The year was 1963, 56 years ago I was 16 years old and standing in the doorway of our kitchen on that hot July sun, I could never forget the most horrific scene of my young teenage years. I saw people running across our yard screaming, women holding babies that were crying, men being held on the ground and being handcuffed. I very clearly remembered my mother telling three women to hide under our bed so that they would not be caught by the Immigration and Police Officers. Yes, these were illegal Haitian immigrants. The illegal Haitian immigrants is not a new problem for the Bahamas, but here we are 56 years in the future and as our forefathers, we are also hunting them down as though they are less human than we are. We have though our children to despise these people, blaming them for the crime of trying to survive in a hostile foreign land. One would think that over the laps of 56 years a much better solution to the problem would have been achieved. Truth be told, the majority of Bahamians are by far mote prejudice toward the Haitians than the American Whites are towards the Afro Americans. They have never seen them as their equal in fact, they don't see any of the countries of the area as their equal. Every Government that held the office, has always skirted around fixing the problem, now that it is a National Problem, inhumane crumbs are being thronged out to them. We all know that the vast majority of deaths in the land of Abaco were Haitian immigrants and not Bahamians. I can only hope that the Bahamians don't ever have to leave their home because of whatever change may bring about, they will find that their host country may not be so hospitable to them. As a country, we have no compassion for the underprivileged, we preach brotherly love and being our brothers and sisters keeper, but it is only a lip service they were handed down from the elders and leaders of bygone years. The leaders today are clones of their parents, they have inherited all of the ill social gens that govern us today. It is said that tine like travel, broadens the mind, but unfortunately, the minds of our present leaders have not been broadening one bit if it was, then we would not be chasing down immigrants, we would have enacted laws that would allow these people to become useful residents and contribute to the overall growth of the Bahamas. The Bahamas stands head and shoulder above every country in this region and that is a remarkable accomplishment and does say a lot about the stability of the government and the democratic rule of law but little about the empathetic attitude towards its lesser undesirable, impoverished and undocumented immigrants.
Zaggappuss says...
The unbroken cycle
The year was 1963, 56 years ago I was 16 years old and standing in the doorway of our kitchen on that hot July sun, I could never forget the most horrific scene of my young teenage years.
I saw people running across our yard screaming, women holding babies that were crying, men being held on the ground and being handcuffed. I very clearly remembered my mother telling three women to hide under our bed so that they would not be caught by the Immigration and Police Officers. Yes, these were illegal Haitian immigrants. The illegal Haitian immigrants is not a new problem for the Bahamas, but here we are 56 years in the future and as our forefathers, we are also hunting them down as though they are less human than we are.
We have though our children to despise these people, blaming them for the crime of trying to survive in a hostile foreign land.
One would think that over the laps of 56 years a much better solution to the problem would have been achieved.
Truth be told, the majority of Bahamians are by far mote prejudice toward the Haitians than the American Whites are towards the Afro Americans. They have never seen them as their equal in fact, they don't see any of the countries of the area as their equal.
Every Government that held the office, has always skirted around fixing the problem, now that it is a National Problem, inhumane crumbs are being thronged out to them.
We all know that the vast majority of deaths in the land of Abaco were Haitian immigrants and not Bahamians.
I can only hope that the Bahamians don't ever have to leave their home because of whatever change may bring about, they will find that their host country may not be so hospitable to them.
As a country, we have no compassion for the underprivileged, we preach brotherly love and being our brothers and sisters keeper, but it is only a lip service they were handed down from the elders and leaders of bygone years. The leaders today are clones of their parents, they have inherited all of the ill social gens that govern us today.
It is said that tine like travel, broadens the mind, but unfortunately, the minds of our present leaders have not been broadening one bit if it was, then we would not be chasing down immigrants, we would have enacted laws that would allow these people to become useful residents and contribute to the overall growth of the Bahamas.
The Bahamas stands head and shoulder above every country in this region and that is a remarkable accomplishment and does say a lot about the stability of the government and the democratic rule of law but little about the empathetic attitude towards its lesser undesirable, impoverished and undocumented immigrants.
On PM kicking down door was ‘not a good impression’
Posted 9 October 2019, 1:45 p.m. Suggest removal