NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A regional civil society group has launched an international campaign urging the Bahamian government to grant a full pardon and expunge the criminal conviction of Shervandaze “Michael the Archangel” Smith, the man sentenced for damaging the Christopher Columbus statue outside Government House in October 2021.
The Caribbean Freedom Project, based in Trinidad and Tobago, announced the initiative last week, calling Smith’s act “a principled stand against colonial glorification” and urging The Bahamas to undertake a broader review of public monuments that celebrate what they call “racism, white supremacy, and colonial violence.”
In formal appeals delivered July 11 to Prime Minister Philip Davis and the Mercy Committee of The Bahamas, project directors Shabaka Kambon and Dr. Claudius Fergus asked authorities to view Smith’s actions through a historical and moral lens.
“Resisting the suppression, distortion, or minimisation of historical or ongoing genocides is a principled act grounded in the defence of truth, justice, and the dignity of survivors and their descendants,” the letter stated.
Since launching, the campaign has garnered support from nearly 50 organizations across the region and endorsements from several prominent Caribbean leaders, including Dr. Gaynel Curry, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; Ambassador Dr. June Soomer, former Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States; and Professor Verene Shepherd, Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Support has also come from Professor Sonjah Stanley Niaah, head of the UWI Centre for Reparations Research, and national reparations chairs including Antigua’s Ambassador Dorbrene Omarde and The Bahamas’ own Dr. Niambi Hall-Campbell Dean.
Dr. Hall-Campbell Dean, Chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, which partnered with the Freedom Project on the campaign, praised Smith’s act as a catalyst for overdue national introspection.
“Most people today understand that Columbus was not a hero—that he did not discover this land but invaded it, initiating a protracted period of genocide and slavery,” she said. “They understand that Shervandaze Smith did not dishonour The Bahamas or its people; but bravely forced us to confront uncomfortable truths about our past that we heedlessly overlook at our own peril.”
The Freedom Project has had success in similar campaigns. In 2018, it lobbied successfully for the renaming of a hall at UWI’s St. Augustine campus that bore the name of British colonialist Alfred Milner. In 2021, it petitioned Trinidad and Tobago’s parliament to remove symbols of colonial violence—leading to the removal of Columbus’ ships from the national Coat of Arms earlier this year.
In its letter, the Project argued that public funds in the Caribbean should not be used to “uncritically” maintain colonial monuments, describing them as “concrete abominations more reflective of power and politics than history.”
The group also pointed to growing public discontent within The Bahamas, noting that even Director of Communications Latrae Rahming has previously called for such monuments to be removed from places of prominence.
With Prime Minister Davis recently returning from the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in Jamaica, where reparatory justice was once again a key agenda item, campaign leaders say now is the time for action.
“This is the moment for Prime Minister Davis to join the likes of Mia Mottley, Gaston Browne, and Ralph Gonsalves,” the group said, “in leading with the moral clarity this new era demands.”
In 2022, Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, Latrae Rahming, confirmed the statue’s removal, noting it was placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Works and the Bahamas Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation. To date, there has been no public announcement on whether the statue will be relocated to a museum, re-erected, or permanently decommissioned.
