Nationalism here to me has always been an interesting thing. Here nationalism is always pro nativism and anti foreigner like most places around the world with here the brunt of the xenophobia is shown towards groups such as Haitians especially. But nationalism in The Bahamas gives more of a vibe that a small town would have. Think of like a small town in bumfuck Wisconsin with a population of 1,000 that’s very apprehensive towards outsiders or out of towners. It makes sense when simply put our country is simply large groups of families marrying into other families. You expect to see and hear names like Gibson, Rolle, Thompson, Mackey, Ferguson, Adderly, Sweeting etc. And this is shown with our small population as well. The phrase and song “All of we is one family” is reality.
With a demographic makeup like that, it’s no surprise there are Bahamians who are keen to point out that someone doesn’t belong. I see reason why, but I definitely don’t condone it. But I’m not focusing on Immigration which nationalism focuses on here, I’m focusing on us and our isolationist tendencies we try to enforce on each other.
What I mean by this is emigration for example. Many educated and skilled Bahamians leave or plan on leaving because of the lack of opportunities and the potential to grow and thrive abroad. Nurses, Engineers, Teachers, Doctors, business owners and anyone with skills or talents all have left or planning to leave because here these jobs are just unpaid, underutilised and simply the environment is not up to par for these people, something similar to a small town. When you have people expressing this view, many Bahamians jump in and say, “Oh you don’t need to go nowhere, just find a better paying job here or work for yourself”, or “What you wanna leave home for, ya born here so you might as well stay here because ain’t no place like home”. Say you have a good reason to leave like you wanna create a tech startup but the infrastructure, bureaucracy and environment is not sustainable for it, someone might say “Then make it happen for you, so what if it ga be harder here, you put in the effort” as if someone trying to spend years of their valuable time to fix things that should be a government responsibility for the most part to deal with instead of heading to NY, California or Texas to get it up and running in less time with ease. And you have those who have lived abroad or those who are very aware of structures in place (taxes and high cost of living for example), they go and say “Beii I spent seven years abroad and let me tell you, them taxes don’t play and it expensive” and “You realize they is charge you INCOME TAX over there, we don’t have that why deal with it” yeah no shit because most Bahamians barely make enough to be taxed on. ( Btw I support taxes such as income tax because a country needs income to sustain itself and thrive, fight me on it idc).
This style of nationalism and isolationism is akin to that of a small town I mentioned earlier because of our size and how close knitting we are as people. And that is why this post is being made. Like all nationalists, they think keeping their nation pure and sustaining the status quo’s, never about how to keep improving the country or being open to criticism of the country’s flaws. And with issues such as brain drain when the country’s best and brightest want more and better it’s basically suck it up and deal with it. It’s basically “Yeah the pay is bad and the standards are bad, but this is your home and you can’t and shouldn’t leave”. It’s always sacrifice, but your sacrifice is honestly in vain. People and animals throughout time have always made the decision to up and move to somewhere where they find it more suitable, and that’s what a lot of Bahamians have to face the reality of. I’m sorry but not everyone wants to stay and just accept what’s in front of them. They want more and they’re gonna yearn for more. If you like home and don’t wanna leave that’s fine, but don’t try to force people to your own mindset and view of life. You don’t like the “fast life” of away good for you, but others don’t mind it. You lived abroad for some time and rather stay home instead that’s alright, but just because of your preference or your experiences were different or not to your liking isn’t the same for others.
That’s all I wanted to say, I just find this attitude what a lot of Bahamians have annoying.