By Mutryce A. Williams BBA CTM
We wont manage by lamentation nor indeed would we manage by assigning blame, particularly to our external tormentors, because that would be wasted effort. We will manage only by recognizing what our situation is, by identifying the tools and resources available to us, by truly uniting ourselves and by working as a nation, albeit, an embryonic one, to ameliorate, if not overcome our present difficulties. Disunity and destructiveness are luxuries that this country cannot now nor in the foreseeable future afford. We have fertile lands, we are a people; there is friendly sea around us. Your Excellencies, fellow citizens, let us take ourselves in hand and together build.
Statehood Day Address-Warner Park, February 1974
ROBERT LLEWELLYN BRADSHAW
Even though this declaration was read thirty years ago, Premier Bradshaws advice still rings true today. When I read the 1974 Statehood Day Address by the late Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, our nations Founding Father, my heart bled because as a people we have allowed petty idiosyncrasies to destroy and disunite us.
Tears welled up in my eyes when I read his words because as a Militant Nationalist, who truly believes in Country Above Self, each word resonated, not only in my heart or ears but also in my entire being. In the past years I have become overwhelmingly intoxicated and fascinated by the MAN and by what he stood for. In all my enquiring and learning, what stands out most about this man is the passion he had for this country. This man was the true embodiment of Country Above Self and I look upon him in these times not just as a leader but as a man who was passionate about the soil that nurtured him, as a man who had the love of country deep within his bowels, as a man who had a vision for his country, as a legacy who carried St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla on his back in treacherous times. Our country was built upon the vision, dreams and sacrifices of this once simple man, whose voice resonated across the waters as he led not only a state but also tried to unite a region.
As a people, instead of letting the years unite us, we have allowed petty island/ partisan politics, selfishness, ambition, greed, jealousies and biases to destroy and divide us. It is no longer Country Above Self but Self Above Country and my people this should not be. We have ceased to realize what it means to be an embryonic state. We no longer know what the word unity means. Brother no longer helps brother! Sister tearing apart sister! The sad thing is, we all a one people. The mentality is every Jack man for heself and I aint lifting a finger or contributing unless I and I profiting. We remark, Country Above Who? Wha dat? Nothing tall go so, come again. Most of us have traveled abroad or have been exposed to other cultures, we say, Oh Lucians, Domincans, Trinis, Bajans stick together but our people, we are like crabs in a barrel. The excuses I have heard, It is we culture! A so we be! We cant help! This is rubbish. Each one of us born in this great land has a responsibility to our country. Each one of us born in this country has a responsibility to our fellow man. It is not our duty to destroy St. Kitts. It is not our duty to trash our culture or malign our fellow countrymen. It is our duty to build. It is our duty to lift each other up. It is our duty to be embryonic.
As I read the1974 Statehood Address Kittitians it became evident that we have truly forgotten our past. It became evident that we have disregarded the struggles and strife that our forefathers, no not our African ancestors but our National Heroes, endured so that we could enjoy the freedoms that we have today. Our privileges and rights, though some of us might have been born with them already in place, did not magically appear. We take these things for granted. As a nation we are still quite young. Kittitians we were not always independent. We emerged from Statehood on September 19th 1983.
Papa Bradshaw championed the cause of independence for his people. He had foresight. He prepared his people for independence knowing that the road would not be easy. Premier Bradshaw said in his 1976 Statehood Address, To be independent means that you neither depend upon nor are subordinated to anyone. Thus, as we approach the Independence, which we have freely and deliberately decreed for ourselves, let us be in no doubt at all about that which we shall embark upon, for manna will not fall from Heaven just like that. Let us face it knowing that it will demand of us hard work, patriotism, dedication, denial, objectivity, unity and self-respect, and we must continue to be seen actively to be helping ourselves. Therefore, on this proptitious day, let us all brothers and sisters link hands together and deliberately say Out with Statehood, in Independence.
Brothers and sisters where did our patriotism go? Kittitians, why are we no longer dedicated to our country? Where is the unity? As Kittitians, are we working hard enough? Are we still seen as actively helping ourselves? Do we still expect manna to fall from the sky? As the national elections approach the lamenting and blaming has begun and when I hear it as a Militant Nationalist I always ask, What have you done for your country? Are you lamenting and blaming because you didnt get your belly full or is it out of sheer concern for the love of our dear land? If it is the latter, I respect that and I do understand, however please dont lament and blame without giving solutions. Tell me what you intend to do to help our country. As my mother says, start chapping stroke. It was the American President John F Kennedy who said, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country! Why do we ask, What can this or that politician do for me, as opposed to what good can he do for the country? Kittitians we have to come better than that. We have to rise above these things.
In reading Premier Bradshaws address, it became evident that as a people we have failed our young people. They have not been indoctrinated in our civil religion. They know little or nothing on the teachings of Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw. Our civil religion is Country Above Self. Our civil religion is one of unity. Even though Papa Bradshaws words were heard by the masses at Warner Park in February 1974, it is evident that only a few people were listening.
I was born in the year that Papa Bradshaw died so all I know of him is what I have read and heard from conversations. In my learning I have come to appreciate my Kittitian heritage. In my learning I have become a Militant Nationalist. I am in love with my country. It is indoctrinated in me that apart from the love of God, there should be no greater love than that of ones country. It is indoctrinated in me that apart from serving God, there is no higher calling than the service of ones country. This is the civil religion of a Militant Nationalist.
It was at the 1973 West Indian Solidarity Conference in St. Thomas U.S.V.I. that Premier Bradshaw said, I assert that the Negro possesses total political power in the Commonwealth and in Haiti, at least; but that he needs economic strength with which to buttress, sustain and support that power if he is ever to attain the equality he so ardently seeks. Imagine that, just thirty years ago, we were still referred to as the Negro. We did not have economic strength. We were free and we had political power. We were ardently seeking equality. We were still subjects of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our Founding Father struggled so that we could enjoy the privileges that we have today. People we have come thus far. We, that is the Negro people, we have equality. Our country is a gem. Why would we want to destroy it? In the year 2004, I am ashamed to say that we have become so rich that we could now afford to pay for the luxuries of disunity and destructiveness.
St. Kitts is our birth rite. It is our country. It is our country. St. Kitts does not belong to the politicians. They were entrusted by us the people to steer the ship. We the citizens gave them our vote of confidence. We live in a democratic society where it is government of the people, for the people and by the people. It is time for us to stop this nonsense of blaming and lamenting. It is time for all of us as citizens to put hand to plough, strengthen and rebuild our country. It is time for us to see and think nationalistically. Let us become re-indoctrinated. Let is embrace our civil religion. Let us unite. Let us become Militant Nationalists. There is no need for us to become truculent or offensive. We are one people. We are one nation. Let us build!
In his 1973 address at the West Indian Solidarity Conference in St. Thomas U.S.V.I. he went on to say, that economic strength will be gained neither by shouting slogans, waving banners, nor indeed by being truculent and offensive. It will be gained only upon the hard work, particularly by our youth; objective education at the highest level; systematic planning for the future; above all realistic unity among the various Negro peoples of the Caribbean, coupled with an ever deepening love of himself by the Negro in the West Indies as a race. Reflecting on Papa Bradshaws words, people disunity and destructiveness are luxuries that WE could not then nor now afford. It is not too late for us to take ourselves in hand and together build because when our country prospers we all benefit.
