CEIBA 2018
Junkanoo, Boxing Day, 2018 Photo by Ian Strachan
CONTENT POLITICS
The Maginificent Seven: Keith Russell
WORLD Haiti in the Mood for Revolution: Jean H. Charles
ECONOMY Entrepreneurship, Money and Value: D'Archy Rahming The WTO: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Catherine Kelly
A Ghost Tale: Cecil A. Newry
ART
The Carpenter Asks for Lily’s Hand (1923): Nicolette Bethel
SOCIETY The Moon Packing Up, the Sun Dismantling: Patricia Glinton-Meicholas
LIFE East Street Blues, Turning 50: Ian Strachan
COVER ART: "BLAKE" by MATTHEW WILDGOOSE
Editor's Note
Ceiba Magazine is committed to faithfully telling the Bahamian story. It is a pleasure and privilege to prepare this magazine each year. I am humbled by and grateful to the excellent authors who've agreed to share their work. Free speech isn't always so free in a democracy. We tend to focus on countries where journalists and activists are harassed and detained, tortured and even killed. But even in the safe confines of a western parliamentary democracy there is a price to pay for speaking 'freely' and a price to pay for silence. I am convinced that when citizens are not allowed to to boldly express their dissent society is in trouble. It doesn't matter how many call-in public affairs talk shows you have. There's still only so much truth the public is allowed to, or maybe even wants to hear. We don't have to always agree with the voices that refuse to fall silent when it would be so much more convenient to do so. But we should come to appreciate that their speaking is as much a part of good governance as casting votes, passing bills and making policies.
POLITICS
The Magnificent Seven KEITH RUSSELL
When I was a boy growing up in Gibbs Corner,
saying that he is not fit to lead.
off East Street, after I would make a little money shining shoes, I would spend much time in the Cinema Theatre. Westerns were popular then. And it was there that I saw the original Western, The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner. Denzel Washington starred in the 2016 remake.
Back then Mr. Minnis called them rebels and undemocratic. Such a conclusion displays his shallow thinking. In the first place, it is always the rebels who usher in positive change in moribund societies. Nelson Mandela was a rebel; and so was Mother Theresa; and so were those gallant women of the Suffrage Movement in the Bahamas. As for the Seven being undemocratic, they were being particularly democratic by following Article 82 (4) of the Constitution of the Bahamas. Again, only a person with a lack of depth in thinking would make such a facile argument.
Essentially, the movie is about seven gunslingers, who at great risk to themselves, save a poor town from greedy, savage thieves. Unfortunately, the story of our Magnificent Seven in the Bahamas did not end as well. So ten months into this new Administration, this country owes a national apology to those Seven parliamentarians who wrote that letter of no confidence in the leadership of Mr. Hubert Minnis, the then Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly. In essence, they were
Darren Henfield, Minister of Foreign Affairs, suggested lately that it is too early for the nation to pass critical judgment on the present Administration. Perhaps he is advocating that we 4
wait for total collapse before we say or do anything. But we are ten months in; we have seen enough.Even Blind Blake can see that this Administra-tion is woefully unprepared to govern. The only persons who still can’t see this are those who have been blinded by the brightly blazing torch, or whose objectivity have been poisoned by drinking that red Kool-Aid; persons who are FNMs before they are Bahamians. And those of you out there who are PLPs before you are Bahamians, don’t celebrate, because you are just as useless to nation building, having been bitten and poisoned by that crab.
political and personal reasons, is not only cold, callous and contemptible, it is criminal. And speaking on behalf of my yet to be conceived grand-daughter, she didn’t tell anyone to take out any loan in her name; so this Minnis led Government’s constant borrowing reveals that they never had any real plans for growing the economy. Finally, if no one in this Administration is arrested, put in shackles and paraded on Bank Lane for what is now obvious fraud in the Oban signing, then not a single soul in this Administration any longer has the moral authority to call the PLP corrupt.
Our reality is that this Prime Minister has flipThe Magnificent Seven wrote: “We are deeply flopped on practically every pained by the growing crisis of position he held before taking confidence that ails our beloved office, proving that he has no country”. So am I. To be clear, I "[T]his Prime real convictions. Our sacred love my country, but I’m soooo Minister has flipParliament is still presided over tired of being governed by little, flopped on by a Speaker who is petty, visionless men. My older reprehensible, showing the son recently finished high school practically every Prime Minister led and is now in college; but he still position he held Administration’s lack of moral before taking office, doesn’t know how to drive a car. I courage and common decency. love my son dearly, but I wouldn’t proving that he has Mr. Minnis’ Cabinet has already give him my car key to drive to no real convictions." given out a school contract for town to run an errand for me. He millions of dollars that never would be a danger to himself and went to tender, displaying that others. I wouldn’t make the inane transparency is only a word they use to beguile and irresponsible decision to allow him to drive silly Bahamians. From the minute the gun fired, just because he was able to complete high his executives presented in Parliament an school. Obviously, many Bahamians believed immoral budget, giving tax breaks to wealthy that because Mr. Minnis successfully completed parliamentarians, while we are still waiting for the medical school, it qualified him to be given the promised tax cuts on breadbasket items, key of State and be allowed to drive. And what a signaling that the poor or average Bahamian was colossal mistake that has been so far. He has never a priority. His Administration’s directed neither the temperament, the breadth of rush to judgment by having hardworking experience, the sensitivity nor the competence to Bahamians at BAIC arrested indicates that they do this job. are unwilling to do even the slightest due The Magnificent Seven wrote: “Our parliamentary diligence in order to arrive at the truth. democracy rests on the notion of confidence. A Moreover, Prime Minister Minnis Administration’s prime minister may continue to govern only mass firing over the last ten months of insofar as he or she continues to enjoy the permanent and pensionable Bahamians, most for
POLITICS
confidence of the house of assembly�. There is a crisis of confidence in this nation. And we the people can’t trust that those despicable and spineless ones that we sent to our ancient and sacred house are going to do anything to change unfit leadership, because they have already proven that they lack moral courage; and besides, in their delusional state they may believe that all is well. So we the people must occupy. Since 2002, we the Bahamian people have been kicking out Administrations every five years. Maybe it is time we stop doing the same thing and expecting different results. Perhaps it is time for a revolution. It may be that the healthy future of our nation depends on it.
My humble apologies to the Honorable Magnificent Seven: Loretta Butler-Turner, Neko C. Grant, Hubert A. Chipman, Richard H.R. Lightbourn, Theo J. Neilly, Andre Rollins and Edison Key.
Dr. Keith A. Russell is a novelist, social commentator, Adjunct Professor (University of the Bahamas) and Pastor, (First Baptist Church) residing in Freeport, Bahamas.
6
WORLD
Haiti in the Mood for Revolution JEAN H. CHARLES
October 17 brings back the memory of the assassination of Haiti’s founding father, Dessalines, by his comrades in arms. Indeed, it happened 212 years ago. The country has sunk into an abyss since. It seems the people of Haiti are now ready to make another revolution to bring back the nation from the sinkhole into which it has been engulfed mainly in the last 60 years since it booted out its dictator Jean Claude Duvalier. Each government from Henry Namphy in 1987 to Jovenel Moise in 2017 did not understand there should be a rupture
with the past to bring the country into a mode of nation building. This lack of understanding constitutes the main culprit in the decadence of Haiti. Its governments as well as its citizens have no affinity with the nation. They are there to pick up their share without giving something to the motherland. As such, corruption and thievery of public funds are part of the fabric of the Haitian ethos. Almost three million Haitians were on the streets on October 17 in all the cities and the towns of Haiti demanding an accounting of the funds from PetroCaribe
First published in caribbeannewsnow.com October 18, 2018
entrusted to the Haitian government to build needed institutions and infrastructure for the benefit of the people. These funds, which amounted to $3.8 billion, have been wasted in personal pursuits, transferred into foreign accounts or just dissipated without trace. The Haitian people are demanding from the Jovenel/Ceant government a forensic accounting of those funds and punishment for those found culpable of mischief in their trusted duty. In Port au Prince as well as in the other large cities there was
a peaceful demonstration where all social classes combined marched en bon enfant until the police used teargas and rubber bullets on the populace to disperse the crowd.
he took the reins of power some two years ago. There is a profound pauperization of all the classes in Haiti, particularly the most vulnerable, the ones living on less than $2 a day.
Its organizers promise that, on November 18, they will come back for good. This day commemorates the last battle between the troops of Dessalines on November 18, 1803, against the French
This pauperization is coupled with the apparent opulence of the members of the government as well as an arrogance that reminds one of the edict of Marie Antoinette on the eve of the French Revolution. With the people demanding bread, she said: “Give them cake!”
PRESIDENT MOISE
colonists, which resulted in the final victory at Vertieres, leading to the independence of the country on January 1, 1804. Will it be the day Haiti divorces with its state of corruption, its state of laissez faire inherited from its third president, Alexander Petion, its culture of disregard for the plight of the majority of its population? President Jovenel Moise has a chance to lead that revolution or be swept away by a movement that he did not apprehend when 8
President Jovenel takes great pride in working hard to give electricity to the country 24 hours a day, not knowing this is a small part in the framework of the nation building process expected by the people of Haiti. In the northeast of the country, as a matter of fact in the very hometown of the president, Trou du nord, there is electricity 24 hours a day provided by a scheme funded through USAID, yet that region is still one of the poorest of the country. The crowning program of the government is a scheme called “caravan of change” whereby a fleet of tractors and back-loaders engage in building roads or irrigation. The process has been sporadic, with insufficient local participation, no proper funding and no follow up until the final
mark. During the day of outrage on October 17, in the north of the country at Milot a tractor and a big truck were set on fire by the populace because the feeling of connection was not present to indicate to the perpetrators that this public instrument is part of the nation building process. It should be protected and not destroyed in anger. Haiti is pursuing a two-track system of governance. On one track the majority of the population – 85 percent – is living in dirt poverty with a disdain by the local as well as by the national government for its fate. On another track the elite members of the governmental apparatus, the very rich citizens – 15 percent – are enjoying all the perks of power: brand new cars, free gasoline, free phone service, padded accounts for dubious services, etc. The most vexing part of the situation is that the past government club of profiteers has been added to the club of the new government, leaving almost nothing for the rest of the population. The movement “Where is the money from PetroCaribe” started last August, went viral through the internet and has gained momentum in the country and in the Diaspora. It cannot be turned back. The government is promising it will use its sovereign power to find and prosecute the villains, yet some of those suspected of pilfering the funds are well ensconsed in their position of
WORLD of the cedar trees to give away their seeds. They have not been harvested either.
power. Haiti has been in the mode of faking everything: faking compassion for the poor, faking justice, faking good governance and faking virtue. The hour of recognition is almost on the dot. President Jovenel Moise must either make a complete break with the past and engage those who can help him bring about true change in Haiti or the masses of discontented Haitian people will sweep its government away Ă la Duvalier! Yet the people of Haiti that suffered during so many years the agony of crass poverty are ready to be satisfied with very little. It is asking for free education for its children. Ninety percent of the burden of education is taken care of by the private sector, taxing poor and middle class families to the limit. The government is only engaging in satisfying the remaining ten percent. It does so in a manner so delinquent that most parents cannot wait either to send their children abroad or to take usurious loans to ensure a good education for their children in a parochial or in an expensive
school. Strangely enough, the loan from PetroCaribe is a blessing for Haiti, with no debts but the amount of $3.8 billion to Venezuela and $1.5 billion to the National Bank, this small amount of engagement can be wiped out through a financial deal called debt swapping for nature. Haiti is one of the best candidates to receive an exchange of that debt for environment projects from the institutional lovers of nature and the Scandinavian countries. Imagine Haiti using the $26 million paid in debt servicing annually without corruption in planting mahogany and cedar as well as the succulent Francis Mango in the range of its mountains; in less than 15 years it will be as green as the island of Dominica and as rich as the island of Singapore. In this season, the cones of mahogany trees are filled with seeds that will become pure dirt when swept away by the wind; no one but no one has taken the care to harvest them for future generations. In April, it is the turn
In addition, if Haiti and its government would engage in the policy of feeding its own Diaspora in the United States, Canada and Europe with organic and nostalgic produce with planes leaving every night with mangoes, guava, avocado, passion fruit, baby banana, giant apricot and the rest, the pressure on the Haitian gourde will be at its lowest. The poor and the middle class will be enriched and its Diaspora and the lovers of excellent organic produce the world over will be satisfied. I have inquired while I was in Cape Haitian if there is at present no regular flight bringing from Haiti any type of cargo merchandise to the United States. This season is filled with avocado and guava ready for export; from Cape Haitian it can be done only through the Dominican Republic! I am, like the Haitian people, in the mood for a revolution for nation building; the cry of the mothers who cannot feed their children is aching my heart and my stomach!
ECONOMY
Entrepreneurship, Money and Value D'ARCY RAHMING
M a n y Bahamians are afraid to talk about money. They view the topic as somehow dirty, as if the only ways of acquiring it are to take it from someone else or to trick someone into giving it to you. This is probably because of our history towards money. As slaves our labour was extracted from us for money. As freemen we were pirates of the seas, we wrecked boats, we ran guns, we ran rum. Some of us still run drugs. I have heard some very interesting theories as to why this is a common relationship to money. Before the 1950 tourism revolution, the economy of the place was very stagnant. Our beautiful land was a place of scarce yearly visitors and even scarcer dollars. In an environment such as this, where we
existed on the fringes of the global economy, it was no wonder we adopted such attitudes towards money. I am from a well-off family, and I was amazed the first time I found out that my father was born into a house with no running water and an outhouse. The economics of the place didn’t allow for many to have the things we now take for granted. In one lifetime we have radically changed the face of our country and pulled the majority of us up from subsistence living to general prosperity. The question that many of us are asking is what is next? We as a nation seemed to have stumbled on something that is intrinsic to the properties of money: adding value. This value came in the form of tourism and “vacation-ings” as we like to call it. Pick up any economics textbook and look up the definition of money and you might find this poem: "Money is a matter of functions four - A medium, a measure, a standard, a store" What this poem describes are the functions of money. The first is that money is a medium of exchange - you can buy things with it. This is probably the one we all seem to understand. The 10
second is that money is a measure of value. The difference between my house and your car is that my house costs $235,000 and your car costs $33,000. The third is that money is a standard. 1 Bahamian dollar is equal to 1 US dollar, is equal to 1.5 British pounds. (The conversation surrounding cryptocurrencies revolves around this function.) Lastly money is a store of value. You can convert any item into money by selling it and then save that money in a place like a bank.
take raw materials and create something tangible (a building) that is worth more than the materials themselves. Often times they do not squander their monies because money that is earned honestly is worth every hour of sweat that was required to make it.
A Shift in our Relationship with Money Until there is a shift in our minds that money is the creation of value we will seem to continue to grind our gears and our economics will remain the same. If you read the above paragraph again you will We must have a hard look at what skills we have to notice that the word “VALUE” is used in two of the add to those around us. I’m not just talking about four functions. Bluntly put, money is value. Now entrepreneurship. As an employee we can add back to our relationship with money. For much of value to the organization we are a part of. We our economic history we have taken value from should always be asking ourselves: "Is what I am others. On the job, we do as little work as possible doing, at this moment, advancing the cause of the because the boss is cheating us. company? If the answer is no, As the businessperson, we offer then I am probably making crappy service so we can get as much money as I more value out of the customer. "Certain skills are exactly deserve. If the answer is yes, then As the investor if we can take all of how can I improve the value I’m worth more than the money out and leave nothing creating? How can I be the MVP for the business owner, we can others. The most of my team? After a few months of get more out of the company. being the MVP, ask for more valuable skills of all But there is another way. After responsibility and a raise. If you World War II, across the channel are those that bring don’t get it consider finding in the USA, the Americans somewhere else that will respect revenue into an discovered, perhaps by the value you bring to the necessity, that money is directly company and compensate you organization." related to building each other up. fairly for it. The USA has largely been responsible for the rebuilding of Here are some easy ways of Europe, and large parts of Asia adding value to someone or a company: that were destroyed during the second world war. -Solving a problem for them. During this time they were actively seeking to -Supplying them with top quality goods or improve the lives of their fellow citizens and made services. an environment that made this process easier. -Making their lives a little bit easier. They discovered win-win business. The customer wins because a need or problem has been met/ It is important to say that not all skills have the solved at the highest standard possible. The same value. You can be the greatest gas station employee wins because sustainable work has attendant on the planet and you will be hard been created and his wages increase as his pressed to make more than $250 per week. Here productivity increases. The employer wins is where education factors in. Certain skills are because business is flourishing. And the investor worth more than others. The most valuable skills wins because profits and share prices rise. of all are those that bring revenue into an I suppose this is the reason that honest contractors organization. Fundraisers, salesmen and other in our society have a good sense of money. They functions that add to the top line can be expected
ECONOMY
to earn more than even those that are more formally educated.
As a young entrepreneur, I am intimately familiar with this process, as I and the rest of my team, have recently demonstrated it in an area that many would think of as having no value: sports. Sports for many people is nothing more than running up and down in the hot sun. Recently we hosted the Jr World Championships in the sport of Judo. This event has put in $3.26 million dollars into our economy during our slowest tourism period. The value added here was that the International Judo Federation is actively looking to expand its image as a global sport. By providing them the location to do so, they can prove to their stakeholders that Judo is truly a global thing. And this value has translated into real dollars. The event brought in 800+ people (with more to come). There are many opportunities to add value out 12
there. I am a firm believer that God gives us all a unique vision of the future. It is through hard work, discipline and a plan that we can affect these visions. If you fix your mind on creating value, the money will come.
D’Arcy Rahming Jr - is a young Bahamian entrepreneur. Having studied engineering (robotics) abroad, he has chosen to come home and solve some of the countries biggest problems. His interests are technology, finance and sports.
ECONOMY
WTO: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly CATHERINE KELLY
THIS just blows my mind. I can upload my photo to an online optical store, try on a ton of frames, send in my prescription and they send me a new pair of glasses—all at a fraction of the cost of ordering through a bricks-and mortar store in Nassau. This is good for me, but bad for local retailers. And the ugly part is that this online shopping problem is only going to get worse when the Bahamas joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of next year. According to a November 2018 WTO Accession booklet put out by the Ministry of Finance (yes, I actually read all 16 pages of it), the Bahamas government raises some 27% of its revenue through customs duties, and the average duty rate is about 30%, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. But when the Bahamas joins the WTO, it will have to lower its average duty rate to around 15% in order to level the playing field with fellow WTO members. That sounds fair on paper, but in reality it means the government is going to have to replace First published in The Punch, December 3, 2018
this lost revenue with other forms of taxation. That’s why last year the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended introducing income tax. That’s why this year value added tax (VAT) was raised from 7.5% to 12%. And that’s why next year business licence filings will include invasive financial requirements that the private sector sees as the first step toward implementing a corporate income tax regime. Yet the government is trying to convince us that joining the WTO will mean a “lower cost of living for Bahamian consumers”. How? You are lowering taxes at the border, but at the same time you are raising or introducing taxes everywhere else, so where is the decrease in my overall tax bill? The other benefit touted by government is “increased choices for Bahamian consumers”. They say that with fewer restrictions on trade, “Bahamians will have access to a better and greater variety of products”. Sure. And fewer restrictions mean Bahamian
wholesalers and retailers (who, by the way, import 80% of their products and control 75% of the economy) can look forward to more competition from foreign brands entering the Bahamian market. This means more merchants going out of business or opting to “front” for their big name competitors.
Bahamas is being pressured by the European Union to end preferential treatment for foreign investors unless the same tax breaks are offered to domestic entities. So either the government gives tax breaks to everyone and takes a hit with revenue collection. Or it gives no tax breaks to anyone and hopes the And can you imagine what low-to-no customs Bahamas can attract foreign investors on charm duties will do for online shopping in this country? I alone. buy local as much as possible, even if I have to pay Furthermore, as Labour Minister Dion Foulkes more, because I want to keep Bahamians pointed out last week, the best paying jobs in this employed. But prescription glasses are duty free, country are currently going to non-Bahamians. and I draw the line at having to Why would anything change pay three, maybe four times because we join the WTO? more to buy from a local store. Foreign companies will still prefer That’s why the government is . . . I think my favourite foreign staff in the topmost posts, fantasy is the advising businesses to optimise and Bahamians will continue to their operations, improve government’s train their foreign supervisors. customer service, use more But I think my favourite fantasy assurance that in a technology, and either look to is the government’s assurance expand overseas or “network brave new WTO world, that in a brave new WTO world, internationally” in order to we can look forward to we can look forward to compete in the new WTO “modernisation in government “modernisation in environment. services”. And I quote: “The rules Sounds great. But what about government services” of the WTO call for competition the fact that exchange controls safeguards, intellectual property are a significant impediment to rights protections, food Bahamian businesses standards, transparency, competing internationally, and consultation, etc. These measures lack of access to capital puts Bahamian merchants will require the Bahamas government to adopt new at a disadvantage in relation to their foreign and more efficient processes, which will help to competitors. modernise the way the public service works.” As it stands now, international companies can We can only dream. As the business community borrow locally, but local companies cannot borrow has pointed out to government, the lack of ease and internationally. We know we need exchange sheer cost of doing business in this country is a controls to protect our foreign currency reserves so significant impediment to competitiveness. we can purchase all our foreign imports. But we are Government bureaucracy has this country stuck in going to have to find more creative ways to level this quicksand. uneven playing field for local businesses. Even top civil servants have admitted that the The government also claims that joining the public sector is 40% overstaffed and has a “hollow WTO will mean higher employment as more foreign middle” that lacks vital skills essential to its smooth businesses set up shop in the Bahamas and more functioning. On top of that, government workers Bahamian businesses expand overseas. And we don’t contribute to their lavish pensions, and they are told we can look forward to better income for believe that greater efficiency will cost them their Bahamian workers as an expanding market jobs. Can the WTO really cure this national creates more sophisticated jobs. disease? The reality is, our high labour and energy costs For more information, go to mean we can’t attract foreign investment without www.bahamastradeinfo.gov.bs. the lure of big tax concessions. And now the 14
ART
A Ghost Tale CECIL A. NEWRY So I have this family secret that I confess here now. There are people within my immediate family who does see dead people. No, not dead people who does be in graves or in coffins and shits like that; but, dead people who does walk around aimlessly on the road, like regular ass people. Dead and buried people who seem to be up and about, working; going on about their daily chores; “living;” and doing whatever it is that dead people does freaking do. May sees dead people all the time. But that woman aint afraid of shit! I remember one time my sister complained that her house was being haunted by a poltergeist, (that doors would open and shut by themselves; that things would move around the house unexplainably; that at times she would sense a presence of somebody/ something lurking in the dark). Hearing that, my mother barged into her home, shouting with vehement passion, “Duppy, get your rass outta me daughter’s house now. This fa she house. Get out now!” Needless to say, the duppy left; no hang ups, evicted by my mother’s command. My mother is known for being a bold and brash woman; all my life everyone
seemed to be intimidated by her stature and presence; the living and seemingly even the dead. But this wasn’t May’s first encounter with ghosts. When she was younger, living in a mountainous village in Manchester, she would see dead relatives walking along
the winding coppice forest trails all the time during the wee hours of the morning. They bothered her none. She would suck her teeth and cuss bad words and continue on with her assigned chores, unmoved, unbothered, unconcerned. Then there was me. From when I was little, a presence seemed to have had settled in with me. A mischievous spirit of sorts,
that use to push me about and around. I never could explain my constant injuries, my clumsiness, my constant misfortunes; however, my mother concluded that I was haunted and subsequently, use to bathe my head with white rum and pray over me often. At night, I used to be hagged a lot; at times, I would wake up in a cold sweat, hyperventilating, unable to breathe, gasping for breath, screaming for help. For relief, May had me sleep with a bible on my chest. It used to work sometimes, but often, the demons would not leave me alone to get some rest until early the next day. Throughout my childhood I stayed being haunted, seeing ghost-like figures in the dark and sensing strange ass creatures in the bushes that I used to call fairies or jinn. As I sit and write now, I remember this one, sleep-haunting memory that has stayed with me over the years. In this occurrence, my dreams were invaded by snakes and the sense of perpetual falling. I remember waking up screaming; only find out that while I slept, my face was bitten by a six inch centipede that had crawled up into my bed. I remember the blood that
gushed out. I remember the pain that I felt, I remember the swelling; and I can still remember May running into my room, seeing the centipede and grabbing it with her bare hands squashing it into powder, shouting out you demon, out! Shits like that seemed to happen to me all the time; some family members concluded that I was touched by magic. But I told you all about that shit in order to tell you this story about Cat Island… I confess, I barely can string sentences together. Writing and speaking Standard English is foreign to me. Words seem to always be jumbled up and confused, yet I continue to write despite. When I was about 17 years old, I joined the Bahamas Writer’s Society in hopes that they would edit and critique my writings. I had scores of poems that I had hoped to publish; and Sylvia Larimore-Crawford, President of the Society took me on as a special project, editing my work and assisting me with word pronunciation, so that I would be able to perform on stage. I spent hours with her learning how to pronounce the words “pain” and “rain.” I failed miserably. I still can’t pronounce those words properly for shit. Nevertheless, after four months of being a member of the Society, Mrs. Crawford included me in a group of spoken word artists and musicians who were going to perform at some sort of festival at Fernandez Bay Village, Cat Island; allexpenses paid. (I was to 17
perform one poem. Just one damn poem: “Who do you think you is?” A piece that I had practiced with Mrs. Crawford for weeks). Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I love up a free tings. I convinced my mother to allow me to fly on the owners of the Fernandez Bay Resort’s private one engine plane to Cat Island. Of course, my mother was uneasy with this, nevertheless she allowed me to go. At Fernandez Bay, I was given my own cottage; it was nestled into the thick coppice forest on the beach cove, far away from everyone; far away from the main house. A one room bungalow with an outside bathroom attachment. (I mentioned this for a reason; for when I say “outside bathroom”, I mean the toilet and shower facilities were freaking outside. It had no gaddamn roof; just walls. The whole gaddamn facility was open up for the world to see you. Apparently it was a part of the resort’s aesthetic charm.) That being said, the moment I landed on Cat Island, I felt this presence. I ignored it, choosing to bond with my artisan companions. I was the youngest amongst the group and they knew I was uneasy about the culture of the island, hearing perpetual stories about Cat Island’s witch doctors and obeah rituals before we left in Nassau. They teased me unceasingly about it. The second night as we drove this small rented jitney down this long ass, unlit, dark street, an eerie feeling overcame me. I
braced myself as I knew something was about to happen. You ever felt as if someone was watching you? I felt eyes peering through the bushes that night. (Red eyes, cowbellwearing, rolling calf-like creatures; monsters my mother used to warn me about when I was little). As we rounded the bend I whispered to one of the musicians, “I feel magic here. I can smell the craft in the air.” He laughed. They mused about me some more, singing Bahamian Calypso songs as we drove seemingly endlessly toward the resort. Suddenly out of the bushes, (on this empty road seemingly to nowhere, where there were no houses, no businesses or structures as far as the eye can see) a greyed hair old woman about 60 years of age, flagged down the car. They stopped. I cussed. I remember asking the group of men, “Who does stop for freaking people in the middle of no gaddman where at 1am in the morning?” (I did not say the word “freaking” by the way; it was another colorful word). The driver in the front, retorted, “We does pick up people on the out islands, this aint Nassau where yall does be mean.” I remember sucking my teeth… Here enters Hazel. Her name even seemed witch-like. The freaking people put Hazel to sit next to me, way in the back. I refused to greet her, being vex to ratid. The group continued to muse on me about Cat Island having spirits. Hazel joined in. I did not break a smile at her ass.
ART A mile down the road we let Hazel out, again in the middle of no damn where. But before she left she caressed my hand and said no need to be afraid son, and laughed. 30 minutes later, we reached the resort. We all retired. Everyone else had a roommate saved me. I alone had to trek my ass to my bungalow, by myself, along the beach. That’s when the haunting started…
Allah, it was locked. But about 8 minutes after that, I am sure, I shitted my pants. Whosoever was on the roof of the bungalow, now jumped down into the unroofed bathroom facility. Only the side door now separated us. Then the door opened. I prayed. The presence was close. I shut my eyes
I took off my jeans and shirt and slept in my white jockey shorts and T-shirt. My ma purposefully purchased me white jockeys to wear, proclaiming that a man needs to learn how to wipe his ass properly. I locked the sliding door and attempted to lock the inner door that led to the outside bathroom. The freaking lock mechanism was on the other side. I remember feeling petrified, as that eerie feeling was still with me. What if I thought…I stopped that negative ass thought right here. It is impossible to scale the high ass walls of the building I told myself. I darkened the room and nestled into my bed. I feigned sleep. That’s when I heard it; (I write now teary eyed, remembering the emotions that I felt that night, that early morning), -footsteps on top of that gaddamn roof. For frig sake! I froze. I refused to move. I refused to get up; afraid that whatever was outside of the bungalow would realize that I was alone within.
"I froze. I refused to move. I refused to get up; afraid that whatever was outside of the bungalow would realize that I was alone within."
Then someone/something tried to open the locked sliding door. Praise be to
tightly and prayed to G-d to take me; to save me. Lord, Jesus take me. (I thought of my mom. I thought about how she would grieve her dead son; I thought of her heart break; I broke down). I felt the bed sink from the weight of something. That’s when I heard it….gibberish words being whispered into my ear. It sounded like an incantation. I listened holding my breath, pretending sleep. I thought whatever this is, will have to take me sleeping, as I refused to open my eyes. Then, the mattress of the bed lifted from its frame. (I’m not quite sure what the hell happened); I imagined I levitated or some shit, who the hell knows. Seconds later, I felt cold. Then I blanked out.
7 am I woke up. I was outside in the gaddamn yard, laying on the people’s mattress on the freaking beach; all sandy up. I got up and dragged the queen mattress back inside. The room was a wreck with bush and tree limbs all over the place. It looked as if a storm had passed through. Strangely I felt well rested. Mind you I was still scared shitless; but I concluded that it was day light; I was checking out today and to hell with everything else. I opened the side door leading to the bathroom and that was then I saw it: something had made a Guy Fawkes with my clothing, (or perhaps some type of Obeah effigy of me) laying it sprawled out in the center of the bathroom floor. My hair stood up as I packed up my shit. I showered quickly, for the last time, using that outside facility where all of Mother Nature could have viewed my nakedness. I then trekked my ass back to the big house lugging my overnight bag and said not a word to anyone. I just needed to leave this island.
The Carpenter Asks for Lily’s Hand (1923) Nicolette Bethel
He see her first in the candy kitchen where he stop by the back to buy ice cream. Her moonskin gleam. He catch her eye— it black, it black. He hope. I find my wife, he tell his brother. Ma Florrie say nothing, serve mince lobster over plain white rice. Tomato stain the pale plate brown.
* He buy coconut tart, coconut candy, caramel fudge, chocolate fudge, smooth white divinity fudge. I find my wife, he tell his mother. She serve him fish and grits and say: you hate divinity fudge.
* He buy ice cream from the black back door. Sour sop, mango, coconut. Sweet Lily smile. He catch her eye: it black. It black. Tell me where you live.
* He buy boil mint and benne cake.
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ART
He buy peanut brittle and pineapple tart. He buy taffy. He buy cotton candy. He smile and Lily smile on back. Tell me you will marry me.
* I find my wife, he tell them. His brother cut his eye. Tell me she en white. Slow silence. Ma Florrie watch her son, her stepson, feel the air crack black between them. White; black; neither; both. Eddie hate divinity fudge. She white, say Eddie. Bain Town white. She white and her family black.
SOCIETY
The Moon Packing Up, the Sun Dismantling: Failing Democracy in The Bahamas Patricia Glinton-Meicholas
Twice—27 February 2002 and 7 June 2016-Government sought the voice of Bahamians on Bills intended to amend items of the Constitution of The Bahamas, which egregiously discriminate on the basis of gender. Both failed. Not a single one of the proposed amendments passed into law. I believe that the Referendum put more cracks in the social fabric of my country than Humpty Dumpty’s fall opened in that egg’s corpulence. It is important that I declare at the outset my personal actions regarding the two referenda on gender equality, which The Bahamas has mounted to date. I voted ‘yes’ to all items both times. I will continue to vote to legislate equality, as often as Bills are presented. As long as the controversial 21
constitutional clauses continue to stand, this country has no right to claim democracy or any true independence. Like so much in my native land, democracy is only a veneer painted on sparingly to gain The Bahamas acceptance in the international community of democracies. That thin layer of civilization has never been able to hold up against the particularly corrosive combination of influences that form the belief system of the Bahamian majority—a fatally twisted form of Christianity, an equally lethal form of partisan politics, rampant homophobia and shameless xenophobia. I was once a fervent believer in Bahamian democracy. I believed it impossible that the 1972
framers of the Constitution, Bahamians who had chafed under the discriminatory bonds of colonialism and counted African slaves among their ancestors, would ever countenance any form of bondage against other human beings. I was sure the Bahamian people, of whatever political party, would be ardent in striving to make The Bahamas a model of democracy and peace.
Consider this essay a reflection on the continuing repression and regression of Bahamian democracy, emphasising the leaking of its lifeblood through countless fissures of ignorance and hate emanating from various groups and belief systems.
Framers of the Constitution of The Bahamas You stood in the foothills of true democracy and independence in 1972 during the making of the I once believed that Bahamian women had suffered Bahamas Independence Order, now grandly enough forms of discrimination to make them the known as “The Bahamas Constitution”, but instead staunchest champions of democracy. They had of climbing to the summit, you turned back to long been the glue of the Bahamian family, enshrine, in law, bondage for many Bahamians. mothering and fathering, holding us together Drunk on the 150-proof of the1967 attainment of through countless trials, forced to do so because of majority rule and occupancy of the master’s perennial male absenteeism. Never to be mansion, you turned back to the safety of prejudice, forgotten, the vote of Bahamian women was the the same prejudice against difference that slave game-changer that won us majority masters and colonial overlords rule. espoused to deny our people freedom. Isn’t it ironic that many of On Wednesday, 27 February 2002 "I now officially us are so ready to embrace the and again on Tuesday 7 June 2016, declare an apostacy same ugly paternalism, imperialism I believed—thumb joyously and machismo to deny full citizens’ empurpled both times—that —my disaffiliation rights? Bahamians had been sufficiently from the belief that exposed by travel, documentaries The Bahamas is a The Women of The Bahamas and news from benighted parts of Twice you have voted against democracy." the world to spurn any attempts to yourselves, your children and your deny universal rights at home. children’s children. That says it all I once believed that no one who had seen about you and your regression from the brave, destruction caused by the zealot religionists forward thinking of the Bahamian suffragettes. You worldwide could promote the sanctimonious spite I chose to believe that Eve and her female offspring were cursed in Eden, not just to bear the pains of saw manifested before and following the polls. childbirth, but to remain forever inferior to men, Mind you, I never expected a win either time. I did subject to their abuse. strongly believe that ‘no’ would do no more than squeeze through the poll and emerge naked and The ‘Christian’ Nation even with some skin scraped off. While The Bahamas is a church-going nation, most I now officially declare an apostacy—my Bahamians are not Christians. Most have cobbled disaffiliation from the belief that The Bahamas is a together a Frankenstein of a savior mainly from all democracy. The flag-waving, t-shirts, vehicle the bloody eye-for-an-eye texts of the Old decals, the speeches at each Independence Testament and allied with maliciously interpreted celebration are no more than blinds to hide a deep- verses of the second half of the Bible, largely seated imperialism that finds every excuse for isolated from any qualifying larger context. You dividing our people into sheep and goats, have and deny the Christ of the New Testament, a God who says “Whosoever will may come”, a God who was have nots.
SOCIETY accused of being a wino, a Christ who dined with sinners and promised a woman of the streets that her name would be remembered throughout history for her love and humility. That “wayward” Christ is kept in the reeking closet of our sainthood. Quite frankly, if some of us had lived in Palestine anno domini, Jesus would have been silenced by a Hannibal Lector mask. You know who you are. In your churches, rife with hypocrisy, you cover up and condone fornication, adultery, large scale fraud, incest and various forms of domestic abuse. Worse still, in some cases, you follow pastors who have committed such infamies, and feel justified in pointing fingers and condemning others. Yet, you shut your eyes to an out-of-control murder rate, mounting assaults against women and female and male children? No march against the stink of families torn apart by murder or against the stink of corruption in the public service? No outcry against an abysmally failed public education system, when the decline of meaningful literacy lies at the root of many of our societal and economic problems?Yet, you raised your arms in holy ecstasy at the failure of the gender equality bills. Obviously, you were not moved by the love of Christ when you marked your ballot—only by blind prejudices and the tug of pastor’s leash. “Save Our Bahamas” The media reports showed you grinning in victory in 2016, but just what did you win? Lust for secular power emerged naked from beneath the suits, robes and self-righteous, smug grins of a few of your colleagues. Obviously, those of the ilk believe they need to save the Lord his planned return trip. He can rest easy in heaven, though—the Bahamian righteous have judgement and rewards covered. You ‘gat’ this! By the power of the secular vote, by the stroke of an indelible pencil, by the pastor-induced, deluded passions of congregants, we are led to believe you can wipe out fornication, adultery, the marrying of non-Bahamians, homosexuals and foreigners in general. So, how should we take your lukewarm or absent response to disturbingly high rates of rape,
domestic abuse, incest, failure among public school students, public corruption, as well as the lack of institutions that cultivate critical literacy, logic, refinement of thought and spirit, as well as comity among fellow Bahamians. What’s your next lobby? The imposition of Sharia law in The Bahamas? It is a belief system, which allows extremists to insist that women are commodities, who can be raped by praying men and slaughtered for the slightest infraction. And to think that there are some Bahamian ‘holy’ women who would be good shrouding in the hijab or even the niqab.
"Obviously you were not moved by the love of Christ when you marked your ballot--only by blind prejudices and the tug of pastor's leash." Government Hypocrisy The 2016 government administration opened a new page in hypocrisy and diverting blame. I quote from statements published in local newspapers. “The LGBT community are the ones who are really celebrating the victory of the ‘no’ vote. Unfortunately, I think now we will have someone in that community challenge the word ‘sex’, as it is still undefined in the Constitution and they may eave it up to the courts to define sex. All of us, including the Save Our Bahamas pastors, will be praying that the courts interpret it in a strict sense and not liberally.” Obviously, the people who spent more than a million dollars asking people to vote ‘yes’, were secretly praying to their Franken god for the failure of democracy.
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The best statement of all: “The government respects and will abide by the will of the people pursuant to the constitution.”
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come
Seriously? When the Bahamian people voted a resounding ‘no’ to legalizing local gambling, this same political party then governing discarded the will of the people and legalized local gambling anyway.
… The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.
You were willing to sanction the shrinking of human rights and democracy, while allowing the spread of gambling enterprises in every nook and cranny in this country, even in the poorest quarters of the capital, even on islands where the claim of an economy could only be facetious or wishful thinking. You rubber stamped the expansion of an insidious addiction that induces some of the poorest, jobless Bahamians to ‘spin’ all day long and lose the little money and dignity they do have.
"Funeral Blues"
27 February 2002 and 7 June 2016—two days of infamy. Nearly a half-century on and still no “One Bahamas”.
The 2016 Official Opposition You lobbied against the gender equality Bills and, perhaps, many of you voted ‘no’. It could be for no better reason than to take revenge on the Progressive Liberal Party for campaigning against much the same bills in 2002. If so, you victimized the many young people, who struggle with all the negatives of joblessness and being denied equitable participation in the benefits and responsibilities of their homeland. Now, what will you do about rights with freshly regained power? Who lost with the defeat of both gender equality referenda? We all did. Democracy lost and The Bahamas will continue to lose the fuel to power us out of what is bidding fair to be an increasingly downward economic and social spiral. We, who have been so richly endowed in assets, destroy them one by one, while we happily, greedily and spitefully create a new Dark Age to blight the world. I end with two extracts from W. H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”; somehow, they seem appropriate here— Auden wouldn’t have been allowed into the sacred precincts of the Bahamian Church Inc.
Patricia Glinton-Meicholas is a poet,
essayist, author, cultural critic and a respected researcher in Bahamian folklore, art, culture and history.
LIFE
East Street Blues Ian Strachan
First of all, a man like me faces turning 50 with equal parts relief and dread. Relief because this friggin thing called Life is, thankfully, almost over. Dread, because this friggin thing called Life, is-gasp--almost over. The second thing is: I wouldn't do it all over again. Hell-to-the-no. I didn't enjoy life anywhere as much it kicked my butt, and I am pretty certain I would be just as foolish the second time around, so . . . no, I'm good. No one should have to put up with this sh&t more than once. (I'm not fond of reincarnation as a notion, can you tell?) Now, I've lived a very busy life. Probably too busy. I spent the first 40 trying to be heard, to be respected, make a difference. At 50 I realize having people listen to you or pay attention isn't something you need to work very hard to achieve. (Total jackasses can have national radio and tv shows and even become President of the United States.) Plus, saying things-anything--normally has more impact on the person saying it than the people listening. I'v been a boy--a rude, spoiled, precocious boy. I've been a young idealistic artist-intellectual, living on books, popcorn and canned soup. I've been so cold I slept fully dressed and I've been so hot I couldn't sleep even though I was buck 26
naked. I've been chased by bored thugs in Atlanta and profiled by the police in Philadelphia. I've walked the streets of a French town all night because I'd had a pointless fight with the woman I loved; and I've stood in a Havana night club and been asked to dance by a beautiful woman trying to make some money the best way she knew how. I've buried two brothers, my mother and my father. I've fallen in love. I've broken hearts. I've had mine broken. In fact, I've had others break it and I've managed to break it all on my own! I've watched my three boys be born and I've closed my mother's eyes on the world. I've ridden on my high horse and fallen on my ass in the mud in front of an amused public. I've fearlessly spoken the truth when others were too scared and I've weakly told lies when those I lied to already knew the whole story. And what has all this living taught me? SOMETHING, I hope. So let's see. I've learned that no amount of money can make true leadership anything other than a sacrifice. I've learned that the hardest and best thing you can ever do in this world is parent well. I've learned that the second hardest and best thing you can do in this world is get married and
LIFE manage not to hate or be hated by the person you made the vows to. I've learned that a job is never done until its done right. I've learned that love is never deserved. I've learned that your first dreams for your life are probably the best ones to chase. I've learned that no one's opinions or feelings
your screw ups than in your victories. I've learned that there is no such thing as a secret. I've learned that whether you live in a democracy or a dictatorhip, the rich rule. I've learned that the sooner you let go of wanting the person you love to change the happier you'll be. I've learned that happiness or wellness is my own responsibility, no one else's. I've learned that if you want to "help" and "serve" the last place to get that done is politics. I've learned that if you have a pot belly right now, chances are you always will. I've learned that you can't undo the past, no matter how much time you spend there. I've learned that being a man means knowing what tools to use to solve a problem and knowing where to get that tool if you don't have it. I've learned that we could all use a therapy session or two. I've learned that less is almost always more. I've learned that there is no shame in saying you need help, but it's a sad thing to need it and be too proud to ask. I've learned that the simplest things are priceless but the world glorifies expensive bullsh%t.
should preoccupy you save those of the people you love. I've learned that no matter how you feel about your father, one day you will see him in the mirror. I've learned that failure often makes you better and success often makes you worse. I've learned that perfection is a chain and ball. Be free of it. I've learned that nobody really wants to hear the whole truth; they'd rather you lie a little. I've learned that the wrong thing is the easiest thing to do a whole lot of the time. I've learned that people take far more pleasure in
And last, I've learned that the less connected you are to devices and the more connected you are to the people you care about, the better the rest of your days will be. I thank God for this life I have been given. I thank God for the mother who raised me and all the sacrifices she never hesistated to make. I thank God for all the people who cared and modelled for, encouraged, and taught me. They are in me and I am what I am, the good anyway, because of their gifts. To my sons, Clay, Ash and Chidike, I say: Do what you Love. Nothing else is worthy of your days. Walk in the Light. And forgive yourself when you stumble in the Shadows. Get back up. You'll find your North.
Junkanoo, Boxing Day, 2018 Photo by Ian Strachan