The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

The after Dorian illegal Haitian drama has ran the gamut yet there is no letting up. “No retreat no surrender everyone has their minds made up. Love them or hate them no in the middle.“

The Bahamas law like all international laws on illegal immigrants are on the books. All law-abiding citizens are supportive of these laws. But not all immigrants are illegal and should be treated accordingly. During my daily trek the chatter on the grapevine is not so much about expelling the illegals it’s the way the Haitian community is being treated and how they are being singled out, and there is no disputing that a minority of them who sticks out like a sore thumb is bringing their community into ill repute by their conduct. Now is the time to remind them that as sojourners in our country they should conform to our standards and not vice versa.

Nevertheless, instead of condemning all of them because of the few we should be praying that their country quickly regains some semblance of normalcy so they can return and start to rebuild.

Suddenly this aggression is spreading, it is everywhere. In the schools, in the church on the bus, it’s everywhere. Now there is talk of an alliance. A coup is afoot. One of survival’s law is: When a sector of society is being ostracised they will unite. While the country’s law must be maintained there is another law. God’s command in the Bible is clear as to how we are to treat immigrants in our land. Three reminders of God’s law that’s most prominent are Exodus 12:49 “There shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you” – Genesis 12:10. “Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land, (Sounds pretty much like what’s going on in Haiti). And Deuteronomy 24:19: “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” God cares as much for the foreigners as he does for the widows and the fatherless.

In a Christian nation God‘s word should prevail. Sadly we are a people haunted by ghosts of our past, By what we should have addressed years ago now instead of facing up to our frailties we have shifted the blame. It‘s time for us to let it go. Too many feelings are being hurt. Family and friends are being hostile towards each other. Like love begat love it is the same with hate. Let it go, we are better than this.

ANTHONY PRATT

Nassau

November 28, 2019