YorickBrown
06-09-08, - 08:01 PM
Songbird and you really expect for proud to answer this question... ?Well, I'll answer the questions for Proud because here on BI we had a big argument (as usual) about the immigration situation when Shane was Minister.
But before I do that, let me preface my statements with this:
The problem with many things in this country of ours is the underlying politics involved. When action is taken (or not taken) the matter at hand quickly becomes political in the eye of the public and we forget what we were initially talking about - in this instance, illegal immigration and its social aftereffects. We prefer to derail the argument with party politics, accusations of corruption or claims of incompetence.
Regarding illegal immigration in this nation it appears that anytime someone dares to speak out against it, they are bound to end up losing the truth of their point on having to defend themselves from those who automatically and reflexively will say that the person making the point "must not like haitians". Truth is truth and it seems that some of us would like to sweep "truth" under the rug when it comes to SOME persons who hail from that island in the south. Mind you, a generalization is a generalization, but even when all parameters DO meet a preconceived perception, we still choose to ignore fact merely for the sake of being politically correct.
Bahamians used to be confident enough to "mash corns" (regardless of whose "corns" they were), but when it comes to illegal immigrants, we (within a generation or two) have allowed societal pressures to stop us from speaking the truth outright.
Anyway...
Songbird, the matter that Proud is talking about is when Shane Gibson was authorizing the rounding up of illegal immigrants "left and right" and "day and night". It actually seemed like he was onto a good thing and then suddenly there was that one "raid" where most of the persons rounded up turned out to be legal. There was an instant and overwhelming public outcry that the exercises were not humanitarian enough and they even stopped using the term "raid" because of this occurrence.
I'm not sure as to exact timing (before or after) but there also was that situation when there was a fire in the Mudd and some of the illegal residents fought against the firefighters who were trying to get the blaze under control. Shane Gibson and Melanie Griffin went over to the Mudd to investigate and one resident got on national television talking about "he woulda kill somebody". After that, the immigration exercises all but dried up and there was talk of putting roads and street lights within the illegal squatting grounds called the Mudd and Pigeon Pea. Even those plans didn't pan out though.
So to be correct, it wasn't the opposition at that time that stopped Shane Gibson from authorizing steady and continuous immigration exercises, it was the prevailing public sentiment as no one wanted collectively to be labeled xenophobic or racist. Also, with an election coming up in short order, pissing off Bahamians of Haitian descent didn't seem too wise either. At present, in some circles in this country it is considered utterly bad manners to speak openly about sending illegals back to Haiti, regardless of how they got here or how their presence will affect this society in the long run.
The social stigma associated with wanting the law to be carried out in regards to illegal immigration is growing daily with the help of terms like "xenophobia" and "racism" - terms which are quickly brandished in conversations to quell and or divert any argument regarding that topic.
But before I do that, let me preface my statements with this:
The problem with many things in this country of ours is the underlying politics involved. When action is taken (or not taken) the matter at hand quickly becomes political in the eye of the public and we forget what we were initially talking about - in this instance, illegal immigration and its social aftereffects. We prefer to derail the argument with party politics, accusations of corruption or claims of incompetence.
Regarding illegal immigration in this nation it appears that anytime someone dares to speak out against it, they are bound to end up losing the truth of their point on having to defend themselves from those who automatically and reflexively will say that the person making the point "must not like haitians". Truth is truth and it seems that some of us would like to sweep "truth" under the rug when it comes to SOME persons who hail from that island in the south. Mind you, a generalization is a generalization, but even when all parameters DO meet a preconceived perception, we still choose to ignore fact merely for the sake of being politically correct.
Bahamians used to be confident enough to "mash corns" (regardless of whose "corns" they were), but when it comes to illegal immigrants, we (within a generation or two) have allowed societal pressures to stop us from speaking the truth outright.
Anyway...
Songbird, the matter that Proud is talking about is when Shane Gibson was authorizing the rounding up of illegal immigrants "left and right" and "day and night". It actually seemed like he was onto a good thing and then suddenly there was that one "raid" where most of the persons rounded up turned out to be legal. There was an instant and overwhelming public outcry that the exercises were not humanitarian enough and they even stopped using the term "raid" because of this occurrence.
I'm not sure as to exact timing (before or after) but there also was that situation when there was a fire in the Mudd and some of the illegal residents fought against the firefighters who were trying to get the blaze under control. Shane Gibson and Melanie Griffin went over to the Mudd to investigate and one resident got on national television talking about "he woulda kill somebody". After that, the immigration exercises all but dried up and there was talk of putting roads and street lights within the illegal squatting grounds called the Mudd and Pigeon Pea. Even those plans didn't pan out though.
So to be correct, it wasn't the opposition at that time that stopped Shane Gibson from authorizing steady and continuous immigration exercises, it was the prevailing public sentiment as no one wanted collectively to be labeled xenophobic or racist. Also, with an election coming up in short order, pissing off Bahamians of Haitian descent didn't seem too wise either. At present, in some circles in this country it is considered utterly bad manners to speak openly about sending illegals back to Haiti, regardless of how they got here or how their presence will affect this society in the long run.
The social stigma associated with wanting the law to be carried out in regards to illegal immigration is growing daily with the help of terms like "xenophobia" and "racism" - terms which are quickly brandished in conversations to quell and or divert any argument regarding that topic.