Dear Editor:
a few ideas I get out of bed, switch on the light to write down:-
Is it not enough disruption, disturbance: vehicles going by, going through our main streets especially, through the quiet and stillness of the night?
How irreverent, persons going by, through the night, not satisfied that their engines disrupt, disturb peaceful sleep. Since they must go by, they should tiptoe pass, like occupants of a house, like members of a family in a house, having to wake in the night and move about. Maybe a parent has to enter a child's room but enters and leaves upon tiptoe.
Entirely without sensitivity, so many at all hours, pass through Kemp Road, which is my street again, with music booming. Such persons, had they bombs, they'd drop them, they'd throw them upon our peace of mind, upon peaceful sleep, upon our way of life.
And who is paid, is hired to enforce the law, wait until these criminals, these insensitive persons, do something homicidal before they act.
With children to raise, to discipline, we do not wait until they've destroyed the house we're living in before we react; when they spill something, we make them clean it up. We in this country, wait until blood is spilled before anything is done or said.
This second matter may only be connected in part.
There are Haitians here illegally, hiding out in various corners, in Haitian communities, out of sight and keeping quiet. There are Haitians who have become Bahamians, who are integrated into Bahamian communities, who have embraced our country and its culture, who have come to love, respect and defend our way of life, our traditions.
We had a tradition of respect for each other, for neighbour. We had reverence, especially for Sundays. In my own family, we were encouraged to be fun-loving. We'd play music, we'd dance, whenever we desired, right here on Kemp Road where I grew up, when there was not work to be done. On Sundays though, there was no dancing and no dance music. These, on Sundays, were not allowed.
Now, on Kemp Road, Sundays are the noisiest day of the week. It seems there is little or no reverence for it. Tradition in which I was raised, in which I grew up, seems to have broken down or to have evaporated.
Has who has come into this street, into Nassau's inner city areas especially, not caught on, are not carrying on because they've come from elsewhere, with a past, not ours but imported?
Is this disrespect and disregard resultant from disconnection but coupled as well with deliberate defiance? This might be far-fetched, a long stretch but is nonetheless an impact which cannot be underestimated.
And this is the observation of one who embraces Africa and the Caribbean. Our history and traditions have one same root and similar patterns. The us-and-them equation therefore is not one which this writer irresponsibly enters into or takes up.
I wish to invite focus though upon Haitians here without status. Though their parents were quiet and hid themselves away in fear of being rounded up, detained and deported, there is this category of persons who were born here, educated here and though they've not been given status, they cannot be apprehended and sent back. They do not have to hide like their parents. They do not have to be quiet. Entirely to the contrary, there are many who choose to be boisterous, disruptive and possibly in protest, possibly to bring attention to their plight, to their situation.
They do not have to love a culture, traditions, to which they do not belong. They do not or cannot embrace easily what/who does not embrace them. There is therefore this layer within our body politic which is foreign to it, which does not belong and is making it/us sick.
There is this group among us which is restless, determined to make us all as restless, as well as, as without rest as they are.
Something has to be done therefore. Who is unapart, must be excluded, cleanly and completely. But who is a part of us, who belongs to us, must be included. We could then expect them to be loyal, to love, respect, as well as to defend Bahamian culture and Bahamian traditions.
I rest my pen, my case and shall try again to rest in what has become a very noisy Nassau in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Obediah Michael Smith
bestwordsmith@hotmail.com
3:26 a.m.
January 29, 2006
a few ideas I get out of bed, switch on the light to write down:-
Is it not enough disruption, disturbance: vehicles going by, going through our main streets especially, through the quiet and stillness of the night?
How irreverent, persons going by, through the night, not satisfied that their engines disrupt, disturb peaceful sleep. Since they must go by, they should tiptoe pass, like occupants of a house, like members of a family in a house, having to wake in the night and move about. Maybe a parent has to enter a child's room but enters and leaves upon tiptoe.
Entirely without sensitivity, so many at all hours, pass through Kemp Road, which is my street again, with music booming. Such persons, had they bombs, they'd drop them, they'd throw them upon our peace of mind, upon peaceful sleep, upon our way of life.
And who is paid, is hired to enforce the law, wait until these criminals, these insensitive persons, do something homicidal before they act.
With children to raise, to discipline, we do not wait until they've destroyed the house we're living in before we react; when they spill something, we make them clean it up. We in this country, wait until blood is spilled before anything is done or said.
This second matter may only be connected in part.
There are Haitians here illegally, hiding out in various corners, in Haitian communities, out of sight and keeping quiet. There are Haitians who have become Bahamians, who are integrated into Bahamian communities, who have embraced our country and its culture, who have come to love, respect and defend our way of life, our traditions.
We had a tradition of respect for each other, for neighbour. We had reverence, especially for Sundays. In my own family, we were encouraged to be fun-loving. We'd play music, we'd dance, whenever we desired, right here on Kemp Road where I grew up, when there was not work to be done. On Sundays though, there was no dancing and no dance music. These, on Sundays, were not allowed.
Now, on Kemp Road, Sundays are the noisiest day of the week. It seems there is little or no reverence for it. Tradition in which I was raised, in which I grew up, seems to have broken down or to have evaporated.
Has who has come into this street, into Nassau's inner city areas especially, not caught on, are not carrying on because they've come from elsewhere, with a past, not ours but imported?
Is this disrespect and disregard resultant from disconnection but coupled as well with deliberate defiance? This might be far-fetched, a long stretch but is nonetheless an impact which cannot be underestimated.
And this is the observation of one who embraces Africa and the Caribbean. Our history and traditions have one same root and similar patterns. The us-and-them equation therefore is not one which this writer irresponsibly enters into or takes up.
I wish to invite focus though upon Haitians here without status. Though their parents were quiet and hid themselves away in fear of being rounded up, detained and deported, there is this category of persons who were born here, educated here and though they've not been given status, they cannot be apprehended and sent back. They do not have to hide like their parents. They do not have to be quiet. Entirely to the contrary, there are many who choose to be boisterous, disruptive and possibly in protest, possibly to bring attention to their plight, to their situation.
They do not have to love a culture, traditions, to which they do not belong. They do not or cannot embrace easily what/who does not embrace them. There is therefore this layer within our body politic which is foreign to it, which does not belong and is making it/us sick.
There is this group among us which is restless, determined to make us all as restless, as well as, as without rest as they are.
Something has to be done therefore. Who is unapart, must be excluded, cleanly and completely. But who is a part of us, who belongs to us, must be included. We could then expect them to be loyal, to love, respect, as well as to defend Bahamian culture and Bahamian traditions.
I rest my pen, my case and shall try again to rest in what has become a very noisy Nassau in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Obediah Michael Smith
bestwordsmith@hotmail.com
3:26 a.m.
January 29, 2006
posted by Obie Quiet at 2:19 AM
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