I have deliberately withheld comments on this whole Majority Day issue as I was so amused by statements made for whatever reason by persons highlighting this special event. ﾠAfter thirty-nine years, why is it that we are only now discussing the possibility of commemorating a day that the vast majority of Bahamians believe is very significant in the lives of the Bahamian people. ﾠOther than Independence Day, there really isn’t another holiday that we can say is uniquely and truly Bahamian. Father Sebastian Campbell, a long time advocate for a special day to honor national heroes of the Bahamas indicated that he is holding Prime Minister Perry Christie’s government to their word that sometime during this month of January, a Bill will be introduced to Parliament for such a consideration. Of course, the month of January has now come and gone with no such Bill being tabled.
For their part, the PLP through their National Chairman Raynard Rigby issued a Press Release on January 4th 2006. In his usual style, anything that comes from Raynard Rigby should not be placed in the news section, but in the Comic section, right next to “Archie” or “Denis the Menace”. What a joker! Almost everything that he presents is void of truthful substance or a complete misrepresentation of the facts. This Press Release was no exception. In his own defense, Chairman Rigby on previous occasions has admitted that he has no pre-Majority Day experience due to the fact that on January 10th 1967, he was still a little baby in diapers. All he knows is what he has been told. Therefore, his ignorance of pre-Majority Rule is understandable, but that still is no excuse for him to present distorted or deceitful inaccuracies in his assessment of events. Understandably, his objective as Chairman of the PLP is to present the party in a positive light, even if it means a bias report with missing or limited facts. In recent times, the current PLP party has been suffering from poor ratings and justifiable criticism. In what appears to be a desperate attempt to improve the image of the party, they try to benefit from accomplishments of the past, even though that event has nothing to do with the PLP party of today. With the next General Election just about a year away, it is regrettable that Chairman Rigby and his PLP are hell bent on playing the race card. With the introduction of the Bahamian Constitution on July 10th 1973, race in reference to any Bahamian became as insignificant as the colour of their eyes. However, the tactic of the PLP appears to be to convince the Bahamian public that the FNM with Brent Symonette as Deputy Leader is somehow the UBP reincarnated.
To be historically correct, one must be honest enough to admit that persons of all races over the years have made a contribution that made Majority Rule Day possible. Majority Rule Day was really a climax of a series of events over the years and the mental state of the Bahamian people of the time. There is a time in life for everything and for the majority of Bahamians, their time for Majority Rule was January 10th 1967. However, one cannot underscore the contributions made by persons who promoted the idea of equality and majority rule even before Lynden Pindling came on the scene. Persons such as Henry Milton Taylor, a white Bahamian and one of the founding fathers of the PLP worked tirelessly to promote equality among the races. Etienne Dupuch in 1956 moved a resolution to eliminate discrimination in public places. In 1958, Randol Fawkes was charged with the offence of “Sedition” or threatening to overthrow the government because of the unfair manner Bahamian workers were being treated. With the Women’s right to vote in 1962 and Constitution Reform in 1963 under Premier Sir Roland Symonette, the winds of change was sweeping the Bahamas as they were in so many of its sister colonies.
It is of great interest to note that Chairman Rigby referred to the PLP as “black”. Yet, his reference to Alvin Braynen only as “Independent”, completely and deliberately omitting the fact that at that time, Alvin Braynen was ﾠwhite and a member of the UBP party. Without Alvin Braynen stepping up to the plate, there would have been no PLP victory!
The significance of January 10th 1967 was that with ushering in of Majority Rule is that there would have been justice for all. Regrettably, the sweet success of the silent revolution on Majority Rule Day for far too many Bahamians was short lived. It didn’t take long for some people, including some persons who played a critical role in the victory to realize that the PLP had betrayed the silent revolution and deviated from its promises to the masses. Persons like Arthur Foulkes, Jimmy Shepherd, Maurice Moore, Warren Levarity, George Thompson and even PLP chairman Cecil Wallace Whitfield who was credited with engineering the victory publicly voiced their disappointment and disgust with the PLP by walking out of the PLP government. Cecil Wallace-Whitfield in his resignation speech (like Martin Luther King) who quoted an old Negro “Free at last..my soul is dancing” indicating that by leaving the PLP, his burden of oppression was lifted. Incredibly, the Oppressed had become the Oppressors!
Like the Children of Israel who were rescued from bondage from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the good Lord had to punish them to remind them that they were headed to the Promise Land-the land of milk and honey! They had forgotten what God had done for them and consequently they strayed, forgetting their mission and what they had been chosen to do.
Disappointedly, for twenty-five years, the PLP ruled the Bahamas with an iron fist. Despite the entrenched protection of a Constitution, civil liberties were restricted along with the freedom of speech. A subtle form of discrimination known victimization became the PLP’s abusive strategy to intimidate the Bahamian public and dictatorially impose their will. Corruption became the way of doing business with the PLP government who gained the reputation as being a government “lacking in common decency”! Anyone, whether they were white, black or any shade in between, bold enough to challenge them were spitefully and vindictively dealt with. Like oppressed societies such as those in countries behind the “Iron Curtain” and Haiti with its Tonton Macoute secret police, Bahamians had to whisper their true feelings in dark alleys and only to their most trusted friends, for fear that word would get back to the PLP government and your life would become a living hell!
With only one government owned and highly censored Radio/TV station in the entire country, getting an accurate picture as to what was truly happening in the Bahamas was most difficult. It even became illegal for Bahamians who were denied access to Radio Bahamas to broadcast from abroad. Crime and drugs was allowed to destroy this once tranquil paradise as the PLP’s Attorney General was too busy prosecuting those who opposed the PLP while closing his eyes to the crime monster getting out of control while under his watch. However, probably the most mistreated group of people who suffered under the PLP were women who had married foreign spouses and the children from such a union. With no legal status for a foreign male spouse, far too many families suffered as either they broke up or had to leave and abandon their beloved Bahamas.
Ironically, the same euphoria felt of January 10th 1967, was also felt on August 19th 1992 when the PLP were finally thrown out of office. With the liberation of the airways, Bahamians could finally appreciate their constitutional right of free speech. But even in Opposition, the PLP failed to enhance the democratic process. One of the high points of the PLP prior to January 10th 1967, must be “Black Tuesday” when Lynden Pindling threw the symbolic Mace out of the window of the House of Assembly after accusing the UBP of gerrymandering the boundaries. “Why is it Mr Speaker that one man from Harbour Island is worth three from Grand Bahama or Andros”? It is logical to assume that one of the first order of business for the PLP would be to correct this UBP injustice. Disgracefully, when put to a referendum to establish an Independent Boundaries Commission that would have taken Bahamian democracy to the next level, the PLP actually voted against it.
Yes, the Bahamian people need to acknowledge the significance of January 10th 1967, but it must be done in an honest, impartial and bipartisan fashion. This is something that cannot be accomplished under Chairman Rigby with his racist agenda, where the true facts will only be distorted and misrepresented.
By: Dr. Leatendore Percentie
