There was once a time in The Bahamas when West Indians were invited to live and work in a then colonial Bahamas. Were it not for their most important contributions to the struggle for Majority Rule and Independence, the Quiet Revolution in The Bahamas may have become little more than a dream deferred.
They came to these islands at a time when their labor and their presence were welcomed. And when they came, they planted roots and made this land their home. All West Indians who came to The Bahamas fitted in -as they say- in no time flat. This was so because even though they were non-nationals, they were not foreign to the Bahamian people with whom they shared any number of common experiences and lived culture.
In other words, they were already one people.
The same realities exist today.
All that is needed is for Bahamians to recognize this fact.
Unfortunately, immigrant labor -particularly the undocumented Haitian- is despised and ambivalently received.
For our part, while we cannot and will not ever condone law breaking on the part of anyone, we do assert that the time has come for Bahamians to recognize that there is a need for the role such labor can and does play in a Bahamas that is on the move.
As we look back on those times, which were, we are today amazed at the extent to which West Indians and other Caribbean peoples have contributed and have continued to help build the modern Bahamas. From one perspective, then, who Bahamians are and what they have together created in these islands, reflects the collective efforts of Barbadians, Trinidadians, Jamaicans, Cubans, and Haitians among a host of other people hailing from around the world.
We reference these facts of history to underscore a point we have previously made concerning the question of labor and immigration into an independent Bahamas. In this regard, suffice it to say that the current regime is faced with a monumental challenge. This time around, it is one of their own designs.
Here the reference is to the situation where there is, according to some reports, a dearth of labor to fill spaces that are opening up all over the country as a direct consequence of any number of so-called anchor projects. Reports reaching us suggest that there are simply not enough Bahamians available to take the bulk of the jobs now coming on stream.
This is absolutely understandable. In a country which has -at best- some one hundred and fifty thousand able-bodied men and women, and where most of these people are either employed or unfit for real unemployment, anyone with a modicum of commonsense would immediately understand why there is a labor vacuum.
And quite frankly, anybody with a modicum of commonsense would then understand why Jamaicans, Haitians, and a host of other nationals are rushing in to fill available spaces. This very neatly explains why so many Bahamian entrepreneurs rely on this kind of labor.
Bahamians have to get real about the related issues of labor and immigration. What we are suggesting is simple enough: we are today quite convinced that the Government of The Bahamas would be well advised to review its labor and immigration policies. Such a review would take into consideration any number of demographic issues to determine just how The Bahamas should proceed as regards building a Bahamas that can sustain and maintain what it has achieved.
Such a review -as far as we are concerned- would begin with a statement of the obvious, which is that the economy is already operating at a level where new blood is desperately needed. That review would also take note of the fact that population-wise there are no aboriginal Bahamians; and that everyone here is the product of migration from somewhere else, inclusive of Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, the United States of America, and further afield -and as far away as Nigeria.
Home is where the heart is.
In the ultimate analysis, what matters most in today’s Bahamas as far as the labor question is concerned is the extent to which “true-true” Bahamians recognize that all Bahamians are of immigrant stock; and that The Bahamas that we know and love has been built by waves of new comers to these islands, rocks and cays, know as The Bahamas.
Indeed, The Bahamas is what it is precisely because it is a welcoming society. And while we are in this vein, we say that The Bahamas should welcome both capital and labor. Together, they make for a sure foundation for continued growth and development of the Bahamian Nation.
Editorial from The Bahama Journal
