Race & Politics in Today's Bahamas

by Andrew Allen

One of the things that last week's convention demonstrated is that the PLP still has some way to go if it is to finally bury the divisive race card that served it well in the 1960's, but has served both it and the Bahamas badly since then.

To many of us, there was something frankly amusing about seeing Kenyatta Gibson, a man in his thirties, attempting to invoke the spirit of the early PLP pioneers by describing the career advancement of Mr. Symonette as a movement "back 300 years" for the country.

The Tribune was quite right to remind readers of a subsequent editorial column that this particular Mr. Gibson, who gives his address as Lyford Cay, would have been in his early infancy when Mr. Symonette's father last held office in this country. His invocation of the horrors of a return to 1705 (!) must then be read in all its stark ludicrousness.

While it may be easy to dismiss the theatrics of Mr. Gibson as the attention-seeking of a very junior politician, some of the comments of more seasoned and thoughtful members of the PLP hierarchy may be interpreted as truly troubling. For Ministers Fred Mitchell and Alfred Gray to have called attention to the 'salt' in the 'salt and pepper' combination was as cynical an act as any in recent memory.

What these and other senior PLP's seem to have missed is that the public has now reached a point of maturity where the benefits of invoking the race card are outweighed by some very tangible, if unexpected, liabilities.

Looking around the PLP convention floor last week, many viewers must have been shocked at the number of white Bahamian faces among the audience. In Abaco, North Eleuthera and parts of New Providence, the votes of many white Bahamians are virtually up for grabs these days, maybe for the first time in memory.

White Bahamians represent a solid block of something over 40,000 people, many of whom are voters. Further, they have recently shown an increasing tendency to shop around politically. To take this opportunity to remind the world of the racial orientation of the PLP is therefore not merely tasteless, but downright daft.

On the other hand, an increasing number of black Bahamians are either tired with or insulted by the Machiavellian invocation of the race card by politicians whose own life experiences and characters make them unlikely racial warriors. So while it is hard to see many blacks joining the PLP because of the antics of such men, it is easy to see many whites leaving it because of them.

PLP leaders must know this. So what one must conclude from the tiresome invocation of the race card is that it has taken on a life of its own, and has now just become an item of the collective PLP mindset that responds not to external stimuli, but to internally reinforced group behaviour.

JUDGE MR. SYMONETTE FOR AND AS HIMSELF

Of course, not to like or support Brent Symonette (or anyone else for that matter) does not make someone a racist.

Had the PLP concentrated on the inordinate role played by money or monied cliques within FNM politics, instead of on race and histrionics, they would probably have struck a chord across the political spectrum.

Wherever Mr. Symonette himself may stand on this issue, there is clearly a concern among many FNMs that the party's reliance upon small groups of monied backers is a weakness both in getting elected, and in implementing balanced industrial and investment policies once in office.

Many Bahamians probably simply assume where Mr. Symonette stands in relation to such issues simply on account of his background and obvious wealth.

In the event, however, Mr. Symonette's own speech to the FNM convention a week earlier was as good a defence to such charges as could have been hoped for. What was notable in his speech was its repeated emphasis on social issues, such as health care insurance, elevating the level of education across the board for Bahamians and expanding opportunities for Bahamians who have not already done so to join the professional classes.

From the start that he has made in his new role, PLP detractors will simply have to find something other than either the race card or the image of the rich eastern roader to beat him with.

So get to work Fred and Kenyatta. That is your job in politics. But it is not your job to insult Bahamians with cheap, played out rubbish.

Comments

[An outside point of view]

The Bahamas with such a short independence evolution period of 34 years lends only the recent History as the consequences of their actions. The people of the Bahamas no matter what the true character of any politician, have just the recent memories to direct them. The canidate for Deputy Priminister Mr. Symonette carries the baggage of the recent past real or percieved. With slightly under 15% of the Bahamas being White voters and owning business producing 80% of the local economic base the less fortunate Black Bahamians still feel as though they are economic slaves, allowed only freedom of thought which of course will be in their vote. The repression that was as recent as 1967 when Black Bahamians were then allowed to proceed in there education past age 14 is a long lived memory. It will be many years until Bahamian society can ascend past the Race Card, so I ask you Mr. Allen do you blame the Black Bahamian Society for having a race card view? Look at Hugo Chavez in Venzuela he is of the Majority race in that Country, it took more than thirty years for this man to be elected due to the economic interests of the minority race also being the Majority owners of the local economic base. Should the Bahamian people regress for percieved progress?