SIR ROLAND SYMONETTE WAS NOT A RACIST
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bahamians who can remember my participation in the struggle for Majority Rule in the 1960s will recall that I was an avowed Black Power Advocate. I was not a disciple of the most renowned civil rights leader of that time Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his turn-the-other-cheek non-violent exhortation, but rather, I was a committed follower of Malcolm X, who advocated that racism had to be eradicated by “any means necessary.”
My nickname during my involvement in the struggle for Majority Rule was H. Rap Brown, which some people like my good friend Gladstone “Moon” McPhee, the legendary basketball coach who remembers my involvement in anti-racism activities back then, still calls me whenever we come in contact with each other. H. Rap Brown was one of the most radical “soldiers” in the war against racism in the United States in the 1960s as a top “lieutenant” of Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
My outspoken views against racism back then were incubated and developed into a passionate personal crusade during my years as a young reporter at the Nassau Daily Tribune when I was subjected to vile and abhorrent overt racism on some assignments that I covered. This is far from being an isolated example, but it was such a humiliating experience that it has left a life-long scar on my psyche and is indelibly imprinted in my mind.
I started at The Tribune in May of 1960 as a sports reporter, but gradually began covering general assignments – including occasionally covering the House of Assembly, which at the time was Nicki Kelly’s primary beat as The Tribune’s senior reporter and top political writer.
I can’t recall the exact year, but it was in the early 1960s when I was assigned to cover a banquet at the Nassau Yacht Club, at which the top sailors were being presented with their trophies. I arrived at the club around the same time as a white female reporter for Nassau Guardian from England. She was promptly escorted to a seat to have dinner, while I had to stand in a corner and wait until dinner was over to take my pictures and take notes of remarks that were made.
This sort of treatment was “par for the course” at similar assignments that I went on, and combined with other overt racist policies at the time – such as black Bahamians not being allowed into the Savoy Theatre on Bay Street as late as 1962 – sparked a cauldron of internal hatred for the perpetrators of such racist behavior.
I consider myself to have been extremely fortunate to have had Arthur A. Foulkes as my journalistic mentor during this stage of my life. I met Mr. Foulkes for the first time when I joined the staff of The Tribune in 1960 and he was the paper’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 that I was spiraling towards allowing my commitment to the Black Power Movement to make me culpable to criminal behavior. Today, I am convinced if it were not for Sir Arthur Foulkes, especially during the years in the mid-1960s when I worked with him at Bahamian Times, I would have ended up at Fox Hill Prison and my life would have been totally ruined.
I started writing this column to respond to the claims being made by some Bahamians that the late Sir Roland Symonette, the first Premier of The Bahamas, was a racist and does not deserve to be designated a NATIONAL HERO.
Having been over exposed to the most vile and degrading examples of racism along the spectrum of evil behavior by the Bay Street Boys and later their reincarnation as members of the United Bahamian Party (UBP), I was and still am convinced that Roland Theodore Symonette was not a racist. Indeed, not all white Bahamians, who exercised considerable power in the country politically prior to the historic victory of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) on January 10, 1967, were racist. Anyone who suggests that Sir George Roberts was a racist would be telling a lie. The same is true about the late Sir Geoffrey Johnstone, based on my experiences and interaction with him, and although he did not dabble in politics, the late Sir Durward Knowles was virtually colour blind during his interaction with Bahamians in general.
What many Bahamians tend to forget or are too young to have an intelligent opinion when discussing the legacy of Sir Roland is that The Bahamas until the 1960s – when some changes started to occur – was as racist as the most racist parts of the Southern United States as a result of the policies put in place by the late Sir Stafford Sands, Chairman of the Development Board, a forerunner of the current Ministry of Tourism. It was Sir Stafford’s firm belief that white southern tourists would not want to adjust their way of life on visits to The Bahamas and as a result black Bahamians were not allowed in our tourist-oriented hotels except as staff members.
Of course, Sir Roland’s earlier life during his youthful years as a rum-runner, when he established the foundation for his eventual massive wealth, could in some respects be used as a reason why he should not be designated a national hero. But in later years, during his involvement in politics as one of the Bay Street Boys and later a member of the UBP, he assisted many black Bahamians in establishing a better way of life for themselves and their families.
Several church leaders Over-the-Hill who now do their preaching in huge edifices owe thanks to Sir Roland for those buildings. What’s more, there are many successful Bahamians in various professions who have benefited from the character-building activities they participated in as members of Simpson Penn’s Boys Brigade, which received generous donations from Sir Roland. The same is true about the young Bahamians who were lucky enough to be chosen for Prince Hepburn’s annual summer camp at Whale Cay, to which Sir Roland also generously donated.
So those who have reached the conclusion that Sir Roland Symonette was a racist are wrong—dead wrong.
