Each
of us bear a social and ethical responsibility of pioneering the dreams
the dreamers dreamed of a nation and its people; To go beyond the
imprisonments of mental empowerment , to see the promise of our
emancipation through the prism of education, and to be socially
awakened fervently clutching the hope we seek to taste from the
bittersweet cup of economic freedom. The primal promise inscribed on the
pillars of our country was for every man and woman to be given
knowledge as a weapon to protect them from their oppressors.
Understanding that knowledge was an indispensable tool that would grant
us an eternal freedom in defining the image of our shared community.
The
fundamental rights of an individual mean everything. If I can have your
attention; tell me you've heard the whispers of the voices who utter
deeply their personal experience of feeling like the individual no
longer counts. We've waited, we've prayed, we've shouted, and we've sung
hoping that a new wind will blow to release us from the chains that
decelerate our ability to fully possess our promised land.We've come too
far to get this freedom to be satisfied with a country that undermines
our potential as a people.I've peered from the window I've seen the
daylight breaking through and I saw the determination of the Bahamian
people moving forward and never again accepting the status quo.
To
perceive with my eye a nation who was no longer afraid to express their
fears of the things they never quite say out loud. I was bewildered
that the Bahamians found their destination and they made their vow to a
new doctrine. Treacherous mountains are - looming in our way, don't get
weary, let us toil through our journey, and walk until the last chain
of economic immobilism falls. The genuine will of our people is to share
their talents and hopes. We believe the tides can surely turn, we
believe that barriers can be lifted, and we believe that change is the
only guaranteed inevitability.
The
meekness of a social and economic movement that transforms the minds of
its participants pivot the essence of power from the minority to the
majority. Our inefficiencies make the minority stronger, too afraid to
ask for our rightful inheritance. The minority flourish whiles we remain
resentful in the spirit of envy, showing the inability to work in
mutual respect for one another. The minority is nonchalant that their
greed and arrogance come at the expense of the people. The minority
sense that empowerment of us means the disempowerment of them and it
signifies our never-ending trial for freedom. The minority notices that
we woke this morning thinking about how we can own our economy ridding
ourselves of their ability to monopolize our talent at their benefits.
We
call it believing in Bahamians, but it's just another deceptive slang.
The economic injustices can not be justified, when a man's worth values
more outside of his country than in. The atrocious reality is simple
Bahamian ownership comes with a dollar sign, there are no provisions
made in the interest of the common man. It seems to me that reality of
Bahamian ownership is only for the elite few. To deny your citizens
equal access to their economic birthright is the lowest point of
indignity in a country.
We
are the unknown, we come from neither fortune nor fame, and we are
educated enough, not to be afraid of the fear of being heard for
speaking and fighting for what is right. We are compelled to never
misrepresent our fundamental belief of providing a ladder of economic
and social hope to all Bahamians and not to a privileged few. We can not
fail in our understanding that remaining silent in the face of those
who seek to stagnate is the same as supporting it. Leaders should never
be intimidated or feel threatened by the talents of their own people and
stagnate them for the benefit of security.
As
the sun shines throughout the corridors of our country, it brings light
to the truism of our people who grapple with a country that
disempowered their ability to become something larger than the
circumstances that en-root the story of their lives. We can not continue
to destroy our people's self-esteem and deny them the God-given right to
be the best, they can be. The mental incarceration of our people won't
last forever, very soon the enslaved mind will be free. A person without
a sense of direction or freedom is a person without a sense of
identity. A society that is driven by Bahamian ownership fosters social
responsibility and shared prosperity. We can not - be tolerant of a way
of life that enriches the powerful and affluent while disenfranchising
the working class or the poor.
The
power imbalance must end where one fragment of The Bahamas enjoys
unearned privileges or un-deserved enrichment and others unjust
impoverishment and deprivation.When we sanction our differences, they
construct hills of dissociation that weakens our union. We become
visually impaired unable to see our fellow men as individuals who share
in the birthright of being a Bahamian.As a country we must always steer
on the side of caution never forgetting to dredge the waters what
surround our future, because if we fail to do so the shoal will always
prevent us from reaching our destiny; and sometimes that shoal could be
us as a people, we stand in the doorway of getting to a better Bahamas.
We prevent ourselves from getting towards that sunlight when we fail to
teach our fellow-men that they will never climb the ladder to a better
Bahamas if they do not take their hands out of their pockets. If we
never reach our abilities to remove the sands of inequality, hate,
oppression, ignorance, and disloyalty, that stands in our way.
The
biggest stagnation towards progress in the Bahamas is our inability to
realize that our people are our greatest assets. We have some difficult
days ahead, but the difficulty we face will always bend towards the
talents of our people. Even though, we are small in size as a country
the hearts of our people beat to the vitality of our democracy. Creating
a stronger Bahamas starts with loving ourselves, knowing our history,
teaching our youth, and building each other up and always remember
before you can try to educate the community, you have to first educate
yourself.
Latrae Rahming,
CEO of Bahamaren "Chinese Consultancy Firm
University of International Business and Economics ( Beijing, China) Student Government President"
The
Beijing University of International Business and Economics, founded in
1951, is a national public research university specialized in economics,
finance, trade , foreign policy , management, law and foreign
languages located in Beijing, People's Republic of China.UIBE is widely
considered to be the leading Chinese university in economics, finance,
and international business, as from 2011 to 2013 it ranked no. 2 among
universities specialized on finance and economics.
