Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Over at Blogworld, Nicolette Bethel suggests that the upcoming elections here in the Bahamas have muffled public discussion of the bicentennial of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Interestingly, many of the points she makes are similar to those my students raised when we got sidetracked into a discussion on this topic during last weekend's class session. Bethel observes:

Perhaps this is why we aren’t discussing abolition and what it means for us. This should, of course, be a source of shame for us all. When the United Kingdom is making a big deal out of this year, and out of the anniversary that’s coming up on March 25, we’re strangely silent. Is it because people on the PLP are afraid to make too much out of it because of the long years of invoking slavery in election years (the running of Roots on ZNS, in 1977, 1982, and 1987, the references to Exodus) have rendered the concept of slavery impotent as a political tool? Is it because people in the FNM have rejected the concept of slavery because they believe that it alienates those people who are not the descendants of slaves?

You can read the rest of Bethel's post here.