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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
Survivor Thia Nixon. "...you should never be in a relationship where you find yourself on edge, in fear, covering bruises and justifying someone else’s ill treatment toward you by wondering if you did something better, maybe you can please them and have less contention in your relationship."
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TheBahamasWeekly.com has randomly selected 10 Bahamians
to canvas their opinions on highlights of The Bahamas over
the year 2012, as well as ask about the upcoming 40th year of independence for The Bahamas, and the direction of the country.
Their comments will be shared over the coming weeks.
It is our way of highlighting Bahamians in our community, as well as sharing a wide variety of opinions.
Our sixth feature is with public relations and media personality,
Arthia Nixon of Nassau
:
Who passed away this year that you feel will be 'most missed' and why?
I think our greatest losses came in sports and entertainment. T’rez of course was something that took the nation by storm. She is the mother of modern true-true Bahamian music. She was a pioneer and she was a mentor. She had a heart that rivaled her smile and she had a following that extended beyond our shores. I think when she was hospitalized and the ‘sip-sip’ about her death spread, we saw how the nation clung on with hopes that she would recover, but ultimately she didn’t. She has a legacy many Bahamians should aspire to have professionally and personally in regards to ensuring her craft is passed on.
As for sports, we lost Thomas A Robinson, one of our last athletic pioneers, and we lost him during a peak year for sports in the nation with the National Stadium being officially opened and of course our success with our athletes at various international meets, especially the Olympics. When you consider how far this small nation has come since the days he competed to now, we have truly been one of the most successful nations ever to compete in track internationally per capita. My daughter is a seven year-old competitive gymnast and although we live outside of The Bahamas, I ensured she watched the games to know that we are a proud nation when it comes to sports and we have a legacy to maintain.
Who was the 'most inspirational / influential Bahamian' in 2012 and why?
I think in order to answer this, I will have to go with a few. Sports – my hometown hero, Chris Brown for sure and the men’s relay team. I had the pleasure of interviewing Angelo Taylor who is in Atlanta for The Georgia Star where one of my departments is sports, and I did mention our boys! So I am proud they did us well.
Politically – It was Branville McCartney who showed us that a new era in politics has arrived and that the FNM and PLP are not the only ones who can secure a representative for every constituency. He did excellent first time out of the gate and by the next general elections it will be a real three-way battle.
Entertainment – while I do so love Sir Sidney and his accomplishments as a Bahamian and person of African descent, I have to say that 2012 was the year of the social media stars. I did not realize I personally had a fan base until the social media figures came through and that was like WOW! But look at Tracey Ann Perpall and her alter ego TAP, look at how DIRadiocast with Rashida ‘Africa Allah’ Armbrister took the Miss Bahamas Universe to new heights and you know you are top of the class when your little phrase of “Stop likin’ man!” is heard as a ring tone, uttered by a member of parliament during a House session, and generates fans to enable you to push your film ‘Get Charlie’ to an audience as it did for Tyrone J. Burrows. So I would have to say that the social media celebs took it beyond The Bahamas and really took 242 to the world!
2013 is the country's 40th anniversary of Independence. What should we be most proud of in the past 40 years?
I am proud to be a Bahamian woman and was even more proud to see the amount of activities honouring my fore-mothers. We have swept their legacies under a rug and we barely broke the surface. I love history and briefly taught the subject for a year at Westminster College and we are the most influential group of people, we make the critical household decisions and still we have suffered. The Women’s Suffrage Movement occurred a little earlier, but nonetheless, I am proud to see how we have overcome in so many areas. I am also proud of the fact that we not only have C.O.B. but other educational institutions on the tertiary level.
What/who do you feel is a Bahamian National Treasure and why?
Our national treasure I think is simply The Bahamas. I covered at least eight celebrity sightings in The Bahamas at Junkanoo alone, excluding Rick Fox who is a hometown boy. Our food, our speech and local colloquialisms, our flora and fauna, our marriage of new and old, our passion for culture and our pride as a people are so marketable in the tourism sector. We are our own national treasure and that we are responsible for maintaining the natural treasures. I think these are the reasons people flock to our shores or consider making films or hosting events here.
Looking forward, where do you feel the country still needs to improve and why?
While I am a very proud Bahamian, I can also be a very embarrassed Bahamian as well – especially being in media and people ask you about your country as it relates to crime. We have a serious and sever scourge plaguing our nation. Once upon a time, it was restricted to drug and gang related demographics. But crimes of passion, brutal crimes against women and the sickening acts against children are no longer restricted to ‘Funky Nassau’. Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma… crime? It’s unimaginable, but it is a sad fact. And with each attack on a tourist, you have someone going home to their local paper or to some travel site to warn about The Bahamas. If we have the death penalty, it needs to be enforced to send a clear message. Zero tolerance is absolutely necessary and we need to expedite the matters before the courts instead of having them sit in a backlog. Sadly, no one seems to really care until they are directly affected. However as a nation, we are all responsible and need to work out a way collectively to take back our nation.
Do you have a Personal Highlight for 2012?
Most people know about my professional achievements as an author, publicist, my skills in local and international media, and even musically (surprise! I write songs for others and I am a background singer!). Because I mentioned crime and crimes of passion earlier, I feel it’s time to come clean and admit to a personal and very private achievement. A few of the women’s groups and close friends I have know about this, but a lot of people were surprised when I told them that I know firsthand what it is to be in a situation where you allow your feelings for someone to mask the truth behind who they really are. (Wow that I am revealing this through this, The Bahamas Weekly, but why not?) I am choosing to speak up because you have people like Rihanna who have the limelight, but say nothing to her fans who might be in similar situation she got out of when graphic photos of her domestic abuse leaked. If she chose Oprah to confess her love for a man who admitted to loving two women after beating the crap out of her and still jet sets behind him, then I feel women who are in position to influence gullible and confused people who are in potentially violent relationships should warn them that it might not be the smartest choice to go back. We’ve lost so many women in The Bahamas to domestic abuse and it has been a sick, bloody, horrible mess contributing to the homicide rate. While I know, that some people can be reformed, I also know that you should never be in a relationship where you find yourself on edge, in fear, covering bruises and justifying someone else’s ill treatment toward you by wondering if you did something better, maybe you can please them and have less contention in your relationship. Your life and your children’s lives are more valuable than anything else in this world and I pray that 2013 has a lot more people who are willing to come up with a plan and follow through with it as it relates to curbing domestic violence. Once the arrests have been made, bail has been met or there is a separation, there is still a tough long road of healing ahead. It’s not overnight but we do have resources – friends, family and The Crisis Center. And for heaven’s sake, we need REAL advice from the churches because advising a woman to go home and praying away a situation or telling her that God wants her to stay married to a man you know will put her in PMH or Rand Memorial by morning is not the best thing. I did not plan to go here with this question at all, but I feel really deeply that someone out there reading this, needs to know that I am a Bahamian woman who overcame a really crazy time in my life and today I am a survivor and I am also not ashamed to say I survived. Doing so will only keep me from showing someone that after the hurricane passes, you have to rebuild and when you do rebuild, you rebuild stronger.
ABOUT ARTHIA:
Hailing from The Bahamas,
Arthia Nixon is rapidly becoming one of the top young Caribbean-Americans to watch. She is a media personality, now serving as one of the youngest editors and writers with the oldest black owned media house in Jacksonville/South Georgia, the Georgia and Florida Star Newspapers. Under the guidance of the legendary Clara McClaughlin (award-winning journalist and first African-American woman to own a television station in the USA) Arthia’s departments include Georgia Local, Sport, and Caribbean News.
Getting her start on Teen Scene (television) and national daily, The Tribune (Bahamas), under John Marquis at the tender of 17, Arthia transitioned to the public relations with Capital City Marketing and later Diane Phillips and Associates. Thia, as she is also known, is the Atlanta correspondent for several media outlets including Turquoise Morning, the Caribbean version of the Today Show. She has worked for CNN, The Examiner, The National Enquirer, and has had her writings featured in the Caribbean, US, Canada, China, Belgium, West Africa, New Zealand and the UK.
Arthia is also the chief publicist at her firm The Ambassdor Agency and writes in her blog www.risewiththia.com, Thia is an Atlanta Entertainment and Celebrity interviewer who covers major events. Publishing her first book at 20, Arthia officially launched her women’s series, Pastors’ Wives in 2012 and will be co-authoring the autobiography of an entertainment mogul in 2013. When she’s not writing or filming for television, Arthia is a fiercely devoted mother to a competitive gymnast and model/beauty queen. She’s also a spokes-model, self-professed epicurean and participates in raising awareness on domestic violence.
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