There is a time and season for every thing under heaven. There is a time and season for a people to recognize the contribution and worth of the work of its sons and daughters.
Recognition of worth and value is contingent on nothing but the fact that these sons and daughters of ours did make a contribution, and are to be remembered for what they have achieved.
Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands-say what you like about the man- did make a large contribution to The Bahamas; and for that he was rightly recognized by having his image memorialized on the Bahamian Ten Dollar Bank Note.
When we heard the news that the Government of The Bahamas had decided to phase out the ten-dollar bank note that bears the visage of the late Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands, we were sorely disappointed.
The decision to remove it is wrong. It is misguided. It sends the wrong message to right-thinking Bahamians. It seems petty and spiteful. Once placed on the note it should have been left alone.
What might also be of some salience is for the current cadre of politicos who are playing the Stafford Sands is Racist Card would be for them to come forward – and thence out of the protection of the shadows- and reveal the extent to which they or some of their parents might have benefited from either working with or for Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands.
As for the argument that this Bahamian icon was somehow unworthy of the honour because he was a ﾑracistﾴ just begs the question as to what the term actually means in the context of social reality in The Bahamas.
As the record attests, he and the late Sir Roland Theodore Symonette worked together to keep and hold power in The Bahamas. They were on the same team establishing the modern economy of The Bahamas based on Tourism and Banking. They had different styles and were both placed on Bank notes by the former government.
That one was well liked and the other detested is irrelevant. The fact that matters is that they were part and parcel of the same Mercantile Elite that held the power in a colonial Bahamas.
Some one in the Government must have thought that it would be a good idea to pull out the card that reads, Sir Stafford Sands is a Racist. And apparently whomever it is who wishes to play the Sir Stafford Sands is a Racist Game is big enough and powerful enough to have his dictate carried out.
The decision has been made to withdraw the Sir Stafford L. Sands Bank Note. Quite frankly speaking, we are always saddened when we come across situations where we know that politicians are pandering to the lowest common denominator; and where we know that they are acting in cynical disregard for the whole truth.
We have no interest in stirring up this hornetﾴs nest of rank hypocrisy. But suffice it to say, we are quite convinced that some one is playing politics this time around. We must move beyond this and build a nation recognizing the values of all who contributed to making The Bahamas a better place despite race, creed or religion.
They should not be doing that. What the current Government should be doing in the waning days of its mandated tenure is to see to it that the national focus is put on matters that actually matter in the real world.
While they might think that the Stafford Sands is A Racist story will resonate with the masses of Black Bahamians, a ﾑre-thinkﾴ of the real facts might wake them up.
As the history books would show, Sir Staffordﾴs party ﾖ the United Bahamian Party- was able to garner the support of almost one third of the black Bahamian vote in the 1968 General Elections. The Progressive Liberal Party pulled in the other two thirds.
The point we make is that Sir Stafford Sands and what he represented had and continued to enjoy a large measure of support. The effort to turn the Father of The Modern Economy of The Bahamas into some kind of ogre is unfortunate, unnecessary, and strangely irrelevant to todayﾴs Bahamian.
Editor, The Bahama Journal
