By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 1, 2024 — Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell posted an excellent collection of photos on Facebook today of my mentor Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Joan Foulkes that were taken at a reception held at the home of Paulette and Brian Higgs on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary for which I would like to express my unbridled thanks.
I absolutely had to share some of them with readers of my Washington, D.C. – based online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among the Bahamian diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
I have written on many occasions – most recently when he celebrated his 96th birthday on May 11 — about my indebtedness to Sir Arthur for my accomplishments as a journalist as well as for him being my mentor when my personal behaviour as a Black Power advocate could have resulted in me ending up in Fox Hill Prison during the struggle for majority rule in The Bahamas in the 1960s. So, I am extremely pleased to see him looking so absolutely fantastic at the age of 96.
As I noted in noted in previous articles, it was at The Tribune that I first met Sir Arthur when I joined the staff of The Tribune in May of 1960 as a trainee reporter. Sir Arthur at the time was The Tribune’s News Editor, essentially the person in charge of the newsroom. He took me “under his wings,” as the saying goes, and not only took a special interest in my development as a journalist, but also offered me some “fatherly advice” at those times when it seemed as if my life was spiraling out of control because of my commitment to the Black Power Movement.
I am convinced that if it were not for Sir Arthur, especially during the years in the mid-1960s when I worked with him at Bahamian Times, where the founding editor, I would have ended up at Fox Hill Prison and my life would have been totally ruined.
I currently have a mobility problem, for which I am receiving medical treatment, but I am hoping that my condition improves sufficiently for me to visit The Bahamas later this summer to spend some time with my mentor.
