By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 1, 2021 – Dr. Patrice J. Pinder, a Facebook friend of mine, emailed me a Letter to the Editor that I wrote back in 2011 that was originally published in BAHAMAS PRESS on May 10, 2011. For whatever reason, BAHAMAS PRESS decide to republish that letter today under the headline, “Happy Birthday to da UBP (March 1st, 1958) – We at BP republish for your learning…”
Here’s the email from Dr. Pinder:
“Hello Mr. Brown,
I trust this email finds you well. I was reading through this morning’s news articles and stumbled upon this piece of information about the old UBP governing party. And then I read the “article sent to the editor back in 2011, which was re-published today along with the photo, I saw the article writer was you, Oswald T. Brown, and so I decided to forward it to you, if you were not already aware of this.
Quite interesting as I am now learning more about our Bahamian history. Continue to do well. GOD bless!
Best regards,
Patrice (Dr. Pinder)”
I decided to share the letter that I wrote back in 2011 with readers of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE because it addresses a topic that is of historical importance not only to Black Bahamians, but Bahamians generally. As Dr. Pinder noted, she found it quite interesting “as I am now learning more about our Bahamian history.”
I have always contended that the educational system in The Bahamas woefully neglects to include Bahamian history in any meaningful way in the curricula of our schools. The same was not true of the British when The Bahamas was a British colony and virtually every aspect of British history was taught in our schools, as persons of my generation can attest.
Hopefully, the decision-makers at the Ministry of Education will soon “wake up” and realize that they are doing future generations of Bahamians a tremendous disservice by not focusing more on teaching Bahamian history in our schools.
HERE’S MY LETTER THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN BAHAMAS PRESS
Dear Editor,
There should be growing concern among original members of the Free National Movement (FNM) that the FNM that exists today in no way resembles the political movement that was established at Jimmy Shepherd’s house on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill in 1971.
In fact, under Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, the current FNM is a reincarnation of the United Bahamian Party (UBP), although it’s not as openly racist and oppressive against blacks as the predominantly white UBP was before the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) defeated them at the polls in the historic January 10, 1967, general election.
And it may very well be that this was the “master plan” of the UBP after they disbanded in 1971 and joined forces with a dissident group of parliamentarians who broke away from the PLP in 1970. Historically referred to as The Dissident Eight, this group included Cecil Wallace Whitfield, Arthur Foulkes, Warren Levarity, Maurice Moore, Dr. Curtis McMillan, James Shepherd, Dr. Elwood Donaldson and George Thompson.
Here’s a hypothesis worthy of consideration. In disbanding the UBP, members of the party realized that the political tide had changed against them forever and there was no imaginable way they could ever again become the government of The Bahamas under the banner of the UBP. Therefore, those who felt that they still had a political contribution to make to the country decided that their best chance of positioning themselves to again be involved in a meaningful way in the political process was to team up with the Dissident Eight.
Following meetings held at Spring Hill Farms, the FNM officially became a political party in October of 1971, with Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, a charismatic and skillful political operative, as its leader. Clearly, with Wallace-Whitfield at the helm of the party, the former UBP members of the FNM quickly deduced that they did not have a snowball’s chance in hell of influencing the direction of the party, so they remained in the background primarily making meaningful contributions financially. See the complete Letter to The Editor of BAHAMAS PRESS at: https://bahamaspress.com/happy-birthday-to-da-ubp-march-1st-1958-we-at-bp-republish-for-your-learning/
