By Drew
So it’s the year 2000, deep out east and I’m in love with Kandice. I gotta give her credit because she got me deeper into what I used to call “white music”. Which I now just call “music”. Don’t look at me like I’m the only one.
One of my favorite artists that she introduced me to was Fiona Apple. I even wanted to get one of her album titles tattooed on me but then decided against it. Her music, among other songs, has gotten me through what can only be labeled as our own 9/11. Only difference is theirs was (hopefully) a singular event whereas I’m sideyeing the calendar like…
RIP to our fallen loved ones. RIP to ANYONE and EVERYONE that died in that monster of a storm. And, sadly, RIP to the, apparent, moratorium on xenophobia and prejudice on this island. Its within that vein that I try to deal with the difficult topic of the Bahamian/Haitian situation.
First HeadKnowles break up and now every day I wake up somebody got a “Haitian Situation” comment. This is a tough topic to dance with because there are facts, there are feelings, there are good points and there are bad. This storm has reopened old wounds never to be mended again. It’s also shown some really fucked up sides of people that we didn’t know existed. It’s like the Trump election all over again.
Trump got elected and then a bunch of people decided it was ok to say “nigger” and be racist towards minorities and forgot that Trump has the secret service and they….well….they had a cutass comin…
Now my timeline is littered with niggas wildin out like we haven’t been living in harmony with Haitians this entire time.
And don’t come at me about, “this has always been an issue”.
Maybe it has.
But I’m an 80’s baby: I remember how prejudice it was in Kingsway in the 90’s. Y’all is play forget. If the argument started with, “Ya ma is a Haitian!!!” then….well, you know what went down.
And I don’t need to attack anyone, I can keep the attention on me. I was prejudiced as well. I won a 5th grade Halloween competition by dirtying my school uniform, lowering my posture so it appeared that I was poor and downtrodden and then, when they questioned who and what I was representing, I said, “Ise a Haitian….ya need ya grass cut??”. That’s when it was safe to be an ignorant asshole.
Now?
I can admit that that moment happened. I can admit too that I was objectively wrong, prejudiced and….sigh……zenaphobic.
Yes. Zenaphobic.
Know what pisses me off? How often that word has been thrown around by ignorant ass niggas that just learned it like this month. Can’t teach niggas shit. Now they out here on some…
Know how stupid you sound/look saying it? As stupid as everyone who thought that’s how you goddamn spell Xenophobic.
Looka the smart-dumb niggas in the back who thought I was spelling it right.
Guys, not everything is Xenophobia I promise. Let’s look at actual facts.
We have an ass-ton of illegal Haitians in the Bahamas.
A shitload of them lived on The Mud and “The P’s”.
The destruction of the Mud/P’s revealed that there were FAR more than we thought and they are literally in a humanitarian crisis as they have lost everything.
We have Haitians STILL coming in by boat or however to escape Haiti and they are literally dying to get here.
Haiti is not a 100% awesome place to live right now so people are leaving en masse by any means necessary and risking life and limb to get here or, if they’re lucky, to Florida.
We do not have room to accept all of them and there has been actual looting/violence by both Haitians AND Bahamians in Abaco.
Those things are objectively true. Well, except for my units of measurement.
As the aforementioned is true…..here is what is ALSO true:
Haitians, believe it or not, are human fucking beings and its wrong to think about mass murdering them.
You are wrong if your solution to the problem is “shoot up their boats”.
You are wrong to assume that we should/can send them all back to Haiti.
This is a humanitarian crisis and we have some blame in this with our flimsy immigration policies, inept political parties (both of them) and we should also be held accountable beyond “no one tell them come here”.
My nigga, our government can’t organize an evacuation and you want these daft niggas to organize a mass exodus? Did y’all SEE how they treated BAHAMIANS?
Then, when the murder storm happened and people died and lost, you know…..everything….know what the niggas who y’all want to handle a humanitarian crisis did?
You guessed it!
They commandeered the national flag carrier that we pay for with our taxes and brought everyone home to safety because that’s just the kind of common sense I expect from a responsible government.
No…they did this…
And these the niggas y’all want to handle the “Haitian Situation”?
Look at me, PLP AND FNM’s….LOOK AT ME…
Y’all JUST found out about the Mud? This is new news?
We knew about the Mud the same way we know our politicians have sweethearts all over the place. And what did we do? You goddamn right….we turned a blind eye because, what’s the Bahamian mantra when there’s not a clear and present danger?
So don’t get your male/female vaginas in a bunch now that the worst case scenario has happened and we have to deal with the inevitable fallout.
And let me say something to y’all foreign/American Haitians/Anyone else who want smoke that don’t live here and don’t know what is going on: Fall back with the slander.
I get it….you care about your people and you want them safe and sound. But lets deal with facts: Things aren’t 100% awesome in Haiti so y’all left and don’t wanna go back. Shit….things aren’t 100% awesome in Nassau either and PLENTY people bout to be out.
Don’t mind them playing patriots now. Let BPL load-shed some more or VAT increase and watch how they switch up.
Y’all was making fun of the Johnsons tho……ine forget.
But please don’t come for us as a majority when you don’t have the information. Are there Bahamians that are fucked up and sent terrible voice notes and shot disgusting videos about Haitians?
Absolutely.
I hate them just as much as you.
Were threats being made towards Haitians threatening their safety and borderline retarded doomsday/religious threats being made about mass killings etc?
Absolutely.
But please understand something right quick….actually, I have a meme for y’all…
Niggas made those threats…not us.
Read that again, please.
The majority of Bahamians DO NOT hate Haitians. We fucking either love them or more or less don’t really think about the shit. I feel like if you’re born here then you’re my brother or sister….I could give 2 shits whether you’re Haitian, Bahamian, Jamaican, Bajan, etc. I despise and won’t tolerate one group of people: Vegan Crossfitters.
Bahamians are not a hateful people. We are a loving and kind people. We are also a very fucking lazy people. Know how I know…..BECAUSE WE DIDN’T DO SHIT BOUT THE MUD ALL THIS TIME.
Son….we legit was like…
So miss me with the sorted voice notes and videos. That is just evidence that we too have assholes on this island but they do not represent the majority. They just niggas with smartphones.
Know what dumb niggas with smartphones do? Ask our ex-Miss Bahamas…
I know we’re having serious talky time but can we please get y’all to stop posting pictures of yourself and then talking about the tragedy like there aren’t still bodies warm on the grounds of Grand Bahama and Abaco?
Niggas out here on some…
If you came to this article seeking answers then you clearly haven’t read anything I’ve written before. I don’t have the answers. I do know that we’re better than what I’ve seen on my timeline. I do know we are better than what we have been saying.
Do we have a Haitian problem? No.
We have an immigration problem that needs to be handled because we can’t sustain the numbers of ILLEGAL Haitians at the moment. They need to either be legalized so they can be functioning taxpaying members of society or….whatever else smarter minds can come up with.
But I refuse to believe that the answer is anything but humane. We’re better than this. We’re fucking smarter than these insults I see flying around. This what y’all get for voting in a SAC alumni.
…what?
I didn’t stutter.
We are our brothers keeper tho, I can admit, I don’t know how long we can go on like this. Find a solution for the Mud and other shanty towns. Find the solution for immigration and make sure people are getting in the RIGHT way. Y’all can’t get mad about Haitians when your cousin on the defense force just got paid to let them come on the island without due process. If entrance can be bought then what’s the point of immigration?
I spoke of Fiona Apple earlier….know what the poem was I wanted to get tatted on me? Its called “When the Pawn”. The last two lines always get to me.
“And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land
And if you fall it won’t matter, cause you’ll know that you’re right”
The arrogance in that. To fall, make a mistake and not question your actions, thoughts and motives BEFORE the fall.
The ego behind that sentiment is stagnant and wanting.
My mother always says, “To change your mind is one of the most intelligent things a person can do.” Andrew in 5th grade at that halloween party is not the man I am now at 37: I had to change my mind.
Who we were before Dorian CAN’T be who we are after. It’s time to change our minds. Time to change our hearts. And when you put hearts, minds and souls together what do you get?
I have no clue….but it has to be better than this.
I’m just asking that we try.
So……where to now?
Be safe tho
