I was unavoidably absent from the Anguilla Day Celebrations this year — an event that I seldom miss. And on the rare occasion I have missed it — I get a feeling of being unpatriotic. It is a day that I consider to be a time for reflection and an opportunity to honour persons who have contributed to the shaping of our country over the years. Ordinary Anguillians who stood up resolutely, for what they truly believed was right for their country, made many of these contributions in the early days. But the Revolution is not over — there is still a lot of work to be done though not necessarily in the same setting or in the same way. I quote from a comment I made in an Anguilla Day Message to the Churches in my role as Acting Chief Ministerway back in 2005:
“Over the last thirty-eight years successive governments ofAnguillahave recognized the importance of the vision of the founders of the Revolution and, in an ever-changing world environment, have tried to maintain focus on building a “nation proud, strong and free”. Needless to say, they have been different interpretations of that vision, different strategies to achieve it and different leadership styles and attitudes in guiding the way forward.
“It is important for us as Anguillians to recognize that every stage of our development calls for different strategies and tools. The new breed of revolutionaries required to carry forward the vision will have to do battle in the boardrooms and other meeting places inAnguilla, the region and the world rather than on the lonely beaches along our coastline.”
I was making the point very clearly that we should not sit on “our laurels” and believe that we have “arrived”. But that we must focus on what is required in this period to “stay on track” with the goals and aspirations of the early days of the Revolution, and likewise honour and celebrate persons who have contributed in this period. The Hon. Evans McNiel Rogers, the Leader of the Opposition, expressed similar points in his Anguilla Day Address last year (2011) and even went a step further to suggest that we must celebrate and honour those who made contributions even before 1967.He said:
“There is much truth in the saying: ‘we are all dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants’. Indeed every single generation exists because of the skill, enterprise and sacrifices of those generations that preceded it. So, truly speaking, today we should be celebratingAnguilla’s rich past even as we look to the future. In that context, while I hail all those stalwarts in our community who will be receiving awards today as well as those who have been likewise acknowledged over the years — it occurred to me that perhaps we should also pay tribute, posthumously, and not necessarily with awards, but with respectful mention of those Anguillians and groups of Anguillians who kept the flame alive, over the period before the Revolution, with their strong determination to “cherish the rock” through drought, famine, storms and diseases. Because they never abandoned their homeland in the height of adversity — we can celebrate our homeland today.”
So what must come out of our reflection and contemplation on the future, at times like these, is making Anguilla Day truly a time for showing our appreciation for where we have come from; for the persons who led us here; and for those persons who will take us forward. In this way we will be creating a proper historical context for building pride in our people for preserving our patrimony for generations to come.Again, in his Anguilla Day Address in 2010, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Evans McNiel Rogers, also made the following very positive statement, at a time when our island had just come out of a bitter general election campaign, in an effort to bring us back on track. He said:
“The way ahead continues to present its challenges. It is a global situation for which neither this Government nor the past Government can take the blame — so it must now be time to move beyond politics to collectively find solutions. We all live here! The environment conducive to arriving at viable solutions must be one of mutual respect and partnership. The period for campaign posturing is past. As I have said many times during that period — I now say in a different context: ‘This is a reality check!’
“The reality is that if it has been proven thatAnguillais strongest when we are united — then it must be time to rise to that occasion. There is no better time for accentuating that theme of unity than during our day — Anguilla Day. The spirit of the Revolution must pervade our efforts to reconstruct that environment which brought us successfully out of that period of struggle, forty-three years ago, whenAnguillawas a forlorn state caught up in vengeful politics that frustrated our people for many years. While what happened then can be considered external — we must now guard ourselves once again from being caught up in vengeful politics from within our borders. The enemy within is always the most dangerous.
“I say all of this because I strongly believe that our country is becoming very polarized. It has now gone beyond young people establishing territory — the east against the west — to the political divisionism of the electorate very often nurtured by misinformation, manipulation and false rumours. In this environment it is almost impossible to build trust and confidence as every issue becomes politicized and distorted. It is time to heal the wounds.”
I have quoted extensively from past presentations made on Anguilla Day to illustratehow useful this celebration can be to taking powerful messages forward and educating our younger citizens about the heritage that is theirs. While I was not present to hear the Hon. OthlynVanterpool deliver the message from the Opposition, due to the absence of the Hon. Evans McNiel Rogers, I was able to prevail upon him for an advanced copy of his address. I now quote an important comment from Mr. Vanterpool’s message that challenged us, on this Anguilla Day, as follows:
“But even as we stand here today, I am certain that there are many among you who can reminisce about the rallying cries and rousing speeches from this very spot that united Anguillians to stand firm and resolute in the face of threats from a hostile Central Government some seventy miles across theCaribbean Sea.
“Forty-five years later we may not be facing threats from without, but certainly from within. Threats that can destroy many of the gains we have made as a people, at the hands of persons who obviously have not been touched by that spirit of family that brought us through the many hardships of the past. I believe that I should not lose this opportunity as an Elected Representative of the people ofAnguilla, and as a child of the Revolution, to use this privilege on this historic meeting ground to support the campaign against youth violence and crime in our beloved island. What is happening inAnguillatoday is contrary to the vision of our forbears and is, to my mind, an abomination to the sacrifices that they have made – and that we continue to make – for future generations of Anguillians.”
Mr. Vanterpool went on to challenge all Anguillians to be part of the effort to reverse the scourge of Youth Violence and Crime in our community evoking the celebration’s theme, “A time to rejoice, rebuild and reconcile,” as a fitting rallying cry for such a campaign. He then proceeded to make the very discomforting point that: “Within the last ten years more than twelve young people have died as a result of senseless acts of violence and several times that number have been injured or maimed. It is certainly not a statistic that we would have expected to be confronting us forty-five years ago. The entire Anguilla Revolution was executed without any serious incidence of bloodshed and in fact without any significant display of violence among our people.”
But even as Mr. Vanterpool was putting the finishing touches to his speech, Anguilla Day was being “welcomed in”by another incident of gun violence in the Old ValleyDistrict! Never since the days of the Revolution, when the Residence and Hotel of the late Hon. David S. Lloyd was attacked, did anyone hear a shot ring out in that area. Unfortunately, yet another time the life and property of Mr. Rosmond Davis, a hardworking and ambitious young businessman, was beset upon, the result being a gunshot wound to his leg. And yet another time there appears to be no suspects apprehended or witnesses coming forward. This is not theAnguillawe want to celebrate! I agree with Mr. Vanterpool that this is “an abomination to the sacrifices that they (our forebears) have made and that we continue to make for the future generations of Anguillians.”
I am glad that the remainder of the celebrations of this 45th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution passed without incident. And hopefully, the initiatives now being taken to restore our peaceful enjoyment of the freedoms we have won and secured over the years will meet with the success we deserve as a people! As the Revolution continues!
