in all forms is generally non-existent and the economic pie is sliced to ensure that some enjoy the basic needs of citizenship.
It appears though that no one is fighting today for the continuation of the spirit of the revolution. The current political battles are centered on the shallow sharing of the spoils of an election and not on the institutionalization of a radical and progressive transformative thinking in our nation.
The failures of the revolution are far too many. Poverty still exists in a greater magnitude that we should readily accept.
Social dislocation and marginalization as the by-products of a failed educational policy stifle the air of achievement for too many young Bahamians. The disappearance of family, community and a neighboring theology feed into a pervasive culture of criminality. And, a political class devoid of sophisticated, intellectual thought happy to rely on a sub-culture of gangsterism and systematic corruption. These are the shadows peering into the mirror when an honest analysis is made of the scales of the revolution.
The next 50 years therefore must be an aggressive attack on the failures and unfinished agenda of the original revolutionaries.
To achieve a restart and reset of that magnificent journey we are called to a truth that is undeniable: It must be a movement that has no barrier of class, color, gender and creed. The new chapter of the revolution must be a national one led by each of us in our individual and corporate existences.
In defining the hallmarks of our nation's next chapter, we must be bold and progressive in our thinking.
Our national goals must be designed to create a nation beyond the current imagination of its leaders and people.
We must define this era of the journey by a loud, overarching call to restore the best of the old-fashioned values and norms of our foreparents; grounded in a communal respect for each other, industry and brotherly love.
We must give clear focus to the fulfilment of a mission to create a society whose pillars are the fruits of a shared and broad-based prosperity, supported by a new dynamic system of governance which complements our values; the eradication of poverty and hunger in all forms and the restoration of order and decency as hallmarks of everyday existence.
We have to dream and work hard to create a society that is the product of our values, which stands as the beacon of modern civilization. We have to be bold and courageous in our pursuit of a new vision for these Islands.
To achieve the ends of the next era of the revolution demand the creation of a new class of national leadership that places the needs of the people far beyond a personal quest for brazen power.
It beckons a comprehensive reconstruction of the existing colonial-based educational system and its replacement with a multi-faceted Bahamian-tailored approach that rewards meritocracy and creativity and that at its core is inspiring.
A human-dignifying wage for an honest day's work; a culture of tolerance and assimilation for all who call these Islands home; and a modern state of the art infrastructure that links us together beyond the sparseness of the waters that define our physical separation.
All Bahamians should pause to reflect on the events that led to 1967. Those that are old enough to appreciate the strides that were achieved to get us to that incredible day of January 14, 1967 must reflect on the achievements and they must bemoan the shortcomings.
They must tell the story of the movement so that there is a common understanding that the movement was radical in thought and ideas; but that it was the leaders of the movement trusted to carry on the revolution that did so with an ultra-conservative and self-interested definition.
No matter one's age or station in life, an inner reflection should lead to a recognition that the governments prior to 1967 created a foundation that was passed to the Pindling Cabinet at the swearing in which required further development for the greater good.
No truer is this fact that the change that many expected to come the days and months in 1967 was for some not sufficiently radical or revolutionary.
There is no doubt that the series of events which took place 133 years after the abolition of slavery manifested in the lowering of one flag and the hoisting of another.
It is clear therefore that the emergent elements of our nation state were ever present on that night on January 10, 1967 when many Bahamians were glued to their radios and in the streets to wait for the sound if it was Fawkes or Pindling all the way.

o Raynard Rigby was born in 1969 and is a product of the revolution. He is a practising attorney and a nationalist. Visit www.blueprintbahamas.com for some of his earlier views on national development.

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