Pandering to new wave of xenophobia

EDITOR, The Tribune

I admire the unwavering patriotism of members and executives of the lobby group Operation Sovereign Bahamas. Like all right.-thinking Bahamians, this group is spot on in desiring to see the Free National Movement (FNM) government put aggressive (and hopefully humane) measures in place to end the influx of illegal immigrants pouring into The Bahamas. Left unabated, The Bahamas would simply be overrun with hundreds of thousands of Haitians, when one takes into account the Republic of Haiti’s massive population of over 11 million -- 28 times the size of the current Bahamian population.

In all things considered, The Bahamas is unable to subsume the entire Haitian population. With the displacement of thousands of Grand Bahamians and Abaconians in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, the FNM administration, with its limited resources, decided to house many of the Bahamian and Haitian evacuees at the Kendal G L Isaacs Gymnasium. I commend the Minnis administration for this humanitarian gesture. What I will not applaud, however, is Operation Sovereign Bahamas’ attempts to pander to the wave of xenophobia and prejudice against the illegal Haitian immigrants housed at the gymnasium.

The protest at the gymnasium is indicative of the lack of human empathy many Nassauvians seem to have towards Grand Bahamians and Abaconians who recently endured Dorian’s unmitigated wrath. I suspect that the founder of this lobby group has political aspirations, and is simply using his sheeple as a means to a political end. The protest, in my opinion, is a new low in the never-ending battle against illegal immigration.

KEVIN EVANS

Grand Bahama

November 13, 2019

Comments

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

Operation Sovereign Bahamas simply wants our immigration laws to be vigorously enforced as they should be. It's absolutely absurd that so far only a couple hundred of the many thousands of illegal Haitian aliens have been deported since Hurricane Dorian. And it's especially insulting to the Bahamian people to know that many more than just a few hundred new illegal Haitian aliens have arrived on our shores since Dorian. We are still swimming backwards when it comes to the ongoing invasion of our country by overwhelming numbers of illegal Haitian aliens and its because the Minnis-led FNM government has yet to put in place an aggressively enforced and sustained campaign of weekly round ups and deportations. Minnis's failure to satisfactoriy address this most important and vexing issue in the minds of the vast majority of Bahamian voters will be his downfall in the next general election. But because no one can stomach the PLP and Brave Davis, a coalition of independents candidates running in the next general election may need to get together to form the next government. An ever increasing number of voters are finally waking up to the fact that the FNM and PLP are just two sides of the same coin of corruption that has brought our country to its knees.

Posted 16 November 2019, 9:36 a.m. Suggest removal

momoyama says...

How you can even fix your mouth to compare the party of Pindling, Hanna and Adderley to these mud rats is beyond me. The media's total bias in favour of a disastrous FNM is the only explanation. In the real world of facts, figures and scientific analysis, there is no comparison. The Bahamas made a HUGE mistake in 2017 and it will be reversed in 2022. The FNM as a party will be retired permanently.

Posted 16 November 2019, 10:03 a.m. Suggest removal

TheMadHatter says...

Yes it will be reversed in 2022. That is a certainty. However the flow of Haitians will not be affected either way. Both Parties have ignored the problem ... big time.

Posted 18 November 2019, 1:47 p.m. Suggest removal

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