EVERY Wednesday night, Christie Park is transformed into an organised festival ground to house hundreds of Junkanooers who come to feel the rush from the beat of the drum and the clang of the cowbells. The unmistakable sound of Junkanoo reverberates from inside the park and echoes all the way down Nassau Street. Musicians from the Roots Junkanoo group take …
Black is beautiful movement hijacked
LAST weekend, while attending a wedding, I overheard a conversation between a group of people about shades of blackness. The conversation was another painful reminder of the shortcomings of decades of struggle to recognise beauty in the black aesthetic. A young woman remarked to her friend, saying: “Boy, you get black dread.” She was so astounded by the sight of her friend’s blackness that she remarked …
Is there no dignity in being a market woman?
THERE is no better group of women in our society to highlight the racial and class divide in the Bahamas than straw vendors in the downtown straw market. Every time there is a flare up over the straw market, I observe with great interest the way in which people express their views about vendors. The typical debate reveals an undercurrent of classism and race consciousness …
In 1492: Who discovered whom?
October 12 is upon us once again and naturally the country is geared up for its national day off. In whose name have we been granted the honour of rest: none other than the honourable international terrorist Christopher Columbus. Unfortunately I cannot rest or tire from speaking out about our national commemoration of Discovery Day because to this day, the …
In Defence of Culture
MORE than ten years ago I took a Latin-American comparative film class at the University of the West Indies, Mona and my professor shared a perspective on culture that sticks with me to this day. He asked the class one simple question. Who is an American? Naturally, the class bellowed out the only seemingly intelligent answer: Someone who is a …