by Rev. Pastor Vonnie E James, JP, Grenada Baptist Association
Let us gather with gratitude for those weaving Grenada’s heart — every neighbour, leader, and friend whose care binds our island’s soul. We shine when we reject division, embracing every person — especially women, whom I hold, after salvation, as God’s greatest gift.
God chose women to birth the incarnation, shield Moses, and aid Joshua’s spies, roles that echo through Grenada’s ~57,000 women, half our ~114,566 people (Worldometer, 2025). Some of us forget we have nieces, aunts, cousins, sisters, grandmothers, mothers — women who nurture us in life. Had our mothers chosen differently, we might not be here, yet too often we treat them with scant courtesy. Bigotry dims their divine light, and I am calling again to end it.
As a Womanist Theologian, a scholar-practitioner who applies theological reflection through the lens of Black women’s experiences and perspectives, particularly within the context of oppression and intersectional identities, I make no apologies. I challenge traditional theologies that often neglect or marginalise the voices and lived realities of Black women, in this case our Grenadian women, offering a unique perspective on religious and moral issues.
I served as a chaplain who led spiritual care at every Grenada Invitational from 2017 to 2019 and served at the 2024 CARIFTA Games. I am not an expert in debates, but my heart burns to end bigotry — name-calling, shaming, exclusion by gender, race, or identity. It must stop now. Bigotry wounds our churches, workplaces, online spaces, scarring Grenada with words that deny God’s image in us all.
Women like Hon. Emmalin Pierre face scorn, not for their work but for their gender. Dr Dianne Abel-Jeffrey endures the same; her leadership as Chair of the Grenada Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (GAPSS) responsible for organising the Intercol Games in Grenada shine with radiance. Officially known as the Inter-Secondary Schools’ Athletic Championships, this premier track and field competition for secondary schools has been a major part of Grenada’s sporting calendar for over 55 years. Yet, some are willing to dismiss her despite the 2025 Intercol games that shine like the sun during what would have been a winter of despair and discontent in Grenada’s current economic, political, and religious realities.
At CARIFTA, I counselled hearts stung by slurs; at the invitational, I lifted spirits shamed for their truth. As a Womanist Theologian, I see women — life-givers chosen for salvation’s story — as God’s gift, yet bigotry looks to silence them.
My faith blooms from women’s grace. While my father abandoned our family, my mother anchored me through storms. At Grenada Boys’ Secondary School (GBSS), women teachers poured wisdom into me when a man mocked my math, sneering that I would fail. My women colleagues, in one of the few times that GBSS accommodated women, were blessings to us. Former GBSS principal Victor Ashby succeeded in teaching many of us how to see and treat women.
Rev. Dr Marjorie Lewis, immediate past President and the first woman to be appointed to the Presidency of the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI) in Jamaica, did all in her powers to enable me to go to South Korea, in the first ever Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) defying prejudice. At The University of the West Indies, a woman lecturer was graceful to me while I was out of Jamaica for a month doing another course.
Women supervisors at the Ministry of Youth in Grenada showed kindness; church women shielded me when men schemed. In dark moments, depression, women listened. A woman edited my master’s course, and 98% of my women friends outshine me in wisdom — I celebrate that! My then wife, Oris James, taught equality is truth. At UTCWI, when I said, “This is my wife,” they urged, “Let her speak.” Oris became Oris James, her own flame. At a college, when I spoke for her, the dean said, “Hold. Let her answer.” We were equal. Showing bigotry falls when we honour every soul — nieces, aunts, cousins, sisters, grandmothers, mothers — whose magnanimous help us thrive in life itself.
Yet bigotry lingers, cruel and stubborn. Some condemn women like Pierre and Abel-Jeffrey, not for deeds but for being women, echoing taunts I have heard: “She’s out of place.” Men have grumbled [that] I favour women, but when I sought their help — academic aid, construction, estimates, electrical fixes, or care for my then wife Oris before she died — it dragged on, sometimes endlessly. Women, especially at the Grenada Baptist Association, acted with no fuss, deciding and doing what was needed, their resolve mirroring God’s trust in them. God chose women for His greatest works — Mary bore the incarnation, Jochebed and Miriam guarded Moses, Rahab hid Joshua’s spies — yet we often treat our women with discourtesy, forgetting their gift of life.
A 2025 X post sighed, “We strive, but hate breaks us,” words heavy with pain. Bigotry fuels anxiety, depression, silence, especially when some wield it for status.
Junia Pokrifka’s scholarship lights my way, showing women like Mary, Miriam, and Rahab as God’s agents, not outliers but blueprints of unity, dismantling prejudice with divine courage (Pokrifka, 2016). My Womanist lens, rooted in Grenadian faith, sees this in my mother’s grit, Oris’s voice, the Baptist Association’s strength. My study of the Epistle of James, through a Grenadian lens, calls bigotry a trial (peirasmos, James 1:2) demanding wisdom (sophia, James 1:5) and faith in action (pistis with ergon, James 2:17).
James 3:9 warns against cursing those made in God’s likeness, a charge I carry for Grenada’s healing. At CARIFTA, I prayed with souls mocked for their roots; at the invitational, I uplifted hearts shamed for their being. Men’s complaints about my “favour” towards women, fade against women’s steadfastness, like the Baptist Association’s care, reflecting God’s choice of women — our mothers, sisters, grandmothers — who make our very lives livable.
This is not about division — it is about ending prejudice that wounds us all. Bigotry betrays Grenada’s 90% Christian heart, where love should reign.
Picture Grenada in 2026: workshops in January training us to say, “Bigotry must end now,” echoing UTCWI’s call to let Oris speak. By February, a media surge — GBN TV, social platforms — could lift stories of unity, like my teachers’ care. Community hubs, chaplain-led, could empower bystanders to act, per James 2:14-17, growing island-wide to make division a memory.
At CARIFTA, I prayed under Psalm 91:4: “He will cover you with his feathers,” a promise for Grenada’s ~57,000 women — our nieces, aunts, cousins, sisters, grandmothers, mothers — and all our souls.
To those fueling bigotry: stop now. Your words scar, as one cried, “Hate breaks our soul.”
Media, share unity. Neighbours, heed the hurting. Bystanders, stand up, as James urges endurance (James 1:2-4). As a Womanist, shaped by my mother, Oris, and women God chose — Mary, Miriam, Rahab — I call for movement and a media campaign to end bigotry, forging a Grenada where every soul shines, equal and free, with courtesy for the women who carried us in life.
