THE Bahamas has lost its moral fibre, a Bahamian recently remarked. He wanted to know whether we agreed, and, if so, when did we first notice it.

Bahamians have always been great complainers, but although they mumbled and grumbled a lot they flowed with the tide and did nothing to upset that flow. They were polite, they were charming, they were kind. They chafed under racial discrimination, but it was only until that night on January 23, 1956, in the House of Assembly when the late Sir Etienne Dupuch stood up in the House and declared: “The day is past in the world when classes and races can be divided by some cruel invisible line. The time has come when people all over the world have become conscious of the fact that human freedom is indivisible. It is a quality of mind that cannot be broken up into parcels and one group handed one set of freedoms and another given another set. There can be only one freedom — and it must be the equal and indivisible freedom of all the people.”

That night, Sir Etienne, at the time plain Mr Etienne Dupuch, MP for the Eastern District and publisher of this newspaper, moved a Resolution in the House asking his fellow representatives to go on record as deploring “discrimination in hotels, theatres and other public places in the colony against persons on account of their race or colour”.

Although the Resolution was sent to the burial ground of a committee, by the end of the week hotels and other public places had taken out advertisements in The Tribune to announce that their doors were open to all members of the public regardless of race or colour. That night, Bahamians came out in droves to support their champion, who had been threatened with arrest. In his private life, he almost lost The Tribune because of financial pressure brought by many — not all – in the business community because of his bold and unprecedented stand.

And then came the sixties. By then, Bahamians had started to find their voices. The PLP had been formed in the late fifties, and the late Sir Randol Fawkes’ labour unions were on the move. The mace was thrown from the window, violence had entered the picture. Majority rule came in 1967. Bahamians were fighting for rights that had been denied them for too long. One could understand their grievances, even their bitterness, but this time it was not to be a quiet revolution.

And then came the seventies and the eighties – and the drugs.

For us, the day that Bahamians slipped their moral bearings was the day that The Tribune reported that young students, asked to write about what they wanted to be when they grew to manhood, described their ambition to be drug dealers. That was the day for us when everything snapped and a new generation started on a downward path that led to the jail house for many. The crime that we are fighting today – the shootings, stabbings, murders, the greed, the unconcern for one’s fellowman, and the “all for me baby” syndrome — is the maturity of the seeds sown in the drug years.

In those years, young Bahamians were exposed to quick wealth. Men, with no legitimate means of earning, were suddenly rich without apparent effort. They were laden down with gold — around their necks, on their fingers, around their wrists, even their ankles. They drove flashy cars, and seemed to pick up flashy girls. But, the greatest disgrace of all, their wealth — as evil, and illegal as it was — opened the doors to society. This is where morality broke down. The shadows of such people could not even have crossed the same street on which Bahamians of our childhood walked. But by the eighties they were the toast of the town, even some of the politicians got sucked into the circle.

The lines between right and wrong, moral and immoral became blurred.

This is one of the reasons that The Tribune has come down on the side of legalising and controlling gambling. One cannot measure the damage that has been done to the youth of this community who see the heads of these web shops being referred to as criminals, but dining at the same tables as some of our political and social leaders. They donate to charities, they are feted for their donations, yet, according to the law, they are breaking the law, and are classified as “criminals”. No wonder the youth of this nation are confused. Why can’t they too break the law and get away with it? Where are the standards? What is right or what is wrong today?

If web shops are illegal, then shut them down. If society is so enamoured of them, and a shut down would send them underground, then make them legal, control them with strict laws, and tax them. But for the sake of society, send out a clear message to our youth of what is right and wrong in this country. Draw the line and punish those who cross it. This amoral society has destroyed the youth of this nation. There is no longer a line between right and wrong — some cross it and are forgiven depending on who their friends are, others cross it and go to jail, because they have no friends to speak for them.

Yes, the Bahamas has lost its moral bearings. Imagine a man accused of dealing drugs being allowed a marriage ceremony is his jail cell, and Bahamians criticising the Commissioner of Police for being beside himself with rage.

When we think back to the days of the smart force under their strict British Officers, followed by such outstanding Bahamians as Eddie Sears, Gussie Roberts, Wenzel Granger, Sir Albert Miller, the Knowles brothers, and the list goes on — what’s happening now is appalling. Today even our once royal police force has fallen from grace.

It is now time for society to heal itself and demand higher standards. If not, crime will continue to grow apace – and society can only look to itself to find the culprit.