GUEST COMMENTARY: BY GODFREY ENEAS
NASSAU, Bahamas, January 13, 2021 — The world was startled by the insurrection at the capital of the United States on Wednesday January 6th.We in The Bahamas were likewise shocked by the live television scenes of the rioting and assault on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. — the Cathedral of US democracy. We watched in amazement the rampaging of the building as we saw Congressmen and women sheltering themselves from the rioters by hiding under benches.
Many Bahamians watched in disbelief as the carnage unfurled before our eyes. When it comes to America, Bahamians have a special attachment because many of us identify with America more than we identify with Africa or even the Caribbean. Psychologically, we are in a state of “double consciousness.”
In his book, the Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois describes double consciousness as the feeling of two unreconciled strivings. There is an affinity for America because virtually every Bahamian is connected to America because we all have relatives — a son, a daughter, a cousin, uncle, aunt or even a father or mother and of course friends — who live there and whom we visit. For many of us, their pain is our pain and their success is our success. The prejudices they encounter, we likewise encounter. Yes we, like them, understand that Black Lives Matter. When we see their democratic structures being pillaged, we also feel violated.
This deep affinity has made us a divided people as we identify with unreconciled strivings of the African- American. The insurrection was about White Supremacy because the millions of White Americans were unwilling to accept the fact that the President of the United States had been determined by the African- American vote and to him that was unacceptable. To further compound the political landscape, it was the African- American vote that switched the political power of the Senate from the Republicans to the Democrats.
President Trump has become a cult leader as he has taken over the Republican Party. He has been able to do this through stochastic terrorism, which is “a method of political incitement (urging unlawful behaviour) that provokes acts of extremist violence, in which the instigator (Trump) uses rhetoric ambiguous enough to give himself and his allies plausible deniability for any resulting bloodshed. It is this psychological manipulation that Mr. Trump was able to rile or provoke his followers to riot.
Mr Trump has been enabled throughout his Presidency and the most influential enabler was not the Senate, Republicans or Mitch McConnell but the Evangelicals who now admit:
“No one likes to admit they were fooled. It’s tough to admit we were wrong. Now, many evangelicals are seeing President Donald Trump for who he is, but more need to see what he has done to us. It’s time for an evangelical reckoning.
“I’m an evangelical, like about a quarter of the United States population. Evangelicals believe in the good news of the Gospel — that Jesus died on the cross, for our sins, and in our place — and we need to tell the world about that.
“But that’s not what most people are talking about today. You see, white evangelicals embraced the president, some begrudgingly and some enthusiastically, because he addressed many of their concerns.
“Many evangelicals and leaders invested money, time and conviction toward the promise of making America great again. In turn, Donald Trump made good on these investments from an evangelical perspective. Most evangelicals (me included) are grateful for the Supreme Court justices he appointed and for some of the religious liberty concerns he addressed. His anti-abortion stances surprised many (again, me included), and for that I was thankful.” (From Gallup)
We Bahamians who live in The Bahamas see Trump America from a different perspective from those of our kin who live there. Donald Trump has exposed the underbelly of America and I am glad I don’t live in Trump America.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Godfrey Eneas is a Bahamian Agricultural Economist who served as Director of Agriculture, President of The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute(BAMSI) and Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He has authored two books, Agriculture In The Bahamas: Its Historical Development(1492-2012) and the New Caribbean: A Region In Transition. He is also a regular contributor to The Bahama Journal Newspaper and Radio and Television Programmes on Jones Communications.)
