Category Archives: Racism Watch

General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

UNC’s Anansi Moment

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 01, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThis is Holy Week for 1.7 billion Christians all over the world. It is a time when Christ overcame his detractors. Betrayed by one of his disciples and condemned to death, he rose triumphantly three days afterwards, which is celebrated as Easter Day.

Over the past week Dr. Keith Rowley’s detractors have berated him, condemned him to political death and sought to entomb him in a political grave. Rather than reject Vernella Alleyne Toppin’s venom unequivocally, the UNC hierarchy clings to the illusion that Dr. Rowley still has questions to answer. Our learned Prime Minister insists she accepts parts of Alleyene Toppin’s accusations against him.
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General T&T, Media, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

All ah we is one, right?

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All ah we is one, right?
By Reginald Dumas – March 31, 2015
Trini PeopleIn April 2014 Jaishima Leladharsingh said in an insensitive Facebook comment said that he was “glad (ANR) Robinson (had) gone forever.” Soon after, he launched a racial assault on Anthony McLeod, whom he didn’t know but who he obviously thought was black. McLeod’s photo in fact shows him a mixed race person. Leladharsingh was clearly misled by the name: he must have assumed that Anthony looked like Errol. The Minister should take note.
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Elections, General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Protest, Racism Watch, UNC, Videos

No Confidence Motion Against Rowley: “Waste of time”

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UNC ‘Supporters’ Outside Parliament
They turned out to picket the parliament in support of the prime minister, but many didn’t know why or what was taking place in the House.

Source: www.tv6tnt.com/news/PM-Supporters-297567081.html
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General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Race versus Ethnicity in T&T

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 19, 2015

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe recent firing of Board Member of the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) Jaishima Leladharsingh by the Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development Dt. Bhoe Tewarie speaks volumes as to the overt misunderstanding, albeit confusion, between race and ethnicity in Trinidad and Tobago.

At the outset, it must be stated quite categorically and equivocally that the public remarks by Mr. Leladharsingh via Facebook were not racist; instead, they were downright “chupid”, unacceptable, foolish, insane, insulting, irresponsible and ignorant to the nth degree.
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International, Racism Watch, USA

Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe’s Remarks to the Wellesley Council

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Remarks to Academic Council,
Wellesley College
Faculty Assembly Room
December 10, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAs one of the few black men on this faculty, I could not let this opportunity pass without offering a few remarks.

On Wednesday, April 19, 1989, a white middle class woman, a promising young investment banker at Salomon Brothers with a degree from Wellesley College and Yale University was raped as she was jogging through Central Park, New York. The suspects were five black and Latino young men, some with dubious school records from Harlem. The police coined a new term for what they were doing: they called it wilding, to describe the beating up of random victims. On May 29, about five weeks later, the New York Times wrote: “A 28-year investment banker, jogging through Central Park, was attacked by a group of teenagers. They kicked and beat her in the head with a pipe and raped her. The teenagers, who were from East Harlem, were quickly arrested.”
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Elections, General T&T, Media, PNM, Racism Watch, UNC

Satanic race-verses

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By Raffique Shah
December 07, 2014

Raffique Shah“This is PNM country. The black African king anointed by the blood of Jesus Christ has decreeded (sic) that is we time again. We Africans will be the masa (sic) and the rest ah allya (sic) will be we slaves. Starting today the terror shall begin for all allya coolie and chin who feel allya better than we. Today is just a flat tire.”

For those who are reading or hearing about it for the first time, the idiotic but poisonous verses quoted above, with the PNM insignia inserted above them, formed a “flyer” that some patrons at MovieTowne found stuck to their vehicle windscreens last Saturday night. In instances, the victims found their tyres deflated.
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General T&T, International, Law, Murder, Racism Watch, USA

Decoding racial tensions in United States

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 27, 2014
Updated: December 05, 2014

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe 24 November 2014 “no indictment for officer Wilson” verdict arrived at by the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, in regard to the shooting and killing of the unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown and the subsequent 3rd December “no indictment” verdict by a grand jury in Staten Island, New York City, in favor of a white police officer in the New York Police Department (NYPD), Daniel Pantaleo, for the “chokehold death” of another unarmed, forty-six year-old African-American man, Eric Garner, speak massive volumes as to the omnipresence of racial tensions/distrust between the Black community and white police officers across the United States.
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General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

Rowley’s attempt to woo Indian vote

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 10, 2014

Dr. Kwame NantambuOne of the least noticed events in the nature of the political beast in Trinidad and Tobago is the overt attempt by the leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and Opposition Leader in Parliament, Dr. Keith Rowley to woo the Indian vote in the upcoming 2015 general elections.

Indeed, one of Dr. Rowley’s first political-electoral actions was to mend fences with his former boss and former PNM leader Patrick Manning. Of course, no one was fooled by Dr. Rowley’s public farce, period. It tantamounted to a puerile exercise in futility on Dr. Rowley’s part.
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General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

The Responsibility of Intellectuals

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 16, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Saturday I attended the launch of Sat Maharaj: Hindu Civil Rights Leader of Trinidad and Tobago, a biography written by Kumar Mahabir. Although I did not read the book (it was not available at the time) I could see the enthusiasm and joy that emanated from an audience that had come to embrace Sat as their personal hero. I attended the function to congratulate Sat for having placed, via Mahabir, a partial account of his life.
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India, International, Media, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Update: African students recount racist attack in India

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African students from Noida recount mob attack horror


Niharika Lal, TNN
Oct 6, 2014, 03.15PM IST – timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The brutal attack on three African students at Rajiv Chowk Metro station hit headlines last week, reopening debates on racism experienced by Africans in the city. There is no official version yet of what the students – Yohan Koumba Daouda and Mapaga Yannis, both students of Amity Institute of Information Technology, and Guira, a first year BBA student of Sharda University – had done to incite the attack. One of the witnesses, who posted a video of the incident on YouTube, reportedly said that they were accused of ‘misbehaving with female passengers’ by making lewd comments at a woman on a train. Another report said that in the rush to board a train on the Yellow Line, one of the students was pushed aside. He apparently made a comment against Indians in protest, which then angered some passengers.
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