According to historians, in June of 1967, Basseterre, St. Kitts was the nucleus of an attempt to forcefully remove the Bradshaw led Labour government by members of today’s opposition, the PAM.  I learned about this attempted coup as a teenager.  I was born after 1967 so I cannot attest to any claims or facts but for those told by historians.  In 1993, I worked miles away from picturesque Basseterre as a bank-teller when branch staff received instructions from management to immediately cease operations.  A citizen's riot, led by the opposition, today's Labour government, was brewing on the streets of Basseterre and an attack on government headquarters and several businesses ensued.  The circumstances surrounding the attempt of both political parties to oust a sitting government still hang over our federation like a pregnant cloud, ready for a torrential downpour. 
 
It is an undisputed fact that there is substantial value in knowing and understanding our past.  Without it, we can become lost, like a ship devoid of a compass, the proximity of dry land an occasional specter.  But when the quintessence of our past is what directs our lives in the here and now, how much "change" can there really be in our future?  When we journey a few miles away from the unspoiled shores of our federation, we realize that despite our imperfections as a nation, we are not alone.  Every nation harbors wounds from its past that affect the livelihood and advancement of its people.  However, given the blemishes of our nation’s political past, we ought to vow never again to allow egocentric or myopic politicians dictate the fate of our nation. 
 
Race relations in America have seen unhurried, yet significant progress.  The Civil Rights movement captured world attention - not merely because of Martin Luther King, a powerful orator and activist who lead the charge of the movement with the unwavering support of countless others - but because America, the Supreme nation of the day, had been depriving its citizens their freedom. Negroes were being treated like second-class citizens and America's sullied human rights stance was no longer a secret. Despite an official end to the institution of slavery since 1834, America's dirty laundry was scattered like a flood of confetti across the world’s stage.   As momentum grew in the Civil Rights movement, the water hosing, the lynching, the fire bombings, the public scrutiny, and all other inhumane acts against African Americans were insufficient to stave off the will of black people to earn some degree of equality in America.  In fact, it is the heroic acts of Negroes and many impassioned Caucasians who demanded and fought for civil rights and the repair to race relations in America.  Sadly, with images of the 1993 beating of Rodney King, known cases of racial profiling, and the noose hung outside a professor's door at Columbia University only last year, race relations are still strained in modern day America. However, this fact does not subject the black race to a hopeless future, nor does it justify placing blame on the ills of slavery for the shortcomings of all African Americans in the 21st century.
 
Where would African Americans be today if they blame Caucasians for all of their past and current atrocities?  Every time a young black man commits a murder on the streets of Brooklyn, should they bellow, “Oh, misguided black youth whose ancestors were Abraham Lincoln’s slaves; a life of crime is inevitable”. Should African Americans regard a Detroit inner city murder spree led by a gang of black men as retribution for the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama Sunday school in September 1963 that claimed the lives of four black girls? If every failure of African Americans today is linked to the past, isn’t it a foregone conclusion that blacks, to a large extent, are still enslaved?  If every murder that occurs in our federation is attributed to violent acts committed decades ago in 1967 or 1993, should we really expect any marked reduction in crime?  If the sole motivation for our young men to “drive by” in unidentified vehicles and pummel their unsuspecting targets with bullets is a consequence of acts of aggression that occurred in St. Kitts in 1967 and 1993, then I propose that like our African American colleagues, we too are still enslaved.  If we blame the occurrences of our past for our inability to get out of the squalor in which we find ourselves as a nation today, then much like some African Americans who see no benefit in separating themselves from their past, I submit that we too are still enslaved. 
 
What do we accomplish by suggesting that bottles and stones thrown in 1993 is the reason our young men take up arms and commit violent crimes in 2009?  Do we solve crime in 2009 when we focus our energies on an attempted overthrow in 1967? Even worse, it is difficult to accept that decent human beings, branded as politicians, would embrace acts of violence with hopes of ascending to power to then crush the same incidents of crime they sanctioned before assuming leadership. I have a difficult time accepting that the nation's top security figure would knowingly endorse an assault on innocent people while our federation lies on the bed of civic disarray.   I understand the significance of our political past and how it can help and harm us, but it is quite disconcerting when politicians dwell on the "negativity" of the past to forge positive change and social development in the unpredictable future.
 
During my matriculation at Alabama State University, I became acquainted with a pro-black African American male who claimed to have strong Black Panther beliefs.  On several occasions, he begged my indulgence on his views regarding black pride.  Unfortunately, his disdain for Caucasians and radical anti-white utterances were very disturbing.  I could not relate to his deep seethed abhorrence of white America. I was not taught to hate. On one occasion, a heated racial debate ensued among our peers and "Mr. Black radical" literally fumed at my far from supportive view of his “Caucasian bashing” position.  In his verbally charged attack, he uttered, “You don't "despise" white Americans because unlike African Americans, you West Indians got off the slave ship first.”  I vividly recall the tone of his voice.  The sight of his face declared, “How dare you be black and not call out those who enslaved our ancestors?” For a minute, I felt despondent. There I was in America, not holding Caucasians accountable for the problems of African Americans.  But, in refuting his misguided comments, I reminded “Mr. Black radical” that Caribbean history is not void of stories of mayhem and destruction.  Our African ancestors’ blood, sweat, and tears have stained the towns and cities of our islands.  Evidence of hard and long fought battles between slaves and their masters hug the landscape of our countries, a startling reminder of the angst of a people forced into slavery.  And so with a depth of conviction, I reminded the young man that our African forefathers fought not for our lives to be overshadowed by past events, but rather that we would acknowledge the ills of slavery, and rise above them, vowing never to stoop to such levels of inhumanity in our lifetime.  Hate, I suggested to my colleague, breathes hate, and provides no solutions for the present day crises of African Americans. In fact, Martin Luther King's fight for the civil rights of the Negro hinged on his belief that all people, equal in origin, must live freely, peacefully, and equally in society despite racial differences. Letting go of our past is in many ways the medicine that can cure the lives of our people today, making us better equipped for the unknown that will befall us tomorrow.
 
Crime in our federation has certainly spiraled out of control and we concur that the crisis begs for immediate and long term-solutions.  But the longer we hang our heads and hold our thorny past culpable for our nation’s shortcomings, the longer the reign of terror, especially among our youth will continue.  John F. Kennedy ascribed to the belief that laying blame on past events does little or nothing to chart our way forward as a people, and his powerful words are etched in the annals of history.  “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.  Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past.  Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”  
 
Arguably, we cannot change our past, but we must be cognizant of it so that we can be more rational in our decision-making, for the good of others and ultimately, for the good of our federation.  How do we dwell less on laying blame on our past and devising and implementing ideas that will lift our nation beyond our problems is our colossal challenge.

If we expend our energies on blaming our past, we surrender our power to change our future for the better.