The Editor
The Anguillian,
Dear Editor:
It’s amazing when it comes to country first, how many people (politicians) step up to the plate. I’m being facetious of course. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. On the Mayor Show of the 11th of February on KOOL FM Radio, the erudite Ms. Paulette Harrigan was the guest. She was discussing the threat to our democracy inAnguilla.
In her presentation, she laid out several scenarios as to what this would look like. It was a history lesson on colonialism as practiced by the Brits. I was amazed as I listened to her presentation and thought to myself, had I seen or observed any of the things she was talking about. She made me stop and think for a moment. She also got the attention of Mr. Rogers of the Mayor Show so much so that he issued a challenge to all Anguillians, with a shout out to politicians, past and present, to call in and air their opinions on this very serious topic.
He along with the rest of us waited with bated breaths for our esteemed politicians both past and present to call in and, of course, none of them wanted to sit in the hot seat. That says quite a bit. However, there were several calls made and a lot of what was said made absolute sense. It was disappointing to see that at a time when one man has the absolute power to do just about anything on a whim, that our elected officials have no opinions on any of this. Do they intend to sit idly by and let our legal eagles do their heavy lifting? Is anyone paying attention? Mr. Rogers of the Mayor Show, in his wrap up, brought it home when he expressed his utter disgust with the deafening silence of our elected officials when we as a group are fighting for our very own existence. I seem to recall that on a previous Mayor Show, Mr. Hodge talked about an informed public holding elected officials accountable for promises that were made. Does this mean that the people don’t know what their elected officials are doing?
The program, in keeping with the theme of “a threat to our democracy,” took a somewhat different turn when the equally erudite Ms. Palmavon Webster called in to discuss what she thought to be a threat to our democracy, that of fair elections. Ms. Harrigan and Ms. Webster did have a discussion about fair elections inAnguilla.
While I felt a little disappointed by the lack of participation of our elected representatives, the presentation by Ms. Harrigan more than made up for it. A lot of us talk about country first, but ask yourselves this question: What have you done lately, if at all? The lot of us sits around waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. Listen folks, if we don’t stop acting like a bunch of jackasses, and start working together as a team, then all those men and women who put their families at risk, and their lives on the line, the men who went to Barbados and suffered years of ridicule because we thought they’d sold us out – the pilots, most of whom are no longer with us, who flew the missions in and out of Anguilla and the list goes on. All of that will have gone for naught. Stop and think for a moment. What are we doing? Do I sound angry? Damn right, I’m angry! Let me say again, if we don’t come together and stop this petty bickering nothing will matter. Is anyone listening? Paulette told you what is going on. Are we so blinded by our stubborn pride that we can’t see? Our DEMOCRACY is under attack and if we don’t become proactive, then we’ll be reacting to what they’ll be doing to us.
We can blame the British all we want, and maybe they do deserve the lion’s share of the blame, but when all is said and done, they’ll continue to pull the strings and then it will be too late. (Remember, nothing happens overnight. We had Bradshaw for years and we knew what his game was. He had the audacity to tell us. The gentleman in the Governor’s mansion is a bit smoother. Remember the Brits won wars on smalltalk and diplomacy according to the Mighty Sparrow.) He is a Trojan horse. Observe and recall the points made by Ms. Harrigan. A woman is driving home alone one rainy night when she spots a snake near death lying by the side of the road. She picks it up, takes it home and nurses it back to health. When the snake gets well again, it bites the woman. Surprised, she tells the snake, “I found you near death on that cold and windy night, and I nursed you back to health and this is how you pay me back? Smiling, he said, “Lady you knew I was a snake.”
Folks we knew what Bradshaw wanted to do to us and we made damn sure that he didn’t get the chance. Times have changed and so must our tactics. Time to stop the mudslinging and all that other stuff. We’re doing exactly what the Brits want us to do. We are executing their master plan to the letter. My fellow Anguillians, we’re an independent and stubborn people, but let us not have those traits work to our detriment, but, instead, to our benefit. Beware of snakes folks. They are deadly and when you least expect, PSSSST!
Sincerely,
Concerned citizen
