#BTColumn – Is this who we are?

When the COVID-19 pandemic initially hit Barbados and the rest of the world, I vehemently disagreed with all of those who opined that this virus and its effect on our civilisation was “a blessing in disguise”.

And, undoubtedly, no one in their right mind could consider the COVID-19 toll on human lives and health, or on the economic fortunes of our families and countries, as anything but a tragic calamity. However, I am beginning to appreciate that there is one sense in which the COVID-19 pandemic may well have been a god-send.

I am referring to the fact that the pandemic has brought much of our social and cultural life to a temporary halt, and has given us an opportunity to pause and to reflect on what we were doing and where we were going prior to COVID-19, as well as on what we intend to do and where we intend to go post COVID-19.

In the case of Barbados, we were encouraged by our Prime Minister to embrace the slogan – “this is who we are” – and to utilize that slogan to explore and rediscover deeply rooted indigenous values that we could use to help get us through the crisis. In addition, we were also encouraged to set our minds on the goal of “building back better” after the pandemic.

Now, many of us have interpreted this notion of “building back better” as applying solely to our economy, but what I want to emphasise in this message is that it is a slogan that we would do well to apply to many aspects of our social and cultural life as well!

Indeed, I want to suggest that we Barbadians should acknowledge the “pause” that COVID-19 has brought to the various facets of our social and cultural life, and – against that background – we should go on to utilize the twin concepts of “this is who we are” and “building back better” to help us to determine where we were going wrong in several areas of our social and cultural life, and what are the new social and cultural goals we should set for ourselves in the post COVID era.

Take, for example, the recent scandal over the gun violence-promoting music video that was put out by several of Barbados’ most popular recording artists.

We understand that this song was recorded in the pre-COVID 19 era, but isn’t this song clear evidence that our music culture had gone badly off-track, and that- before the COVID-19 pause – we were hurtling in the wrong direction?

When did our popular music move away from the conscious, uplifting heights that such artistes as Mighty Gabby, John King, Richard Stoute, Red Plastic Bag, Biggie Irie, Wendy Alleyne, Draytons Two, Alison Hinds, Mike Grosvenor, Edwin Yearwood, and even the younger version of Lil Rick, had taken it?

We should note that back in the day, the “radical” Bajan songs that were banned by the establishment were songs like Gabby’s “One Day Coming Soon” (warning the ruling class about the righteous power of the people), “Boots” (opposing the militarisation of the society), and “Who Kill Pele?” (questioning the political cover-up a murder). Now our “radical songs” extol guns and anti-social violence. What a degeneration!

At what point did our music transform itself into the negative, anti-social, artistically degenerate music that was featured on that recent music video? And can we now use this COVID-19 pause, and the twin concepts of “this is who we are” and “building back better” to take a “fresh guard” with our music in the post-COVID era that is directly ahead of us?

And I would like to apply a similar critique, and pose similar questions, in relation to such diverse areas of our social and cultural life as :- our churches, their theology and their praxis; our schools and the type of education they are imparting; our parents and their child rearing practices; our politicians and the political culture they are fostering; our businesses and the acquisitive capitalist values they are promoting; our media houses and the cultural penetration they are facilitating; our lawyers and judges and the type of “justice system” they are administering; and the list can go on and on.

Surely, the COVID-19 pause has provided us with an invaluable opportunity to carry out a root-and-branch examination of our society, with a view to determining where we have gone off-track, and to take urgent and immediate corrective action.

Let us therefore ensure that we make full use of this priceless opportunity. And let us do so by singling out virtually every area of our social and cultural life and asking ourselves the following two questions :- “Is this who we really are ?” and “How can we build back better?”