By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 13, 2021 – As the first Bahamian beauty queen to reach the top ten in the Miss Universe finals, Chantel O’Brian’s accomplishment is certainly an historic achievement.
Rightly so, social media was flooded with messages of congratulations from Bahamians of all walks of life, including some of the country’s most powerful political leaders.
What may have been camouflaged under the blanket of congratulations, however, is the fact that Miss O’Brian’ remarkable accomplishment has the possibility of having a more meaningful impact on a problem that The Bahamas has been grappling with for many decades.
Because of The Bahamas’ close geographic proximity to Haiti, one of the major problems that successive governments in The Bahamas have yet to find a solution for is the ongoing influx of illegal Haitian immigrants.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many Bahamians generally consider Haitians to be below their “social status,” notwithstanding the fact that Haitians and the vast majority of Bahamians share a similar ancestral background rooted in Mother Africa.
What’s even more noteworthy is the fact that Haiti, as a former colonial colony of France, has a far richer historical background than The Bahamas, a former colony of Great Britain.
Indeed, Toussaint Louverture, who was born in 1743 and died in April of 1803, was “leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution (1787–99,” according to Wikipedia.
Wikipedia adds: In the midst of the French Revolution (1789–99), slaves and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), led by a former slave and the first black general of the French Army, Toussaint Louverture. After 12 years of conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces were defeated by Louverture’s successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines (later Emperor Jacques I), who declared Haiti’s sovereignty on 1 January 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, the first country to abolish slavery, and the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt.”
Of course, modern-day Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries, resulting in a flood of illegal immigrants seeking a better way of life in The Bahamas and the United States.
It is within this context that Miss Chantel O’Brian’s historic achievement as the first Bahamian beauty queen to reach the top ten in the finals of the Miss Universe Contest should really be celebrated.
Miss O’Brian is a Haitain-Bahamian, as noted in this article published in CONAN DAILY:
CHANTEL O’BRIAN BIOGRAPHY: 13 THINGS ABOUT MISS BAHAMAS UNIVERSE 2021
Chantel O’Brian is a Haitian-Bahamian etiquette coach and beauty queen. She considers her mother as her biggest cheerleader and the first queen she has ever met.
An experienced social media coordinator, O’Brian is an expert in planning, implementing and monitoring company’s social media strategy to increase brand awareness, improve marketing efforts and increase sales. Here are 13 more things about her: See biography of Chantel O’Brian in CONAN DAILY at https://conandaily.com/2021/12/12/chantel-obrian-biography-13-things-about-miss-universe-bahamas-2021/
MISS BAHAMAS IN FINALS
https://www.facebook.com/NahajaBlackShow/videos/623256465765971/
