Bahamian athlete Devynne Charlton, while competing at the Millrose Games in New York, shattered the world record in the 60M hurdles with a time of 7.67 seconds. Kudos to Charlton who is now deserving of a major reward, but what is she getting from her country? A mere $10,000.00!
ATHLETE DEVYN CHARLTON
I thought about this for a while and came to the conclusion that if I ran that quickly and broke a world record, I would be expecting more than a mere $10,000.00 from my country as a gift. My thoughts ….
Now, I am aware that Charlton may not have been representing The Bahamas at the time per se, but she is a flag carrying Bahamian and should be celebrated as such. I feel Charlton deserved much more than that, especially bringing The Bahamas back to the sporting forefront after the lull caused by Steven Gardener’s injuries and Shaunae Miller-Uibo giving birth. No one else is out there right now breaking records.
Those are my thoughts and those thoughts are not new. I have always felt that our athletes are not celebrated, rewarded and treasured enough. Our Golden Girls and Olympian men were never given all that they should have been given in my opinion.
We seem to remember our athletes when they make us proud at the finish line, throw a Junkanoo parade when they return home, toss them a few dollars and then forget about them until the next time.
At one point I thought we were finally raising our standards when land was given to some of our Olympians, but later we learned that the land had no infrastructure and did nothing, but frustrate the athlete recipients. Whose grand idea was that?
We need a proper government sporting program in this country that susses out athletes from primary or high school levels and trains them after school until they are up to competitions like CARIFTA which serves as the greatest regional athletic tester.
After decades of having so much success in athletics, one would think we would have had such a program eons ago, with each world-class athlete having a success story attributed to the government of The Bahamas.
Instead, our success stories are attributed to Mommy and Daddy, pushing their children through private track clubs and then a coach at a university noticing those children, issuing a scholarship and the rest is history.
Most importantly, we should also have programs in place that reward our athletes MUCH MORE than what we give them now. Their feats make international history, therefore we cannot be “slapping up” on this end in terms of our gifts and rewards. They are our athletic heroes.
To the Tik-Toker who thought it was cute to commend Charlton and in the same breath call her a “nobody”, shame on you. You got a light tap on the wrist, but you should research what Bahamians do to people online when they “come for” their athletes.
Decades over, we have had a government Ministry called, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. I would love a full breakdown of what happens here, especially in the sports and culture units. We need more! More focus on athletes and of course more focus on what is really Bahamian culture, outside of Junkanoo.
My brother, Fred Ferguson, often talks about how more emphasis needs to be put on culture in this country from a government and national level. We tend to say he talks too much or he is always “calling out” someone, but I agree with him. No fault of the current Minister in charge, as he inherited the situation, but the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture really needs to be built out to do more.
MUSICIAN FRED FERGUSON
Musicians are left out in the cold and pretty much are forced to keep a “day job”, as they cannot afford to have music as a full time career here in The Bahamas. How can the Ministry of Culture help?
It can help by organizing itself as a separate Ministry dealing strictly with pushing the culture of this country to the world and nurturing our youth towards being culturalists – All the while taking care of our musicians, junkanooers and all those involved in various aspects of our country’s cultural expressions. How about that?
Music is my favorite pastime. All my family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues know that. I like music of all types and I like it loud, well balanced and played on sophisticated equipment and devices, in order to hear every instrument. Maybe in another life I will be a musician, but for now I will settle to listening to melodious sounds.
We have musicians in this country who hustle worse than a two bit corner boy in old harlem. I feel the greatest form of empathy for them as they struggle to push their talents and lock down gigs with very little backing. While on this subject of musicians and culture, what is the purpose and function of the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union? Is that entity properly assisting those who work in the cultural industry? I really want to know the answer to that question.
JUNKANOO IN MOTION
MUSICAL SIDEBAR: I am very disappointed in local singer, Sweet Emily, for public remarks she made recently towards the organizers of the Elevation Awards. She was nominated and seemed enraged because she was put in a category against other song artists. She seems to feel she should have just been awarded for her talent and not made to compete against other artists.
I found her remarks not only insulting to the organizers, but also belittling to the other song artists that were in her category. It appears as though she feels they were not good enough to be in a category with her. Yes, Sweet Emily, you are good, but there are female song artists in this country who are equally as good or even better. Plus, when last have you made a solid hit that others hear frequently and bob their heads to? END MUSICAL SIDEBAR
The bottom line is that we need our athletes and those who work in our cultural industry to be recognized, rewarded and treated as Bahamians who make a full contribution to this country using their trades and talents. Well that’s how I see it, anyway.
“AS I SEE IT” DISCLAIMER – The views and opinions represented in this column, “As I See It” belong to the columnist and do not necessarily represent those of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas. The views and opinions expressed in the column are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. This column is for informational purposes only.
