by Sir Arthur Foulkes
Rosa Parks, the black American woman whose simple act of defiance sparked one of the great movements of the 20th century, died in October in her sleep.
It was in December 1955 that Mrs. Parks, a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white man. She was arrested, convicted and fined. That launched a bus boycott and the civil rights movement which changed the history of the United States.
It inspired and challenged leadership in the black community and that challenge was magnificently met by a young Baptist preacher who went on to lead a great non-violent revolution and to become a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paid the ultimate price when he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in April 1968.
Mrs. Parks had been a member of the NAACP and a militant campaigner for civil rights and political equality for black Americans and for women but it was that single act at that particular moment that triggered the historic chain of events.
Other black women like Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith had also been arrested for attempting to break the segregation law on buses, and other blacks had been punished for violating humiliating laws.
History is full of such incidents which led to bigger things, and the idea of doing the right thing at the right time is much celebrated in literature:
“While we are talking, envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future.” – Horace in 25 BC.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” – Shakespeare in 1599.
“Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.” – David Everett in 1776.”
Rosa Parks seized the day and took the tide at the flood and from this sparkling Southern fountain a large stream did indeed flow.
Bahamians were privileged to entertain both Mrs. Parks and Dr. King on visits to this country. Dr. King visited on many occasions during his years of struggle and encouraged Bahamian leaders in the way of non-violence. The first of these encounters took place on the second floor Bay Street offices of the late Bahamian realtor Basil Sands.
Many blacks resisted the evils of slavery and discrimination in the West, paid dearly for their audacity but helped to turn the heavy pages of history.
Some noble whites, too, helped to turn those pages. In January The Los Angeles Times recalled the small beginnings of a great movement which occurred at a building housing a bookstore and a print shop in London in May 1787.
Twelve men, including the Quakers Thomas Clarkson and James Phillips, started a movement which contributed to the dismantling of the most iniquitous institution in the history of humankind.
Said The Times, “They formed themselves into a committee with what seemed to their fellow Londoners a hopelessly idealistic and impractical aim: ending first the slave trade and then slavery itself in the most powerful empire on earth.”
In 1829 in the Bahamas a young slave named Pompey was among those who also helped to turn a significant page. Pompey led a small rebellion in Exuma and for his trouble received a public flogging of 39 lashes.
But, says Michael Craton and Gail Saunders in their history, Islanders In The Steam (Volume I), the rebellion “firmly established the principle that Bahamian slaves could not be moved with impunity against their will.”
So what are we to do with the legacy of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Thomas Clarkson, Pompey and many other freedom fighters?
After all, the struggle against racism is by no means over. The racists in America, now restrained by law from discriminating in public places, have retreated to corporate board rooms and political caucuses whence they continue to work their mischief.
Here in the Bahamas we have achieved majority rule but we delude ourselves if we believe there is not more work to be done. We are more fortunate than many other countries which still suffer from acute forms of racism. But we still have the negative residues of our history to clean up.
Like all the other problems of our society, the residue of racism will not dry up by itself. If left alone, as some suggest, it can have a poisonous effect when agitated by unexpected events.
Sir Orville Turnquest and Sir Durward Knowles have the right idea. We must work at building bridges, opening dialogues and reaching out to each other if we are to build a Bahamas where one of the worst traits of humankind will no longer threaten our oneness.
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RECKLESS ASSAULT
Last week before hurricane Wilma descended on Grand Bahama with such devastating consequences, I referred to a statement by a group of American scientists suggesting that rising sea levels will likely mean higher storm surges even from relatively minor storms.
It is not likely that rising sea levels contributed to the recent destructive flooding in Grand Bahama but it ought to serve as a warning of what is likely to occur with greater frequency if the scientists are right.
I suggested that we should not be contributing to global environmental degradation by direct attacks on our natural heritage. The establishment of regasification plants in the Bahamas and the piping of gas to Florida will be a reckless assault on our natural heritage.
I pointed out last week that the government of Florida does not allow oil exploration near its shores for fear of possible damage to its multibillion dollar tourism industry.
The same day this column appeared, a reader drew attention to an Associated Press news story about a proposal to drill for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico off the east coast of Florida.
Under this new proposal the drilling for oil and gas would be allowed -- but only 125 miles away from Florida’s precious shores!
Florida Governor Jeb Bush, says AP, had rejected an earlier proposal that would have permitted drilling for natural gas nine miles from the Florida coast.
“Florida politicians for years have fought offshore drilling to protect estuaries and beaches critical to the state’s ecology and tourism industry from pollution and spills.”
They have LNG nine miles off their coast! But they do not want to drill for it because of the danger that would pose to their ecology and tourism industry!
So our Bahamian Prime Minister, Perry Christie, is considering helping them out by allowing regasification plants in the Bahamas along with the dredging of millions of tons of silt from the ocean bed to lay gas pipelines to Florida.
Despite Mr. Christie’s talk about the need to preserve our natural heritage for future generations, he apparently does not put as high a value on it as the Floridians put on theirs.
Perhaps they will reward Mr. Christie by erecting a statue in Tallahassee to commemorate his great heritage-sacrificing generosity. Maybe they will also erect one to Leslie Miller in Miami.
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