By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 31, 2022 – Back in 1955 when the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was signed, paving the way for the development of Freeport as the second most populous city in The Bahamas, racism in The Bahamas was as virulent and practiced as forcefully as in the most racist cities in the southern United States.
Consequently, in the early years of Freeport’s development, racism was equally as pervasive as it was in Nassau, where Sir Stafford Sands — the lawyer who facilitated the signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement between the government and Wallace Groves — was known to be the most racist member of The Bay Street Boys, the group of white Bahamian merchants, professionals and businessmen who made “governmental decisions” in The Bahamas as if it were their personal fiefdom.
Of course, The Bahamas was still British colony, but whomever was the Royal Governor, the official representative of Her Majesty the Queen, seemed to agree in principle with the segregationist policies of The Bay Street Boys.
In doing my research for this article, I discovered a document on the HISTORY OF THE PORT AUTHORITY that comprehensively covers all aspects of the development of Freeport.
One aspect of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement that laid a solid foundation for racism to establish roots in Freeport in the early years is documented in this excerpt from the HISTORY OF THE PORT AUTHORITY document:
“One point that would prove contentious later was the right the Port Authority and its licensees were given in authority to employ foreign nationals (particularly “key, trained, and/or skilled personnel” but also manual workers) to work on Grand Bahama. This was even though the government reserved the authority to refuse admission to “personally undesirable” individuals and to expel such people it felt were a problem at the Port Authority’s expense.
“There was really no alternative for truly highly-qualified positions, for which there were few if any viable candidates among the Bahamian population. However, there seems to have been considerable hiring of Haitian and other unskilled alien laborers where there might have been potential openings for native Bahamians.
“While the Agreement recognized that finding people with the requisite skills to manage and operate the new businesses would necessitate recruitment abroad, this was balanced by a concern that the Port Authority not become an uncontrolled alien intrusion within the colony.
“It was stipulated that ‘no workmen or labourers recruited outside of the colony by the Port Authority or by any licensee shall be contracted for any longer period than three years’ with the right of renewal, presumably with the intent of insuring that the Port Authority would benefit the local population and the colony’s internal economy to the greatest extent possible.
“The Port Authority also agreed to make a positive effort to ‘employ Bahamian-born persons within the Port Area, provided such Bahamian-born persons are available and are willing to work at competitive wages or salaries’ and, in a nation where higher education, professional training and technical expertise were generally unavailable, to ‘use their best endeavours to train Bahamian-born persons to fill positions of employment within the Port Area.’ Such training was not always forthcoming.”
Racism became so entrenched in Freeport during the early years of its development that, according to reports, there was a period when native Bahamians from near-by settlements like Eight Mile Rock who worked in Freeport during the day could not remain in Freeport after dark.
Of course, with the legalization of gambling in The Bahamas in the early 1960s, starting with The Monte Carlo Casino, which opened in the newly constructed Lucayan Beach Hotel on January 11, 1964, Sir Stafford Sands and the Bay Street Boys institutionalized their racist policies more concretely. Croupiers for the new casino were recruited from England and Bahamians were barred from gambling in the casino, a senseless policy that successive Black governments have refused to change.
In the case of the UBP, after it won the 1962 general election, the introduction of casino gambling became a top priority.
As the document on the HISTORY OF THE PORT AUTHORITY notes: “The Bay Street Boys were gratified by the success of the United Bahamian Party in the election, and Sands, who had been reappointed to the Executive Council, knew that it was time to act.
“On 20 March 1963, a new corporation was formed called the Bahamas Amusements, Ltd. Shares in the Amusements Company were divided between (Lou) Chesler and Georgette Groves, who each received 498 shares of 500 Class 1 shares and 498 Class 2 shares. Remaining Class 1 shares went to two of Chesler’s Canadian partners, while the two Class 2 shares went to Keith Gonsalves (future director of the Grand Bahama Development Company and of Bahamian Amusements, Ltd.), and Sir Charles Hayward, another DEVCO director.
“That same day, the new company made an application, drafted by Stafford Sands, for a Certificate of Exemption to the Governor in Council, in great secrecy. The certificate was quietly granted without difficulty 11 days later on 1 April 1963, allowing the Amusements Company to operate an unlimited number of casinos on Grand Bahama for a period of ten years. The casino was assured.”
Feeport was now on a fast-track for unbridled growth and development, but as the document on the HISTORY OF THE PORT AUTHORITY explains: “It was inevitable that the explosive growth of the mid-1960s would not continue forever, but the combination of the softening world economy and the negative effect of the PLP Government’s intransigence and inefficiency caused Freeport’s development to cease expanding and then slowly but inexorably deflate.”
More likely than not, the reference to “the PLP Government’s intransigence and inefficiency caused Freeport’s development to cease expanding and then slowly but inexorably deflate” is related, in some respect, to the dynamic and powerful address delivered by then Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling at the opening ceremony for the new Bahamas Oil Refinery company in Freeport on July 29, 1969.
Historically referred to as “Pindling’s Bend or Break” speech, here is an excerpt of what then Premier Lynden Pindling said:
“…There are many people in The Bahamas who are participants in and interested in the economic development of The Bahamas. Not all of them, however, are cognizant of or interested in the economic and social welfare of Bahamian people. Far too few acknowledge and fewer still accept the fact that development must be shaped to fit the human and social needs of the country where it takes place.
“Far too may here adopt the attitude that they are guaranteed rights to make money and that is all that matters. Freeport has indeed been a miracle of economic development: it has indeed been a shining example of financial wizardry. What it lacks is humanity; what it needs is a social conscience: what is must have before too long, is a soul.
“I have always been concerned about this lack of a soul in Freeport; the absence of honest concern for the human and social needs of people. I was so concerned in the days when I stood alone. I had hoped that an early change would have been evident by now but I have been severely disappointed.
“It is a fundamental part of my basic political philosophy that people are more important than things; that men are more important than machines. In this City where, regrettably almost anything goes, where, promisingly, some economic opportunities have come to Bahamians, Bahamians are nevertheless, still the victims of an unbending social order which, if it now refuses to bend, must now be broken.”
“It is abundantly clear that to developers in this area Bahamian people do not matter. For instance, one set of developers have built a system of canals surrounding an old Bahamian Community. Traditionally, the area had fresh water, which amply supplied local needs. But the canals have apparently burst the fresh water lenses and the ground water in the area is now sour. There is no way that the water lenses can be repaired so, since ancient water rights have been disturbed, piped water should be supplied to the area. It should be supplied to the local public free of charge, and there should only be a charge in the event of a house being connected to the main supply.
“Since the surrounding canals were dug through, what was once a swash of sawgrass, the land had to be built up above the high water mark. The traditional community, which now lies between high sand ridge on the ocean front that the new high land built between the canals, is a pond whenever there is heavy rain.
“The most serious aspect of the socio-economic life in Freeport is the appalling situation now prevailing in housing. Freeport is a well-planned city – so well planned in fact that it appears that it was intended to plan the Bahamian right out of it. I had very much hoped that the events of the last few years would have been sufficient to impress on developers, apartments owners and real estate agents that I could not stand idly by and watch a haven of economic success spring up in Freeport and ghettos develop around it; I had very much hoped that serious steps would have been taken to solve the long-standing problem of housing Bahamians here, but these hopes have been dashed to the ground…”
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CAPTION: Premier Lynden O. Pindling at the opening of the Grand Waterway in Freeport in 1967.
