The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

It is so sad that instead of respecting the nation’s mantra to move forward together, a few self-serving politicians used the Independence celebrations as a platform to promote racial hatred over unity.

Never mind their party leader, the late Lynden Pindling, victimised black and white Bahamians.

I wonder how many people remember Sir Lynden’s “Register of PLP Job Skills” for Cable Beach Hotel jobs. The hotel was funded by ALL Bahamian taxpayers (at a colossal loss), but jobs were reserved for PLPs only.

Judy Mae Lewis, a black lady, was hired and fired the next day when it was discovered her brother was associated with the FNM in Andros.

What about all the white Bahamians who were fired from the thriving Hatchet Bay Farm in Eleuthera under Sir Lynden because of the complexion of their skin?

Their jobs were given to people who knew nothing about chickens, milk and eggs, let alone running a farm. Sir Lynden’s “greatest success story in the history of Bahamian agricultural history” collapsed, leaving many Bahamians out of work.

How many people remember the Inagua women whose Turks Island husbands were forced to return to their homeland because their wives wouldn’t support the PLP, tearing their families apart.

Talk to Catherine Ramsingh Pierre, whose parents, two highly respected doctors, had to endure a 12-year separation because the Pindling government wouldn’t give her father a work permit. Why? Because his wife was a strong opposition supporter.

Discrimination in any form is horrible, no matter how you cut it.

What makes it even more ridiculous is the large number of Bahamians who have both African and Anglo blood flowing through their veins. Is one part welcome and the other part despised?

We are all in this together, mixed up like conch salad.

“No-one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite,” Nelson Mandela said.

So, let’s hear it for Love.

It’s time for these small minded public figures to stop promoting discord and to share the vision of greats like Martin Luther King and Mandela so we can build this country together in the spirit of love and harmony.

ATHENA DAMIANOS

Nassau,

July 12 2018