Recently, upon viewing the photograph of the Australian streaker standing in front of the St George’s batsman on July 29, I imagined that had it been someone of less self-discipline, the situation could very easily have been a case of the bat connecting with his backside.

On July 30, a video then surfaces showing two or three young white ladies seemingly openly sniffing a powdered substance at Cup Match.

By the time many other Bermudians had viewed the same picture and video, there were multitudes that were now extremely irate; so much so that the calls coming into Kim Swan’s radio show on July 31 were predominantly about these transgressions and not about the game itself.

To put it mildly, Bermudians were livid at the thought of knowing white people were once again so disrespectful to our celebration of emancipation.

By Monday, August 1, it was revealed in the media that not only did the streaker do his deed as a prank after losing a bet, but even more irritating was that he would not be charged with any crime.

For many Bermudians, this appeared as a slap in the face that once again whites can do as they wish in our country and never once be touched by the law.

For many, these incidents served as a wake-up call. A wake-up call not just to the racial double standards in Bermuda, but more importantly to our own standards of how we celebrate emancipation. For far too many years and generations, the true meaning of the origins of Cup Match has never be taught. Subsequently, thousands of Bermudians of all stripes simply do not know or, seemingly, care that we must hold the event in the highest esteem.

On August 2, Dwayne Caines summed it up in the most eloquently succinct of ways via a social media post:

“In reflecting on how we now are having conversations around those who are disrespecting the game with poor behaviour, it made me ask a few questions.

On the day, do we do enough to highlight the event of emancipation? Should we at the game even for a minute observe a moment of silence for those who endured slavery on these isles and to the countless thousands that died in the middle passage?

Just imagine the sight of everyone at Cup Match standing to their feet in absolute silence, no Crown & Anchor, no selling, no movement just for a minute to pay tribute to our ancestors — a simple but powerful overture of respect.

Our guest will behave differently at Cup Match when:

• We treat the day with the respect and honour that it deserves

• We openly and publicly on the day do something that visibly honours our ancestors

• When we educate ourselves and then our guest on why we celebrate the day”

In my humble summation, far too many of us and our children do not know about the full history of the origins of Cup Match or even black Bermudian history in general.

We have now an opportunity for a learning moment that we must use to both improve and to evolve the celebration of our emancipation from here on forward.

In doing so, we set standards not only for ourselves and our visitors, but most importantly for the generations not yet born.

The blood and sacrifices of our ancestors demand nothing less.