BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE events of June 10, 1967 – especially since they are shrouded in mystery and uncertainty – should be totally forgotten. And the recent use of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) to commemorate the anniversary is nothing more than an intimidatory tactic!
This is the opinion of social commentator, historian and educator Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald while speaking in an interview with this publication yesterday (June 11).
Monday (June 10), members of the SKNDF – dressed in combat fatigue –marched through the streets of Basseterre “to honour the efforts of members of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Defence Force who were at Camp Springfield” during the June 10, 1967 incident.
While this was the explanation given by the SKNDF’s Public Affairs Officer, Captain Kayode Sutton, Washie painted a vastly different picture of his perception of the event.
“The act was intimitadory! To have the army going around in a show of force among the population, what else could it be? But intimidation is a signal, a message that Dr. Douglas is ready to use his army against the population of St. Kitts. It is a message that the army men are being called upon to get ready. It can’t mean anything else, because Dr. Douglas is right now running an illegal government. Dr. Douglas is running an illegitimate government which consists of a minority of the people elected to run government in this country. And sending soldiers around on 10th June is nonsense!”
Archibald suggested that there were persons “in the corridors of St. Kitts” who were fully aware that the Anguillans were on their way to the island to execute their plan and, as such, “there was no secret about what the Anguillans were up to”.
He explained that “not a single drop of blood was shed, nobody was shot at, nobody was killed, nobody was wounded and we are not exactly sure what happened. We know that the evidence was spurious…
“That whole 10th June thing should be relegated to the archives and people should be willing to forget it! Because, look what happened in 1980, 13 years after in 1980 the people voted the PAM government into power and the PAM government led for 15 years. So it is clear that the public had no interest in that exhibition on the 10th June.The people of St. Kitts have no interest in it. It is only a couple of people who every year are harping on this 10th June thing.”
The educator questioned why persons find it necessary to reap up the happenings of June 10, 1967 when there are other events in the Federation’s history which are more deserving of that attention.
“Why don’t we commemorate the disappearance of Billy Herbert and his crew on Father’s Day (1994)? That is a more important item in our history, because here you had a politician who takes his wife and his friends out to sea on Father’s Day to have a fishing expedition and up to now you do not know what has happened to them. And when we remember that Billy Herbert was the most important person in the People’s Action Movement as the election time was drawing nigh, we begin to wonder who profited the most from the disappearance of Billy Herbert?”
