EDITOR, The Tribune.

I saw a professor from the University of The Bahamas on the news saying that all of our colonial statues should be removed. I would like to know who gave him the job of speaking for the Bahamian people? He is free to voice his opinion, but he must not speak for the Bahamian people.

The idea of removing colonial statues is foolish and unnecessary. As usual many weak-minded Bahamians want to follow everything that is done in America, but I cannot understand why. We saw a flawed mind set being demonstrated by many Americans when they destroyed stores, cars and everything else to show that they disagreed with what happened to George Floyd. Then we saw Americans destroying statues of slave owners.

This is all hypocrisy. Those statues were in America for many years. The death of Mr Floyd was wrong. However the statues had nothing to do with his death. Those statues are a part of the history of America. It is likely that those slave owners did good and bad things to black and white people, but what they did cannot be undone. Leave the statues alone because history is history and should not be hidden whether it is good or bad. Destroying stores and shopping malls did not bring Mr Floyd back to life, but it did show that those persons who did these acts are lawless, disrespectful people who in many cases did not care about Mr Floyd, but instead cared about grabbing as many Nike tennis shoes as they could out of the mall. God save the Bahamas and Bahamians from such a disgraceful and uncivilized mindset.

I am a black Bahamian. Yes wrong was done by many colonial slave masters and others from that day, but leave every last one of those statues alone. They are a part of my Bahamian history. Again, whether it be Columbus or Queen Victoria, there is good and bad in everyone. Removing those statues will serve no purpose so leave them alone. All of the hypocritical voices that are being heard now ranting and raving about colonialism were quiet when the country was shut down and there was no money coming in because we had no tourists. These individuals were praying I am sure for the country to open so that they could go back to work. This same tourism industry which many of these hypocritical persons have a problem with is the engine that powers our economy. Indeed we do need to diversify our economy, however, tourism will always be a part of us. I am proud of our tourism product and what we offer to people around the world.

I am proud to walk downtown and look at the statue of Queen Victoria, Columbus and Woodes Rodgers because they are all a part of the rich history of the place where I and my forefathers were born. Leave the statues alone and let Bahamians and tourists alike learn about our history and the good and bad done by the persons represented by these statues.

Leave the Columbus statue alone. I sincerely hope the courts penalise the man who damaged it severely because he represents the lawless mind that wants to do the lawless deeds done by others across the waters. The hypocritical voices talk about Columbus killing the natives, but why don’t they talk about the large number of black men being killed by other black men presently. Why don’t these voices speak about and do something about domestic violence and teen pregnancy and homeless and hungry people and all of the other social ills that plague our society?

As a black person I have always disagreed with how black people hold onto slavery and use it as an excuse to hate white people. The point is slavery was terrible and wrong, but it is in the past. Racism still exists, but we all must play our part to bring an end to it. Yes some white people are racist but you also have a large number of racist black people who are racist against their own people.

There are light skinned black people who do not want their children to date or marry black people with darker skin. There are black people who look down on other black people who are not as wealthy as they are. LET’S GET REAL!! Stop focusing on the past and the statues that have no bearing on whether anyone lives or dies and focus on the things that matter and can make our country a better place. Of course many of the intellectuals will argue that slavery caused black people to hate their dark skin but that makes no sense. Stop blaming slavery for everything. In fact, stop blaming and start doing something about now. How come slavery didn’t cause black people to hate, hatred? How come slavery didn’t cause black people to love each other since they shared a common experience?

If those statues were removed, the killing of young men and the hunger of the less fortunate would not be lessened.

I hope that this government that the Bahamian people voted in, or any other government that follows preserves and protects our statues and our history. There are good and bad aspects to our history, but it is our history. It is more important to focus on the present and doing what we can right now to improve our nation and the lives of our people. We have people in politics who have done wrong things but no one is crying out for them to be removed or banned from running for a political party.

We must not follow the illogical and irrational thinking of others. Instead of removing the statues let’s remove the hypocrisy and the monkey see monkey do foolish mindset that threatens to overtake the mind of many.

A Bahamian Lover of history and statues

Nassau,

October 9, 2021.