NASSAU, Bahamas — Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie said Majority Rule belongs to all Bahamians, whether PLP or FNM, whether black or white. 
“It should be celebrated as a transcendental turning point in our history; one that was as psychologically liberating for black Bahamians as it was for white Bahamians, even if neither race could really see it at the time in 1967,” the Prime Minister said as he wrapped up the debate on the Majority Rule Day Bill in House of Assembly, Monday, May 6, 2013.

He explained that for PLPs, it is a matter of immense pride for them to know they were the ones who spearheaded the struggle and brought it to fruition. “At the same time, as PLPS, we must resist the temptation to treat Majority Rule Day as though it were something that is registered in our name as some sort of trademarked property to which we, and we alone, are entitled. “What the PLP accomplished on January 10th, 1967, was not for itself alone but in trust for all the Bahamian people. “And that’s what I mean when I say that Majority Rule Day belongs to all of us and that it should be commemorated by all Bahamians as an occasion for national reconciliation and unity.”

Prime Minister Christie also said he wanted to again acknowledge, as he hoped the nation will do on each and every Majority Rule Day in the future, the immense debt Bahamians owe to those many great men and women who once upon a time rose up and struck a blow for freedom and for justice in the land.  “It was their combined blows that made Majority Rule a reality 46 years ago. “We are the heirs to that legacy of struggle and we must never forget those who bequeathed it to us. 

Those like:

  • Pompey, the slave who bravely led a revolt against injustice in Exuma.
  • Black Dick, the slave, who was executed for staging a slave revolt in what is now Cat Island;
  • Stephen Dillet, the first non-white member of this honourable house – first elected 180 years ago;
  • James Carmichael Smith, the leader of the protest movement near the end of the 19th century;
  • W.P Adderley and his son, the Hon. A.F. Adderley and, later on, his son, the Hon. Paul L. Adderley;
  • L.W. Young, Etienne Dupuch, and Dr. C.R. Walker;
  • The late, great Milo Boughton Butler;
  • Clarence Bain, H.M. Taylor, Cyril Stevenson and William Cartwright;
  • Randol Fawkes and Clifford Darling
  • Doris Johnson
  • Carlton Francis
  • Cecil Wallace Whitfield
  • Warren Levarity, Arthur Foulkes, Jeff Thompson, and Jimmy Shepherd 
  • Clement and Andrew “Dud” Maynard
  • Young Turks of their time like Elwood Donaldson, Eugene Newry, Oscar Johnson, Oswald Brown, and Caddie Armbrister 
  • A.D. Hanna 
  • the greatest of them all, Lynden Oscar Pindling.” 

The Prime Minister noted there were many others whose names and the heroic deeds they performed are forever etched in glorious remembrance.