The first part o’ the chorus of the Barbados National Anthem says: “We loyal sons and daughters all/do hereby make it known.” Dat tuh me means let it be known dat we Bajans are all loyal sons and daughters.
Ya see we Bajans? Boy, I gine tell you something: we is some o’ the most interesting people in the world – and you want tuh know why I would say something like dat? Well, leh me tell ya.
Now we does cuss Freundel and he boys ’bout all the taxes and increases dat they put on pon the we Bajan people from the time duh get back in power. But you think dat it gine stop we from paying the same taxes we complaining ’bout? Oh no!
Bajans got bare mout! Bajans does cuss and carry on, we does holler out and keep bare noise ’bout evah single thing and then when it done, we does stan’ up in a long, long line fuh hours tuh pay the said same taxes dat we quarrelling and getting on stink ’bout.
I look in the paper the other day and see a host o’ people line up outside the Treasury Building waiting tuh pay the municipal solid waste tax. The very tax dat had evahbody bawling; but you think duh boycott it? Not dem. Duh line up in duh twos, waiting fuhevah, tuh pay it.
When David Thompson became Prime Minister some years back, he raise the licences and road tax. People do the dog but you shoulda see the lines outside the Licensing Authority ovah the past couple o’ weeks. You think dat is all? The SurePay people was stretched out wid Bajans waiting fuhevah tuh pay duh monthly utility bills dat keep gine up all the time nuh matter how hard ya try tuh switch off this, take off dat, unplug the next or even bathe in a basin o’ water tuh save water and a few cents.
You shoulda see people rushing and scrambling tuh beat the deadline tuh file the income tax papers before the time run out. But duh gine quarrel and carry on, holler out and keep bare noise ’bout evahthing and then gine still turn around and line up tuh pay the same bill duh carrying on ’bout.
I tell you dat Bajans interesting. Now Bajans would strike when a co-worker get fired and duh does strike when duh want more money. Duh does even strike fuh poor working conditions, but you would nevah see dem get together and lobby against the lot o’ taxes dat killing dem nor the supermarket prices dat keep going up.
Talking ’bout supermarket prices. Now if the supermarkets carry up duh prices a million times, Bajans gine fret, Bajans gine holler out fuh all kinds o’ murder. Duh gine curse stink; duh gine call the call-in programmes – Brass Tacks and Tell It Like It Is. Really and truly, duh gine do the dog, but then ya gine see dem going in tuh the same supermarkets, pick up the biggest trolley and wash it off in all kinds o’ groceries. Ya think we Bajans sweet?
You understand wha’ I mean now? We is a very special people. We are loyal sons and daughters. Which means dat nuh matter what happen, despite how we feel, how we cuss and carry on, we ain’t going nowhere; it is here we intend tuh stay and if it rise or fall, we ain’t leaving this land at all.
Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
