The Tribune

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett

In the early days of slavery, enslaved Africans were inferior beings; they had no souls so were not human. As science and religion progressed and then slavery ended, a different system of keeping blacks inferior had to be created.

The church allowed blacks to have souls so that it could convert them and then control them, though always insisting that they were inferior. Blacks were cast as mentally incapable of reason, unable to organise or lead themselves. Black males could be used to sire children, they were shiftless and lazy, though 'good workers', and black women were either beasts of burden or sexualised Jezebels.

These stereotypes have been built on fallacies and continue to control how blacks are seen and see themselves. Sadly, most blacks believe these images and so internalise them. Movies, music and other forms of popular culture build on these stereotypes. In fact, they present a 'romantic notion' of how blacks live, but it is always inferior to others. These images are taken as truth by young people because this is what they see every day, and secondly because they are not provided any other positive influence from parents or community. Tourism works with these images as the exotic space where people can come and enjoy themselves. They will be entertained by these sexualised inferior beings whom they can exploit without conscience or care. This produces serious social inequalities, and because so many people see tourism as an easy way of life, notwithstanding its exploitative nature and its unreality, the generations become even less able to form healthy identities. At the same time we measure our development through the success of creating resorts and making people more dependent.

Baha Mar is a sign of development. Atlantis is a sign of development. Meanwhile, little to no effort is put into social development. We are quick to blame people for their shortcomings, but we do nothing to ensure that things change for the better. With this development we are actually creating a world of huge inequalities that are clearly seen in the streets and the differences between where most of the population lives, the fact that their water and electricity go off regularly (yet we pay the highest prices for power), and just down the road the resorts are ablaze with beautiful lights.

This attitude that Bahamians do not deserve anything better than what they have and benefit from bad treatment is corrosive and causes serious social problems. Yet we do not address the corrosion or the poor attitudes. This is particularly true when it comes to social interactions. We often talk about how bad crime is and how many people need to go to jail, where they will be treated worse than animals. In maximum security, five or six men can share one cell with one slop bucket, no running water and no privacy. Yet we see nothing wrong with this. In fact, we celebrate this because they need to suffer. Are these still not humans?

Overwhelmingly, prison inmates are male and they are usually from the 'inner cities'. They cannot afford to secure good legal representation so they are more likely to go to jail. Once a first-time offender is incarcerated, in part because there is no real programming to rehabilitate, he will return to prison. We define him being a tough guy. Nationally, we celebrate men who go to prison. Indeed, once a boy has gone to prison, especially if he is a part of a gang, he gets more respect. Each incarceration brings him deeper respect. We know that gangs actively operate in the prison. We also know that once the first generation goes to prison, the chances are that his children will follow. These attitudes and behaviours are passed on even in the absence of a negative role model living in the home. It is the lack of social engagement to break the negative pattern. In order for this to be broken there must be interventions that are ongoing, not a week-long camp to promote sports. That camp is only a small beginning, but because there is no follow-up, the whole thing fails.

The prison could become a place of change and rehabilitation by simply following internationally tested and proven programmes like theatre, art, and other forms of expression that allow young men in particular to express themselves in more positive ways. Art is an excellent vehicle to work with changing behaviours and reducing anger, yet we choose not to use it. The nation sees art as superfluous. Art can allow young people to break patterns of behaviour by allowing them to express anger, aggression and violence in positive ways. It can allow us to discuss how we see ourselves and also provide a more positive avenue for self-fashioning. This is proven. Even dealing with harmful gendered norms socially and controlled behaviours that insist that men can only be a violent and sexualised comes through art programmes.

We refuse to engage with the arts because they cost money and because prisoners are animals. How then can we expect these people who are treated worse than animals to leave prison rehabilitated? We choose to perpetuate horribly damaging stereotypes that create little potential for a healthy society. They are created to keep people inferior and in poverty. These stereotypes are limited to men being nothing more than a penis and women being nothing more than sexual objects. Tourism also reinforces these. We are only here for the enjoyment of the tourist, the outsider, and gendered norms are constructed with this in mind. We define people by their status in life, and choose to imprison them in unforgiving social norms that say that a poor person is less human than a rich person. Then we are surprised when people behave accordingly. The 'Double Dutch' show at the National Art Gallery works with some of these harmful images and should be seen. We must truly begin to look for better ways of dealing with our gender, class and race inferiorities created by dependence on the paradise myth that casts us as nothing more than throwaway objects for the world's enjoyment.

• For questions and comments e-mail bethellbennett@gmail.com