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Commentary
BC's B'dos - On the off beat
Published on: 11/2/2009.
BY B.C. PIRES
THESE ISLANDS were never civilised, merely occupied, and not even for the benefit of those who lived in them, but for those who dictated, loftily and from afar, all that happened here.
The surest sign we have not begun to think for ourselves is the eagerness, from pulpit to Parliament, to beat children into submission instead of raising them to independent adulthood, the only point from which the free, responsible individual may hope to assert citizenship.
We seem determined to deny our history, rather than learn from it. Why else would we, who have been so wounded by the whip, venerate it? The indigenous populations of our territories were casually murdered and new, enslaved populations imported by great and cruel force to toil from morning to night in almost unbearable heat for centuries.
Not even the relative few who cracked the whip instead of being flayed by it benefited, for their putative gains were ill-gotten, genuine blood money, and no decent person can live comfortably knowing he does so at the cost of someone else's great suffering.
Our sort of history is not overcome by beating children but by refusing to do it. For 400 years, the bad Negroes of the West Indies have been whipped into shape; it is time to stop it now, out of ignoble self-preservation, if not enlightened self-interest: for the abused children of today will become the bandits and cold-blooded murderers of tomorrow.
Look to Trinidad if you want clear illustrations of what unloved, abused children will do, in the fullness of time: boys in their teens slit throats and slice off breasts that might have suckled them. Whip such boys now, when they are defenceless, at your own future peril.
When we flog children for being late for school, we invoke the same spirit that allowed men on horses to whip women in fields for not working hard enough; that alone should cause us to hold our hand.
And, if there is merit in the argument that, once flogged, they are no longer late, then the best way forward must be even greater punishment: cut off a foot if the student strays from school towards the ZR bus stand; the slave owner of old would tell you he won't hobble far again.
But do you not admire the slave who lost both feet, then both hands, and still stuck his tongue out defiantly until Massa cut that off, too? Where does the spirit of our own freedom truly endure? In the good worker or the rude bwoy?
The united West Indian nation will be built on the shoulders of free, upstanding citizens, not on the backs of flogged, submissive creatures. We don't need dues-paying, unionised workers demanding minimum wage; we need unrestricted entrepreneurs creating our own wealth.
No whipped person becomes free thinking. Our challenge, since Independence, has not been how to keep the broad mass of our population in servitude, but how to set it free. As long as West Indian children are beaten, West Indian adults are less than they should be.
Instead of perpetuating violence and the wanton exercise of unquestioned power - a form of authority derived, not from The Bible, but the plantation - we should be striving today to love and respect our young people; who may yet lead us out of the bondage of violence at some distant tomorrow.
*BC Pires is flogging a dead brain.Email him at bc@caribsurf.com
7 comment found!
Re To Wounded : 11/5/2009
To wounded, you can choose to believe whatever you wish, that's your prerogative. However, I will again reiterate "that if children are left unchecked to do whatever they please, you will not be able to rest at ease in your bed." If you want to make this seem as if every time children are misbehaving you have to flog them, my answer to this is 'no'. However, children are smarter than you give them credit for and if they continue to blatantly disobey authority, they should be spanked. That's all I have to say. If you have a problem with this, kindly check with my Creator. Believe me, He is always right.
On the off beat : 11/2/2009
Well said B.C.Pires,words of wisdom falling on deaf ears.Some Barbadians do nt believe slavery ever existed,and they most certainly do not believe slaves were ever given the lash. Today Barbadians are telling us being flogged made them better.When pain is inflicted all you feel is anger and and hatred,and your only thoughts are of revenge.One writer states he was flogged,and because of the flogging he turned out to be a decent intelligent person.It is quite obvious to me, just an average person,this intelligent person doesn't reise being flogged DOES NOT MAKE YOU INTELLIGENT,otherwise,he or she would not have written such DRIVEL.
TO WOUNDED : 11/2/2009
It is sad to read your contribution, well written though it is. I must therefore credit you with some level of intelligence and perhaps the capacity to re-examine at least one section of your contribution. You state and I quote, 'I will guarantee you that if children are left unchecked and are allowed to do whatever they please, you would not be able to rest at ease in your bed'. Do you truly believe that the only way to 'check' children is to administer corporal punishment? And if corporal punishment is not administered are the children being 'left unchecked and allowed to do whatever they please ...'? Are they not other acceptable ways of 'checking' children? Your style of writing suggests that you are too intelligent a person to believe that you cannot 'check' children unless you beat them and I am sure that your creator would wish you to use the intelligence he gave you.
Wounded : 11/2/2009
You have articulated a whole lot of emotion in your article but not necessarily the whole truth. I first would like to state that I was flogged at school and would not consider myself wounded. I turned out to be a decent intelligent God-fearing human being. If you want to interject slavery into the discipline of children you are wrong for doing this. Deal with slavery by itself. They are those - our own people that sold us into slavery whose descendants are by far worse than we are. So this tells us that there is something in all of us that we inherit from the day of conception that has to be dealt with at an early age and that is our fallen nature we inherited from Adam. I will guarantee you that if children are left unchecked and are allowed to do whatever they please, you would not be able to rest at ease in your bed. Let me go with what my creator said. It matters not what you believe, we all have a choice to believe what we choose to believe. But God my Creator stands firm in what He says and He is always right.
Off Beat : 11/2/2009
Driving to work with a christian neighbour last week, he was tuned in to a gospel radio channel. I preacher commented that years ago the people of the islands were happy and peaceful. I was a bit annoyed because I am almost 50 and as far back as I can remember majority of the people were just complacent. I cannot ever remember my neighbours being happy and peaceful. Most of them has seven or eight children, including my mother and not always food on the table. I wondered which islands he was referring to.
: 11/2/2009
Yes reinforce Team Building and working together to foster better relationships and progression for the good of all. (James 3 13-18) "For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom, such things are earthly, unspiritual and motivated by the Devil. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil" - we've got to remain conscious of our actions.
: 11/2/2009
Too true. Unless we know where we come from we cannot know where we are going. We have not had enough exposure to our history to know that we can learn from it and do things differently. Any exposure has been negative and traumatic that we chose to exclude anything about it. But what we can learn is that our ancestors were creative, determined and had perseverence thats just the start. We should stop following the ignorance of the past and start to find other ways to deal with disciplining our children. How many other races do you see agreeing to flogging, this does not show a respect for others and just passes on to the next generation as a way of dealing with situations we find a little difficult to handle. Its not always the solution, we should try other ways because even though people say "it did me no harm". I am one that says "it did me a lot of harm" - because there was no love, kind words, encouragement or support to create a balance.
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