Letters to The Editor
My problem with the Black Crab Syndrome
By KyShaun Miller
Jun 18, 2015 - 4:30:28 PM

I got into a passionate and deep conversation the other day about the dreaded Black Crab Syndrome and for the sake of those who didn’t know that there exists a concept in The Bahamas known as ‘black crab syndrome’ this piece will enlighten you. This particular social disease is inferred upon the Bahamian society likening them to black land crabs. It’s observable that when you catch black land crabs and place them into a crab pen or barrel that they will “viciously” tackle, trample and pull each other down to get out of said barrel or crab pen. It appears as though they hate each other, and are quite willing and readily able to trample over each other to get to freedom, and not end up as crab “n” dough.
   
We have transferred that erroneous analysis of their behaviour on to black Bahamians and accepted it as a way of thinking. We in The Bahamas (specifically black Bahamians) hold it as a cultural norm to pull each other down or expect to be pulled down when succeeding in life. No area do we hold exempt, few being, science, banking, education or government. Moreover, our arsenals of weapons to do so are also not limited. We used words, actions, inactions, social media, and just down right evil intentions to hold each other back and “climb on top of each other to get out of the barrel”. This puts a strain on our relationships; it fosters a culture of untrustworthiness, resentment, and jealousy. This propaganda about the black crabs is no longer propaganda because it has become the “truth” about Bahamians and the crabs alike.
   
So here is my problem with that… Are you ready for it? Are you sure? It’s a lie! Point blank, period, it is a lie. This concept, rather this theory that black Bahamians pull each other down when they see other doing better than them, is built upon a faulty and presumptuous assumption on an animal’s behaviour. Let’s start with the literal example of black crabs pulling each other down when placed into a barrel or crab pen. Um… We took some animals out of their natural habitat, and forced them into a dark, inescapable, uncertain confinement. They are not “viciously” pulling each other down. They are simply afraid. They are scared, they are oppressed, forced into a situation they didn’t want to be in and now they are on the defensive and are behaving as such. They don’t understand what is going on. However, if those crabs had walked into that barrel out of their own accord; as upon their own free will, they wouldn’t act like animals, they wouldn’t pinch each other to get out, because they have understood how their situation came to be what it is.
   
We have transferred this system of oppression from that faulty observation on to Bahamian attitudes. That is not to say that there are not any genuine cases of people holding other’s back and oppressing them, but I dare to say seven time out of ten it’s not actually the case. We have constructed a reality in The Bahamas that we are not supposed to tell any and everyone what we are doing because they will get jealous, envious and their thoughts and attitudes will spoil our good fortune and ruin our opportunities. The banter goes “Man you that boy, he so stuck up, he get one lil’ certification and think he is things now, can’t even talk to people”. We fear they will spread rumours and that all eyes will be on us for our accomplishments. We as Bahamians suffer from this spot light effect (the idea that everyone is paying more attention to us than they really are) and feel as though we are in competition and to keep our edge, we have to be secretive and hide our accomplishment lest we get pulled down on our way to the top. We didn’t create that system here in The Bahamas; we didn’t even reinvent the wheel. This system was presented by Willie Lynch, a truly vicious slave owner in the West Indies in the 1700’s. He wrote a letter about his methods to slave owners in the colony of Virginia in 1712 and I encourage you to read it.

After you have read it, look at this black crab syndrome. You do not need a Ph.D. to see that it is a system of oppression. I call it a system because it is "Something You Start Then Everyone Multiplies." The oppressors are also the ones in oppression, because white and other kinds of Bahamians do not have that mind-set. Whiles black Bahamians work, the other’s they “net-work” they build each other, help each other and share in the spoils of victory whiles we covet the inch we have taken towards success in secret, like a crab slowly moving towards the top of the barrel hoping that another will not see him and pull him back.

Why are we still perpetuating this foolishness?



KýShaun Miller, was born in New Providence, The Bahamas he is an AA Law and Criminal Justice and BA Psychology (Clinical Psychology Strand) Student at The College of The Bahamas. He is the President for National Society of Leadership and Success of America/Sigma Alpha Pi College of The Bahamas Chapter 2014 - 2016 and the Senator of The School of Social Sciences. He is an Image and Branding Consultant with Artifex Media, and can be reached at kyshaun24@gmail.com

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