History should not be tampered with, says Thompson

[Bahamas News]

History should not be tampered with, says Thompson
BY Vanessa C. Rolle
Nassau Guardian


While he fully supports Father Sebastian Campbell and the Heroes Day Committee in their quest to have National Heroes Day observed, President of The Bahamas National Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention Rev. Dr William Thompson advocated that history should not be tampered with.

Addressing Baptists celebrating the 46th Annual Baptist Recognition Day and Baptist Month at Faith United Missionary Baptist Church on Tuesday night, under the theme " Protocol of the Kingdom," Dr Thompson suggested that the National Heroes Day Committee and the National Cultural Development Commission consider recommending another month as Bahamian National History Literature Month and that the second Monday in that month be celebrated as National Heroes Day.

"My reason is the confusion with Discovery Day will definitely interfere with the monotony concept of honoring those dedicated Bahamians who gave and who performed outstanding so that this modern Bahamas is not only good for the Bahamians but is renowned around the world," he said.

"I am very much aware that there are many among us who feel that Discovery Day is an institution in our history and that it should not be tampered with. We all know the history surrounding the annihilation of the Arawak Indians during that period.... but the fact is that Columbus did come...and as much as I despise the mass genocide obliteration of an entire race of people by the first settlers, I don't think that we should, with the stroke of the pen try to erase or rewrite history," Dr Thompson continued.

He also supports the view that a Bill for National Honours to Parliament "totally" replace the British Honours, and he supports the push for the National Cultural Commission for Clifton Cay to be used as a National Heroes Park, where statues of all the nation's heroes will be erected.

Most countries in the region already have a national system in place - complete with Heroes Park and Honour System he said.

[Alpha]

History has been tampered with. Columbus, the mass murderer and rapist should never have been regarded as a hero in the Bahamas. He may be a hero to Europe, but he was responsible for directly and indirectly eliminating awhole race of people. (When last have you seen a Lucayan?)

I can't believe this man implying that we should continue to celebrate Columbus for "old times sake". Well blow me down! It's an institution! Yeah - a colonialist one that should have dissappeared in 1973 - if only someone had the eggs to do so!

Time for a decision on the National Heroes Day Issue. Jamaica replaced Columbus Day with National Heroes Day decades ago, and we still playing round wit der issue.

We may, hypocritically, want to keep a Columbus Day observance for purely business ( tourism) reasons. It should not be a holiday. The holiday should be Heroes Day. I dont give a dirty sock whether it is observed in October or January, but we need to recognize OUR heroes.

[Delroy]

My question is how can someone discover a place already occupied by people? :sarcastic

[YorickBrown]

My question is how can someone discover a place already occupied by people? :sarcastic

'Cause the occcupying 'people' were viewed as savages at that time - mere oddities to the 'civilised' Europeans. There was no respect at all for the 'locals' in Columbus' process of claiming this part of the world for the Queen of Spain

What ended up happening over time? Those natives who dared to defy and refuse the invaders' way of life (Christianity included) were tortured until they accepted it or blatantly killed - oh well, so much for that culture.

And the process of conquering and dominating certain groups of people continues up to this day - although the 'battle' has taken on a more psychological nature and propagates itself by rewarding those who prove to be most faithful to the foreign philosophies and lifestyles that we now claim as our own. (This is not 'our' world, contrary to popular belief by those who have been grown from birth to follow and never lead)

What makes matters worse is that we are the most ardent protectors of these foreign aspects of our modern-day existence, for we know of no other way of life. Why? Simply because OUR true native history has not merely been re-written, it has been ERASED.

It is not a matter of tampering with history, or "re-writing" it as some dare to speculate. It is a matter of beginning to write our own version, as well as realizing that we are manufacturing our own valuable history right now. We still can acknowledge Columbus' conquest, um, I mean achievement, but at the same time we should make sure that our own heroes are held just as high, if not higher than those of foreign lands. So give them a month or give them a day - just be sure recognize and celebrate their unlimited worth to this nation. In my opinion, reserving the entire month of October for Columbus alone seemingly says to the people of The Bahamas that the achievements of our heroes are not worthy of being celebrated in the same month.

I have a problem with that.

[CG]

'Cause the occcupying 'people' were viewed as savages at that time - mere oddities to the 'civilised' Europeans. There was no respect at all for the 'locals' in Columbus' process of claiming this part of the world for the Queen of Spain

What ended up happening over time? Those natives who dared to defy and refuse the invaders' way of life (Christianity included) were tortured until they accepted it or blatantly killed - oh well, so much for that culture.

And the process of conquering and dominating certain groups of people continues up to this day - although the 'battle' has taken on a more psychological nature and propagates itself by rewarding those who prove to be most faithful to the foreign philosophies and lifestyles that we now claim as our own. (This is not 'our' world, contrary to popular belief by those who have been grown from birth to follow and never lead)

What makes matters worse is that we are the most ardent protectors of these foreign aspects of our modern-day existence, for we know of no other way of life. Why? Simply because OUR true native history has not merely been re-written, it has been ERASED.

It is not a matter of tampering with history, or "re-writing" it as some dare to speculate. It is a matter of beginning to write our own version, as well as realizing that we are manufacturing our own valuable history right now. We still can acknowledge Columbus' conquest, um, I mean achievement, but at the same time we should make sure that our own heroes are held just as high, if not higher than those of foreign lands. So give them a month or give them a day - just be sure recognize and celebrate their unlimited worth to this nation. In my opinion, reserving the entire month of October for Columbus alone seemingly says to the people of The Bahamas that the achievements of our heroes are not worthy of being celebrated in the same month.

I have a problem with that.

Well said!

The thinking of the day (1492 AD) was, "Anything you are not strong enough to keep belongs to me! I will, with God's blessing, take it from you - be it your land or goods or your life!" This thinking applied across the board, be it against the "savage" or one's "own kind." I have an uneasy feeling that we are drifting back to those times.

The reason the "savages" all died out was, they had no immunity to European diseases. They could not compete with the European solider on the battle field - why even the humble horse scared the life out of them. But most importantly, they were not as "savage" as those who conquered them! It makes one wonder who the savages really were!

[canewry]

Next thing you will say Alpha is that the Church, whose history too is based on black slavery, murder, and mayhem should also be boycotted...
And that the English crown who suffered the same fault, not to mention the American governmental system...should we the Bahamas cut them off too and stick our heads in the sand and play like they dont exist

What about Cuba, and they bombing the Flamingo, should Bahamians stop going there for medicine...We must be real...our history is still our history...good the bad or the other

We all must look at the big picture


History has been tampered with. Columbus, the mass murderer and rapist should never have been regarded as a hero in the Bahamas. He may be a hero to Europe, but he was responsible for directly and indirectly eliminating awhole race of people. (When last have you seen a Lucayan?)

I can't believe this man implying that we should continue to celebrate Columbus for "old times sake". Well blow me down! It's an institution! Yeah - a colonialist one that should have dissappeared in 1973 - if only someone had the eggs to do so!

Time for a decision on the National Heroes Day Issue. Jamaica replaced Columbus Day with National Heroes Day decades ago, and we still playing round wit der issue.

We may, hypocritically, want to keep a Columbus Day observance for purely business ( tourism) reasons. It should not be a holiday. The holiday should be Heroes Day. I dont give a dirty sock whether it is observed in October or January, but we need to recognize OUR heroes.