Bahamians were urged yesterday at the Fox Hill Emancipation Day ecumenical service, to “let go of the slave mentality.” Many gathered in Fox Hill as Father Delano Archer, Rector at the Epiphany Anglican Church, beckoned for the people of the community to “stop with the talking” and act like the emancipated people they are.
“Years later as a freed, liberated people [we’re] still enslaved by [corruption] and we can’t grasp the opportunity that God has given,” said Father Archer. “We need to exercise our freedom to take charge of destiny.”
The Anglican priest pleaded with the crowd to find out what they have learnt from the past and to use this lesson in order to look out for the welfare of each other.
Audience members, Denise and Sherry Williams, said they were inspired by Father Archer’s calls to move away from an oppressed state of mind and to come together as one.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament (MP) for Fox Hill, Fred Mitchell, said he had no doubt that the majority of black Bahamians have released their inferior complexes that went along with the slave mentality, but said they should never overlook its significance.
“Yes, people are still conscious of [the time and progress that has passed] and we have to talk about it in history, to make sure the message is never forgotten,” said Minister Mitchell.
Across town, the Gambier community gathered to celebrate Emancipation Day in an old fashioned homecoming.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Housing and MP for that area, Neville Wisdom, noted that this was the fifteenth year of the Gambier Festival.
“Every stall you see here is run by a Gambier resident or descendants from Gambier,” said Minister Wisdom. “We even have one of the four original Gambier families here today.”
One thing many families may have noticed yesterday, were the unusually relatively sparse beaches for a holiday.
Minister Wisdom said the lack of beach-goers this holiday could be attributed to the fact that many similar functions are being held on the Family Islands.
“From what I understand, Inagua and Acklins had a good crowd, and I just came back from Freeport,” said Minister Wisdom. “As cultural celebrations expand, this sort of thing is inevitable for Nassau.”
By: INDERIA SAUNDERS, The Nassau Guardian
