Bahamas
“We work to maintain paradise, but we can only observe others experiencing it.”
Over on Momentum, Alicia Wallace writes about the painful double standard for residents versus tourists in the Bahamas. As U.S. travelers have insisted on continuing with their vacation plans, they have brought more Covid-19 cases to the islands, exposing essential workers and straining a nation still recuperating from Hurricane Dorian:
The Bahamian dream, we joke, is to get a job at a mega-resort and build a duplex. That the common goals of individuals are not only tied to servitude but result in mere proximity to the middle-class experience speaks to our perceptions of our potential within this plantation-adjacent existence. We work to maintain paradise, but we can only observe others experiencing it…
Everyone knows the Bahamas is a beautiful destination. There is little understanding of our vulnerability as not only a small island developing state, but an archipelago with limited resources. Our health care system cannot take much more. While we are in crisis, people are worried about their vacation prospects.
