Roy Exum: The Dumbest Advisory Ever

Sunday, July 10, 2016
Roy Exum

Roy Exum

The Ministry of Environment and Housing in our beloved Bahamas just may have done the dumbest thing in the Caribbean since the days when we could actually identify the pirates. The haughty fools just issued a “travel advisory” for all Bahamians who are planning to visit the United States. Sure, we’ve a had tough couple of weeks but when a country that gets half of its $9 billion Gross National Product from mostly American tourist dollars, I’ll be doggone if I wouldn’t keep my rocks in my pocket instead of throwing them at its nearest neighbor.

All told, there are roughly 400,000 people who live on the 700 islands that make up the Caribbean paradise. Because 80 percent of the citizens are descendants of Africans, there is a huge “Black Lives Matter” sentiment but, my gracious, to issue a warning about traveling in the United States is a bit of a reach. Sadly, it is true:

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TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR BAHAMIANS TRAVELING TO THE UNITED STATES

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration has taken a note of the recent tensions in some American cities over shootings of young black males by police officers. At the commencement of the Independence holiday weekend, many Bahamians will no doubt use the opportunity to travel, in particular to destinations in the United States.

We wish to advise all Bahamians traveling to the US but especially to the affected cities to exercise appropriate caution generally. In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational and cooperate.

If there is any issue please allow consular offices for The Bahamas to deal with the issues. Do not get involved in political or other demonstrations under any circumstances and avoid crowds.

The Bahamas has consular offices in New York, Washington, Miami and Atlanta and honorary consuls in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago and Houston. Their addresses are on the Ministry's website - http://mofa.gov.bs

Pay attention to the public notices and news announcements in the city that you are visiting.

Be safe, enjoy the holiday weekend and be sensible.

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Other countries have issued ‘alerts’ in the past. Italy has a “Cal Fire” link to warn travelers of brush fires in California and both the United Kingdom and Australia warn DUI and drunk driving laws are harsher in the United States (The legal drinking age in Australia is 18.) The Germany Federal Foreign Office famously warned travelers to the USA several years ago: “Nude (sun) bathing and changing clothes at the beach stirs up public agitation and can lead to unpleasantness.”

But for the Bahama government to take a backwards slap at America by issuing what may be the first in history is downright rude and disgusting. Perhaps we should put a surcharge on the ship cruise industry, where 25 percent of the $37.8 billion (with a ‘b’) industry goes into the Caribbean. That way the Bahamians could give us “foreign aid” instead of the other way around. We could use it to fight terrorism.

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It may be the island of Barbados is getting ready to issue a warning about USA travel too. About a month ago the newspaper Barbados Today had a panicky story that read in part:

“Since the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks on New York by the Al Qaeda group, the United States has been continuously waging war at home and abroad against Islamic fundamentalism which, officials in Washington say, is fueling a brutal new form of terrorism that represents the single biggest threat to world peace and security today.

“The deadly early Sunday morning attack on party goers at the Pulse nightclub has been described by United States officials as an act of terrorism. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history and also the worst domestic terror attack since 9/11.”

It underscores the United States security threat posed by the ISIS group that seems to have taken over leadership of militant Islam from Al Qaeda, which has quietly faded into the background after American forces took out its leader Osama bin Laden a few years ago.”