By Raffique Shah
November 30, 2017
I am not optimistic over the Prime Minister’s promise to citizens that the near-riot that erupted for the umpteenth time last week in the Beetham community will not occur again.
Dr Keith Rowley said he has directed the heads of the Police Service and the Defence Force to ensure that law and order are enforced in Beetham and elsewhere in the country even as people exercise their right to protest. He called for those who used the recent disturbance to engage in criminal acts to be prosecuted, and acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams said he had a team of officers examining video footage of the mayhem to identify and arrest the culprits.
Now, I don’t know how many of you felt comforted by these pronouncements, but I wasn’t. And I feel certain that comedienne Nikki Crosby and other motorists who were trapped in their vehicles for several terrifying hours will not overcome the fear they experienced on the say-so of the PM and the CoP. If anything, the tens of thousands of commuters and motorists who must use those gateways to the capital city daily will suffer anxiety for a long time to come.
Bear in mind it was not the first time that certain elements in Beetham, always mindful of their strategic control of the main arteries into and out of Port of Spain, have literally severed the flow of traffic. On at least ten occasions in the past five years they have ignited blazing blockades, strewn debris, hurled missiles at hapless motorists, and sometimes simply used obstacles and guns to force motorists to stop, and rob them of valuables.
More ominously, it was not the first time they sent the forces of law and order into disarray if not full retreat, something that startled me when I first saw it on television a few years ago. In shock, I watched armed soldiers, seemingly disorganised and leaderless, take flight as a motley group of residents, among them women and children, advanced on the troops hurling abuse, bottles and rocks.
Contrary to all military protocols pertaining to dispersing or otherwise dealing with unruly mobs, those soldiers seemed to not know the standard drill in such situations. I scanned the video looking for the senior officer who would take charge of the volatile situation: there was none. The mob advanced and sent the soldiers scampering for safety, not the other way round, which is textbook military strategy and tactics.
That was some three years ago.
Last week’s pathetic display by the police and army instilled no confidence in the law-abiding public. I saw armed officers among the mob, leaderless again, in no particular formation. What if a few powerfully-stupid persons had grabbed some of those guns?
Something is wrong in and with the military forces, or maybe many things are. The police are a near-impotent. They abuse ordinary minor offenders, beat them to pulp. But when the thugs from crime-ridden districts stand up to them, \attack them, they put their tails between their legs and flee.
And these are the agencies the PM is relying on to rescue the nation from the clutches of the criminals embedded in Beetham and almost everywhere else across the country?
My training in warfare may have been a zillion years ago (51 years, actually), but there are some fundamentals in military science that apply for all times. Dealing with a hostile, unruly mob is one. It involves the unit assigned to restore order staying in a tight formation, the leader calling on the mob to disperse, and if the riotous conduct continues, the use of tear gas. If that fails, the officer orders random riflemen to fire single shots at specific targets, the perceived instigators, until order is restored.
The above may come across as harsh, but it is the standard drill to deal with riots-which is what happened in Beetham last week. In fact, after peace was said to have been restored, there were random attacks against buses and other vehicles using the Priority Bus Route. Are we going to continue to expose law-abiding motorists and commuters to such threats to their lives when the immediate solution lies in “taking out” the criminal elements?
I can hear the sociologists and pacifists baying for my blood (yeah, shoot Shah instead!), talking about how many good citizens dwell in Beetham and similar crime-infested communities. I know that, I’m all for rescuing the good people, especially the children, from the crime-spiral that dogs their lives daily, intent on sucking them into the vortex of lawlessness.
I have focussed on Beetham only because it’s the most immediate threat to public safety. I apply similar zero-tolerance measures to scores of other communities that believe they have the right to block other roads with blazing tyres and other debris to grab government’s attention.
Yes, all citizens have the right to protest, to strike, to peacefully picket, and so on. But for far too long we have allowed protestors to get away with unbridled lawlessness, and in the case of Beetham, endanger the lives of innocent people.
Lock them up, I say. And if they persist, shoot the leaders and instigators. Bet we’d see a dramatic drop, if not complete elimination, of such unacceptable behavior.
If crime were not the deadly serious issue it is in Trinidad and Tobago, I would be laughing at the liberalist nonsense regurgitated in this and other threads in specific defense of African criminality in the country.
The half baked, generic text book arguments that attempt to explain if not defend Afro-Trinbagonian criminality, particularly of its youth, in the context of social injustices meted out to that group by both the State and the wider Society resulting in its members being “stigmatized”, “marginalized”, “alienated”, and more outrageously, “victimized” and “oppressed” serve no useful purpose other than to promote and encourage the sense of entitlement that these miscreants already harbour about Society owing them something, and absolving them from taking responsibility for their own actions and their own welfare.
The first question that came to my mind on reading that foolishness about victimization, marginalization, alienation and oppression was, “why?” Why would the independent State of Trinidad and Tobago ruled from its inception almost exclusively by strong willed nationalist, predominantly African governments that draw their popular support from the African component of the country’s cosmopolitan population, preside, condone, encourage, if not institute (according to you apologists) policies that “marginalize” and “alienate” that ethnic support base.
More interestingly, why would those strong willed, predominantly African led governments allow their ethnic support base to be “victimized” and “oppressed” by the wider society?
Assuming the obfuscation that would be forthcoming in answer to the above I would like to further ask the following:
Can any of the apologists for Afro-Trinbagonian criminality identify any particular or specific policy, action (executive or otherwise) or programme (educational, vocational, entrepreneurial fiscal or otherwise) that specifically debarred Afro-Trinbagonians from participation, or that targeted any of the other ethnic groups for special treatment that was not available to the Afro-Trinbagonian and which could account for the feelings of “marginalization”, “alienatation”, “victimization” and “oppression” that you apologists claim.
Further, can any of the apologists explain or account for the large numbers of Afro-Trinbagonians who have made successes of their lives? We have Afro-Trinbagonians doctors, lawyers, engineers, many other professionalss and businessmen who came out of the same poverty and depressed areas who today hold prominent positions in Society. Are the apologists contending that those Afro-Trinbagonians who have achieved success were given special treatment or consideration not afforded to the maurading gangs of violent criminals that stalk the land today?
Leanna would have us accept that the State and the wider society have failed the Afro-Trinbagonian community and therefore are under obligation to help “young African males”. She assumes that the Professor Selwyn Ryan Committee report on Lost Youth is the ‘real deal’. Well, I have no faith in that latset Gospel by Professor Ryan, I do not accept his methodology, I do not accept his conclusions and I do not trust his motives because in my view, as in the view of many others, the goodly Professor, is just another apologist.
The mere fact that the initial mandate of his Cabinet appointed committee which was to explore “the crisis afflicting young Afro males” was varied by him to include exploration of the connection between chutney music, alcohol abuse and domestic violence within the IndoTrinidadian community, which although serious in a different context, is an entirely different issue to the senseless and reckless random, violent, bloody crime of Afro-Trinbagonians that has Society under siege.
But putting aside the Gospel on Crime according to Professor Ryan’s, why is it the responsibility of the State to to mollycoddle “young African males”?
The State does not mollycoddle any other ethnic group, so why “young African males”?
What makes the “young African male” more at risk than any other young male?
Where does this sense of Afro-Trinbagonian entitlement come from? Why is there this perception that the Afro-Trinbagonian community, particularly its “young males” is owed by Society?
What is the genesis of this perceived debt which has been on the national ledeger for the last sixty years and which from all appearances and expectations will and should never be retired, always to hang like an albatross around the necks of tax-paying citizens even as these Afro-Trinbagonian criminals go about collecting on thisperceived debt, using the most foul, violent and murderous means.
As regards the term “Crime Hot Spot that ruffles the feathers of the Blog Apologists, look at what is happenning today. Bus drivers have stated their intention not to stop for or pick up passesngers in the Beetham/Sealots area. Workmen from WASA, T&TEC, Flow, Digicel, TSTT have adopted the same position not only in respect of Beetham,/Sealots but Laventille/Morvant and other crime hotspots as well.
Crime is not confined to the Beetham/Sealots/Laventille/Morvant areas. There are crime hotspots throughout the country. The exporting of criminal activity from PNM strongholds and the proliferation of criminal hosting communities across the length and breadth of the country are no accident and must be viewed in the context of the PNM’s long standing practice of using the State’s housing development programmes to counter Indo-Opposition strength in non PNM constituencies and to generally weaken and dilute, or as Sat Maharaj accuses, to “douglarize and pollute” the Indo bloodline with the goal of perpetuating Afro dominated PNM rule.
Of course while that strategy has failed (although it has not been abandoned) for several reasons, not the least of which is the gangland orgy of self destruction being played out in the PNM heartland that has reduced the African group to a mere 37 percent of the national population from its previous dominant position, housing developments like La Horquetta, Malabar, Maloney (the ones that immediately come to mind) originally populated with Laventille/Morvant/East Port of Spain undesirables have turned out to be criminal hosting communities and successful launching pads for Afro-Trinbagonian criminal activity in the North-Eastern part of the country, with Cashew Gardens and Edinburg 500 as another springboard in Central where the residents of those and other PNM enclaves in traditional UNC constituencies provide overnight or temporary residence and sanctuary to their criminal kith and kin from the PNM heartland.
And that scenario has played itself out throughout the land, central and South Trinidad being the preferred targets for the obvious reason: Plenty rich Indians.
While I agree that long term holistic measures are required to address crime, we simply cannot let the apologists for crime in this country con us into trying to treat with the historical, social, cultural, economic and psychological causes of crime while downplaying the most relevant and obvious cause, that of the criminals’ natural and inherent predisposition to wrong-doing and ouitright evil, the only solution to which in the immediate short term is a violent one as proposed by TnT Monitor.
What does poverty have to do with the the law of the jungle, predators roaming and pouncing on the unwary, violently invading the homes of their own economically deprived neighbours not to steal food to eat or to steal money to buy food to eat, but to rape bludgeon and slit people’s throats or to evict them and occupy their homes?
What do poor living conditions have to do with snatching people off the streets and animalistic acts of rape?
Coldly calculated violent homicidal acts are not done as a reaction to economic deprivation and we must wonder whether putting someone in a nicer house to live would rehabilitate or redeem such murderous callousness?
Likewise, I do not buy into the foolishness that providing job opportunities for the criminally inclined will turn them away from crime and violence.. We have seen that is simply not so. The evidence assaults our sensitivities every day. In any event it is not the responsibility of government to provide jobs for people so as to keep them out of crime. People have to take responsibilitgy for themselves and the well being of their families.
While the Society is distracted by the apologists into studying crime and analyzing it into the ground, criminals ent studying the Government or the Society at large; they just keep on committing bolder and more outrageous acts.
We cannot wait for those long term holistic measures to bear fruit as they will not yield the immediate results that our deteriorating crime situation demands. While those initiatives may benefit the present day generation of youth, presumably those currently under the age of twelve, and lure them away from a life of crime, its chances of making any dent on the older generation of bandits, drug dealers and kidnappers who are currently terrorizing the law abiding majority are practically nil.
Not only that, but given the culture and nature of gangland membership there is always a search for new and younger recruits, so as long as the current players are around, they will exert an undermining influence on preventive and rehabilitative strategies.
What we need therefore is drastic action in the immediate to short term that would obliterate criminals and scare the hell out of would be criminals.
Jed, keep it short nah Bud. Who have time to read all that?!
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02530/Condoleezza_Rice__2530330k.jpg
Jed, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, Bud. It all boils down to SEX and SEXUAL PROWESS. Maybe dem Bright Bright Brothers here can explain the ‘Recessive Gene’ thing… But, I dealing with ‘Size’ today.
The game is to keep ‘we’ poor at all cost (Imagine a Big Bank account and a big Bamboo too), allyuh will go nuts…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyEp3JhtBsE
Well, let meh go see who got caught up in these ongoing SEX scandals today.
Everything revolves around the woman in this game, Bud.
“Lock them up, I say. And if they persist, shoot the leaders and instigators. Bet we’d see a dramatic drop, if not complete elimination, of such unacceptable behavior.”
Oh please, Mr. Shah.
Not when we have an Indian Cartel controlling this government…
Not when MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS are used as voting banks and have to live with the COBO and PIGS of the dumps IN THE 3RD WEALTHIEST NATION IN THE AMERICAS…
Big Black Boy calling allyuh ‘FRIEND’ while allyuh siphon off the wealth of the nation and GRIN in we face.. And placing his daughter as a senator too. Stuppes.. Go to hell and take Sinanan with you..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHEPoMNP0I
Mr. Achong, an honest and frank assessment of the topic at hand, but i’m afraid you just opened up yourself to the usual “blind” responses to those who Monopolise this Blog……In anticipation of said responses,i eagerly await my daily dose of Bewilderment and Humor.Somewhat like a Shakespaerean Play. SAD. SAD.
“JED ACHE-IN -ONG” The Ancients wrote that Prayers should be short and Telling, you long rolling Prayer, is all it is , rolling into the wind. It seems that you live in a different world, not knowing or comprehending the Societal make up , you feel threatened, as you or your Family continue to reap havoc with the purchasing power of the termed criminal blacks. you are what is really wrong with Trinidad, Criminals with access to publish their sickly opinions, the 1%ters. Brother Shah, i sympathies with you, your present sickness can, and will play havoc on how your thinking, as the brain cells diminished. Like your Nemesis Mr BASDEO PANDAY, said in a resent interview, he had to read the Ancient books to wean himself from Hate, he went on to say, today, he is a changed man, a new soul, and yes, he looks the part. Do away with the man made science of WAR, and cultivate PEACE in this waning juncture of your life, just like LIFE? Crime also have a beginning, also an end.
“just like LIFE? Crime also have a beginning, also an end”.
There will be no end as long as we have backward thinking apologists for crime like you around.
Yes, you say I am what is wrong with Trinidad and Tobago because I complain and I condemn criminals and hate their savage, murderous crimes. Well, I make no apologies for that to you or anyone else with your blackward, skewed,criminal sympathizing mentality incapable as it is of understanding that while we are supposed to learn from history we are not expected to be trapped in or enslaved by it which is precisely what has happened to you and the retinue of apologists for African underachievement in Trinidad and Tobago.
Yes, Cooper, continue in that vein. Continue expecting that history can be undone or rewritten to ignore the pivotal role played by Africans in the enslavement of Africans. Close your eyes to the fact that if given the opportunity in 2017, Africans in Africa would sell their own into slavery all over again, although this time around there would be far fewer purchasers.
Jed Achong said, “Continue expecting that history can be undone or rewritten to ignore the pivotal role played by Africans in the enslavement of Africans. Close your eyes to the fact that if given the opportunity in 2017, Africans in Africa would sell their own into slavery all over again, although this time around there would be far fewer purchasers.”
Although the motive for stating this is malicious and disingenuous, it is somewhat true. I doubt the writer understands the reason for this though. Anyhow, some people do not care about “Black on Black crime” which, for the most part, affects people within the African community. They are only bothered by the inconvenience of it or the chance that others may be affected.
‘Something is wrong in and with the military forces, or maybe many things are. The police are a near-impotent’. To support your point how can a woman detainee elude the police from ‘high’ security measures with the aid of a security personnel and for what; love.
Thoroughly and genuinely agree with this article. Some bloggers begin the stereotyping as soon as locations are identified and hence the sidetracking of issues. You did not mention any race and you put forward your expertise in security measures that ought to be employed.
Nationally, crime has got totally out of hand and when we read what precipitates some of these crimes our own impotence is shown when we choose to sit and do nothing until it hits home. No one is left unscathed in this small island of ours.
In the metropolitan countries the methodology you described to dispersing unruly crowds is actually implemented in those countries. The only problem is we in T&T don’t follow up on the sociological aspects as those countries do especially in rehabilitation.
Jed is correct when he states, “What does poverty have to do with the law of the jungle, predators roaming and pouncing on the unwary….., We have so many instances right here whereby many who were poor learned to scrape the bottom of the barrel and live a well balanced life honestly. There are exceptions where some choose to commit white colour crimes to climb the totem pole fast. They soon realize that some one amongst their kin would pay the price later on – “the creed of today becomes the deed of tomorrow”.
Leadership is required here especially from the government to cohere institutions, agencies and voluntary groups in collating data with the purpose of putting forward co-ordinated recommendations and resolving issues at hand even if a ‘lock down’ is required at some point. What may be draconian for some is what may be required a precursor to reinstate the order of civility in society.
Raffique seems to be saying that the use of deadly force is justified in circumstances where people’s lives and property are at risk. Most people would accept this in the immediacy of a situation. After that, then what?
The Beetham situation is a manifestation of how the wider society puts up with poor governance. Most motorists who drive past that area are aware of the deplorable conditions that exist there. Such conditions have been exploited for votes and tolerated by all and sundry. The wider society is not innocent as it pertains to how we address our social ills. At the same time, I fault the residents of the Beetham for not engaging in a sustainable campaign for the relocation of the dump and the general improvement of the community. There was a certain amount of activism around the conditions in that area and politicians have talked about moving the dump. That has not happened, and, their wider socio-economic concerns have not been adequately addressed.
The drug dealers have taken control of the community, providing support to some residents at the expense of further criminality. The government and other social sectors are either unwilling or incapable of addressing the long-term concerns of the Beetham. They also seem unwilling to legalise some illegal drugs, which would make more profits for the already wealthy in society (something I am certain they will be happy about), while reducing the dependency on gang activities. Do successive governments believe that the living conditions for most residents in the Beetham are acceptable? What does the wider society think? It seems as though we have a society that is unwilling to address our historical wrongs. We accept that some people were settled and huddled in communities with little space for agriculture; the best agricultural lands were settled by indentured servants who were compensated with land and otherwise allowed to remain on fertile lands. We fail to appreciate that most people in such communities like the Beetham are limited in their earning capacity and are most often reliant on low paying jobs which do not allow them to change their living conditions. That is an untenable situation that calls for social activism on the part of the residents and all others who are similarly aware.
Most citizens resist reflecting on history to help explain our present predicament and are generally unsupportive of programmes to help engender pride and respect in people in general. Further, the education system does not encourage people to address the racist attitudes that set in during slavery which was further exacerbated by the racist caste mentality encouraged via acceptance of Brahminism under the umbrella of Hinduism. Because of this lack of understanding of history, most people in depressed communities remain unable to understand their circumstances and are thus unable to articulate a way forward. This is one of the flaws in our education system—it does not educate people towards addressing the inequities in the society. This lack of education is the reason the ground remains fertile for racists to spew their garbage. The dump is, therefore, not only in the Beetham, but in the hearts and minds of many citizens. Some call reasoned explanations a “defence of African criminality in the country.” This line seeks to brand explanations for our predicament as defending wrongdoing. This only means that ones who are engaging the discussions with this mind-set have hardened views and are not interested in reasoning or learning. Using words like “defending criminals” and “apologists” are also lame scare tactics when seeking a platform for racist diatribe.
The people with the greatest sense of entitlement in the country are certain members of the business community who behave as though it is their manifest destiny to rape the state’s oil wealth. This is followed by another group of people with a caste-based sense of superiority, who would settle for nothing less than Africans accepting their “low caste status” to furnish their sense of entitlement. The PNM government never pursued justice for the ultimate victims of slavery and colonialism. They allow the disenfranchisement of former slaves and their descendants to continue. The PNM has side-lined African activists who were explaining the need to address the cultural malaise of Africans.
Not every white person is wealthy, but they live comfortably off their communal ties, and racism which places them ahead of others in businesses. It has been reported that several are involved in illegal drugs transhipment, where some of the drugs remain for the local market. Because of their wealth and political clout, their crimes affects the whole society. They remain by and large the invisible hands that shape the politics and they benefit the most from the treasury. Most Indians are not wealthy either, but many who are, have gotten their head-start within their communities where they either sold off agricultural lands, or robbed other Indians of theirs. The legal fraternity is littered with cases of poor Indians who could not read or write, affixing their thumb prints to documents they could not understand and losing estates. Let’s not talk about those who were/are large importers of fruits and other foodstuff in containers that were lined with marijuana and cocaine. Indian criminality mostly affects other Indians and Africans. Africans do not have such a base of resources to exploit to become wealthy. Many choose to emulate others and exploit other Africans for financial gains.
Africans who have not revisited history towards developing a better sense of identity, together with a resistance to colonial culture that is inherently anti-African, must fight against tremendous odds to become materially successful. They struggle with self-doubt and lack of confidence, and if they overcome that, they must fight racism on every front. Unaddressed racism makes it difficult for Africans to succeed economically. Despite the odds, some Africans have become financially successful. Racism makes poor Africans the soft targets when dealing with crime. The political bandits and other white-collar criminals who are behind most other crimes, like the importation of drugs and guns, remain either undetected or untouched.
African criminality mostly affects other Africans. It stands to reason that the people in the most deprived communities, who do not have access to agricultural land and employment, which could offer an escape from poverty, remain heavily dependent on the state to address their concerns. They are the ones who would most likely be the foot soldiers of other criminals and resort to violent protests. Having said all of this, no government would become too heavy-handed when dealing with Beetham residents. They are aware that this is a situation that they could exploit for votes. If PNM gets heavy-handed, then the UNC would object and use some of my arguments solely for the purpose of gaining political mileage. There is no political will to do the right thing. But, all is not lost: African and Black history in general have the means to cure racists of their sickness; it can unite people since all people share a common Black, African ancestry. With such an awakening, more people will work for our common good.
JustRight says “all is not lost: African and Black history in general have the means to cure racists of their sickness; it can unite people since all people share a common Black, African ancestry.
I must ask JustRight, why do you label as racist, criticism that does not allege inferiority of the African race, but simply raises legitimate and factual issues about the behaviour of the Afro-Trinbagonian that frightens the law abiding majority in Trinidad and Tobago?
And I must ask as well, what the hell does Black history have to do with the localized behaviour of a local group whose local ancestors barely experienced the horrors of slavery.
While we may share a common Black African ancestry, as you remind us, (although the relevance of that piece of drivel in the context of today’s academic and economic underperformance and criminality of the Trinbagonian descendants of the African enslavement of Africans Trade, popularly referred to as the Atlantic Slave Trade, amuses the hell out of me), I say, thank God the majority of us have evolved beyond those primitive ancestral origins. I know for a fact that I have, as did several generations of my foreparents, and I, in turn have ensured that my progeny will continue on that progressive path of enlightenment.
It’s all well and good to be mindful and knowledgeable of one’s history, but unless for academic purposes and armchair discussions, tell me, what the hell useful purpose does it serve an individual, and worse yet our entire Society, to be psychologically entrapped by the tragedy of the African enslavement of Africans to the point where personal progress and enlightenment and worse yet our national development is stultified by it?
JustRight continues, “With such an awakening, more people will work for our common good”…..
“Awakening”, you say? Man, when people wake up they do just that: they wake up and get on with the reality of life and its challenges; they do not continue to live in the nightmare from which they have just awoken.
Orl yuh apologists wake up but orl yuh still living in de past, using it to justify the present. Let’s see how much of the future you will continue to blame on the past.
Get it through orl yuh half educated brains..THE PAST IS THE PAST…LEAVE IT THERE AND MOVE ON.
JustRight continues, “I fault the residents of the Beetham for not engaging in a sustainable campaign for the relocation of the dump and the general improvement of the community”.
Remove the dump, you say? Is a scavenger uprising you want to see now?
The Beetham and Sealots residents would burn the capital city to the ground if the Dump were closed down. Half ah dem would dead if deprived of that air they breathe every day. It sustains them. You don’t see what happens to the people living West of the Dump when fires are maliciously set? We suffer all kinds of respiratory effects from those fires but the Beetham/Sealots scavengers function like normal, they even cooking and selling food inside the dump.
As for “engaging in a sustainable campaign” they have done just that; they have engaged in a sustainable campaign of violent crime and murder against the wider Society including their very own.
JustRight continues, “The Beetham situation is a manifestation of how the wider society puts up with poor governance”.
Man, the entire society suffers from poor governance but we are not terrorizing anybody; we are not slitting people’s throats to highlight poor governance; we simply vote the poor performing sh*t-hounds (PNM) out of office when the time comes, but those Beetham/Sealots sufferers continue to vote for those same poor performing sh*t-hounds, time and time again, making sure they keep them in power.
JustRight continues, “What does the wider society think? It seems as though we have a society that is unwilling to address our historical wrongs. We accept that some people were settled and huddled in communities with little space for agriculture; the best agricultural lands were settled by indentured servants who were compensated with land and otherwise allowed to remain on fertile lands”.
We, average law abiding citizens, whatever our ethnicity and economic status CANNOT address far less reverse historical wrongs. What you want the descendants of the Indentured to do? Give away their land? You would give away yours, JustRight?
Having said that, let me ask this: Why have the political representatives of the victims of historical wrongs, who have literally controlled this country for most of the last 60 years, those who have been wining on Balisiers, why have they not sought to reverse those perceived historical wrongs?
So JustRight, don’t come to slit our throats, don’t come to slit the throats of hardworking law abiding citizens, don’t come to rape our young and elderly. You are doing that to the wrong people.
More to come if I am allowed by the Apologists.
wish there was an edit feature here to edit mistakes after posting
I’ll just assume for now that you have not understood what I explained.
It is racist to attempt to negatively stereotype a race of people, wherever they are from.
You said, “And I must ask as well, what the hell does Black history have to do with the localized behaviour of a local group whose local ancestors barely experienced the horrors of slavery.”
Assuming that you are historically unaware, let me inform you that although Trinidad itself only experienced slavery for just over half a century, our ancestors—many of them who were dragged here by their enslavers coming to reap the benefits offered by the Spanish with their Cedula of Population—were generational sufferers many times over of the slavery system. This is a fact that many conveniently forget or purposely omit. Further, the legacies of the racist institutions and mindsets that have been maintained since then continue to have an effect today. So even if someone experienced slavery for one day, the institutionalized anti-African biases would certainly have a negative effect on his descendants.
Black people in general share commonalities in terms or perception and treatment. A localized group of people, in this case the people of the Beetham, had their experiences shaped by forces beyond their control, and as such, they should examine history to understand how and why they ended up where they are. Of course, they would also have to look at the poor choices that they made as well. How you ended up where you are and the racism that resulted are due to what happened in the past that negatively impacted all people, but more so, Africans. If your parents were not paid for labour or were denied land by which they could have carved out an alternative means of employment, then they are limited in what they could have passed on to you. If their business were shut down because the colonial overseers wanted Africans to return to the land to work cheaply, or they brought in another group of people to undermine your collective bargaining power for better wages etc., then that affected the material legacy your family could have left you. Our present circumstances are because of historical as well as contemporary circumstances.
Contrary to what you believe, Africans, even in Trinidad and Tobago, who have just a bit of historical understanding perform better. They are not the ones who end up in jail for committing murder, theft, and other such crimes. Perhaps though, they may end up in prison while protesting the ills in society or the government. Certainly, persons like Butler, Elma Francois, George Weekes and Makandal Daaga would have attested to this. Beyond this, people who are conscious of our past all the way back to our common ancestors are usually humane towards all our fellowman. History is always relevant.
You said, “I say, thank God the majority of us have evolved beyond those primitive ancestral origins.”
Wrong again! Despite our development for material attachments and technology, some of which in the present circumstances can be useful, in terms of civility and respect for all of nature, we have in fact DEVOLVED from our primitive hunter-gatherer ancestors. Continuing in the same vein will not lead to enlightenment.
You said, “Get it through orl yuh half educated brains..THE PAST IS THE PAST…LEAVE IT THERE AND MOVE ON.”
Fortunately, regardless of how much people claim that we should leave our past behind, we carry it with us all the time, although many are unconscious of that fact. We can choose what aspects of the past to shape our behaviours, as most people often do. For example, a racist simply chooses an ignorant and arrogant aspect of the past to shape his present. Our environment and our bodies, which includes our brains, contain our history. For better or worse we carry our past with us.
You said, “Man, the entire society suffers from poor governance but we are not terrorizing anybody…”
Yes, I agree that the entire society is suffering from poor governance. But some people use their influence and wealth to get away with wrongdoing. They are terrorising people too! The people who claim to be better than ordinary folks are often the most destructive people in society. They lie, cheat, evade taxes, pay bribes, import illegal drugs and guns, finance corrupt politicians to protect their dirty profits or help to cover up the corruption at a price. They generally contribute to the impoverishment of others with their crimes affecting far more people; they just use other means to slit people’s throats.
You said, “We, average law abiding citizens, whatever our ethnicity and economic status CANNOT address far less reverse historical wrongs. What you want the descendants of the Indentured to do?”
By learning about the causes of the decadence in society, we can empathise with the less fortunate. We can listen more to their plight and support measures that can empower them. We can lobby for better governance—vote out the current slate of government and opposition politicians without fear of losing some short-term racial or other advantage. We can strive to be more decent citizens. We should also support the call for reparations.
The PNM was never interested in addressing historical wrongs. They accepted a kind of fake independence. They never lobbied for Britain to compensate former slaves and their descendants for all the brutality and free labour that they demanded in their former colonies. Britain compensated the planters for loss of slaves during emancipation while the former slaves were told they had to work for free for an additional six years (decreasing to four) to further compensate the planters. PNM allowed the inequities in society to continue; perhaps they may have known that Britain and their allies would have done all in their power to remove them from leadership (regime change) if they ever tried to redress colonial wrongs.
If one considers history all the way back to our common ancestry to be drivel, then one is limited in what one can learn, disrespecting all our ancestors who have suffered, struggled and sacrificed for them. One would be unable to activate useful regions of his brain.
“I’ll just assume for now that you have not understood what I explained. It is racist to attempt to negatively stereotype a race of people, wherever they are from”.
I think you are the one not understanding, probably because of your excessive and obsessive Afrocentrism. I have not read every single contribution here but you are interpreting simple criticism of Afro-Trinbagonian criminals as an attack on the entire race, but that is not so.
The reason why the focus is on Afro-Trinbagonian criminals is simply because they commit a highly disproportionate percentage of the violent crime.
Whatever the reasons, be they historical, political or whatever else the apologist care to put forward is of little comfort and significance in the overall scheme of things.
Trying to make people like Jonjo, TnT Monitor and me understand that we are being attacked by Afro-Trinbagonian criminals because of historical injustices and wrongs or trying to make us empathize with the mindset of the Afro-Trinbagonian criminal is not going to stop the attacks.
I don’t want to understand why someone is killing me, moreso, if I have no control over the reason why he is killing me, and it is for that reason, I say that the long, winding, boring and mentally taxing journey that you apologists take us on every time we criticize or condemn an Afro-Trinbagonian criminal or Afro-Trinbagonian criminality is pointless and heartless.
Are you apologists supporting what Cooper said that people like me just have to accept and live with Afro-Trinbagonian criminality and on top of that we must just shut up?
“PNM allowed the inequities in society to continue; perhaps they may have known that Britain and their allies would have done all in their power to remove them from leadership (regime change) if they ever tried to redress colonial wrongs”.
And look who tried to remove the PNM in 1970.
Jed Achong asked, “And look who tried to remove the PNM in 1970.”
African people, who were more historically and socially aware, were protesting, among other things, the inequities in the society in 1970. They were protesting the PNM government, which is an Afro-based government. As I previously said, the PNM did not show an interest in addressing the colonial legacy of racism and other inequities.
JustRight,”Despite the odds, some Africans have become financially successful”.
And that statement says a lot.
Many others who remain poor, even in the Beetham/Sealots and Laventille/Morvant ghettos live decent, law abiding, hard-working, honest lives.
They have not regressed or devolved into the primordial savagery of the corridor degenerates.
Fitzgerald Hinds is from Laventille. Former Chief Justice Clinton Bernard was from “Behind de Bridge and many many others whose names escape me right now. Former US Ambassador (from Obama’s time)John Estrada ..born and bred Laventillian ..All of them success stories of which every Trinbagonian can be proud …Even Marlene MacDonald ….well leh we doh jump de gun on dat one yet .. borderline case.
Fact is if some can do it why not the rest?
You asked: “Fact is if some can do it why not the rest?”
Why? For the same reason some can understand what I have explained and some, including you, cannot. All people are at different stages of ‘development’ so all people do not grasp the same things at the same time. All people are not similarly motivated. Education that is geared towards self-development, which includes addressing social issues, provides the means for all people to be mindful and respectful of each other regardless of how much they understand or how motivated they are. Addressing racism, colorism, sexism and other social ills should be part of general education.
People should not have to struggle against disadvantages while others are given a pass based on racism, classism, sexism etc. to ‘succeed’. That wastes too much time and denies too many people. We should work at making the society more equitable.
I would not want anyone to emulate some of the people you have mentioned as examples of better. Some are bandits who really do not care about the wellbeing of others, one of them getting to the top position in the U.S. only to continue illegal regime change in wars that killed and continue to kill countless people. No thanks.
“You asked: “Fact is if some can do it why not the rest?”
Why? For the same reason some can understand what I have explained and some, including you, cannot”.
I understand what you are saying but I think it is backward in every meaning of the word and I do not accept it as being relevant in a practical sense to putting a stop to Afro-Trinbagonian criminality.
You are wasting time with misrepresentations.
You commented on a point that I made which was, “Despite the odds, some Africans have become financially successful”. You then proceeded to name a few Black people who were financially successful, followed by the question, “Fact is if some can do it why not the rest?”
I replied, “Why? For the same reason some can understand what I have explained and some, including you, cannot. All people are at different stages of ‘development’ so all people do not grasp the same things at the same time. All people are not similarly motivated.” My response was an attempt to explain why all poor Africans do not follow the examples of those you highlighted.
My response is also true for people of other races. There are poor people of every race who do not follow the examples of the few who are wealthy within their racial group for the same reasons. All of them—the rich and the poor—commit crimes. The nature of the crimes between the two classes would differ because of their economic circumstances.
As I previously stated, most of the violent crimes committed by Africans are against other Africans. This should at least make the racists happy. But no. For the sake of driving home their racist arguments, some want to portray themselves as the ultimate victims of Black on Black violence. Most of the violent crimes committed against Indians are at the hands of other Indians, and so too the violent crimes committed against others in different ethnic communities. The illegal drug trade is behind most violent crimes in Trinidad and Tobago. In the U.S., persons of varying ethnic origins commit urban violence. Thus, there are Jewish, Russian, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and African mobs. The poorest people are usually the footsoldiers to carry out the violence.
Check out Rae’s comment below for more on urban crime.
Ah go geh flak fer dis, but here goes……”All People share a common Black Ancestry”……Dat is true….buh how cum ever udder culture dat evolved from dem progressed more….SOMETHING MUS B RONG WID BLACK AFRICAN DEN……Fus set ah Empires,,,,Teach de world almost every basic sciences and social programs etc….Conqured most of de known world, raping, killing and imposing dey religon wid force…..How cum it fell apart???????????SOMETHING MUS BE RONG WID BLACK AFRICANS DEN……The conquered Peoples learnt from said Black African, and implied same tactics and imparted same treatment and reversed the Scene……Where udders did not FOLD de BLACK AFRICANS DID…..SOMETHING MUS BE RONG WID THE BLACK AFRICAN DEN…………EXCUSE MEH YA NO, I DONNO NUTTEN.
Jonjo said: “EXCUSE MEH YA NO, I DONNO NUTTEN.”
This must be the truest thing you ever said. Thanks for being frank and unintentionally honest with this one line. You are excused.
Yes, indigenous Africans gave the world humanity but only a little of that exists today. For African clans and tribes to acquire guns, introduced to the continent by European slavers, some sold members of other clans and tribes. Many did put up resistance but for the most part were not able to defend themselves from European guns. Hence, Africans sold each other into slavery. This was not a mindless occurrence as some would have us believe.
There are many books and articles online that explain this development and, if you are ever interested I could post some.
What is wrong with Africans? Nothing much different to what is wrong with you; Many “DONNO NUTTEN” about the history of human development and degradation. People who lack a knowledge of history cannot empathise with each other and cannot understand their enemies. Hence, it is not only Africans who fight each other, but all manner of people do the same. Whites also wage wars against each other, Indians and other Asians have done the same and so-called middle eastern people are at it for a long time.
The fact that you focus on Africans with such contempt means you lack an understanding of history. This can be fixed but, it’s up to you to want to fix it.
You really think is contempt.? I gave you my version of world History BEFORE GUNS AND EUROPEAN SLAVERY. You choose to answer in a different Era.The only reason i Focused on Africans is because the blog is saturated with same.All mankind is the same when it comes to War.Is something inherent i believe.I merely pointed out that Africa ruled and taught the world at one time, but not anymore, and questioned as to why?…Many Ages have passed…we now in the Information Age.Those who want to live in the “Bronze” age are welcomed to do so….Not me and many others I fathom……This is it for me as a blogger on this site….It’s all about African this and that, as if is a Model for All to follow….I will End with an old saying from Kofi”s Ghana….”A Calf that is Suffering, cannot Bellow”……ME SOON COME.!!!
You have a point about the era you were enquiring about in your previous comment.
Before the Europeans, and to an extent, Arabs entered into the heartland of Africa, Africans did not have the push factors created by desertification or a shortage of food and water that generally created the angst for daily survival to force them to change rapidly. In Northern Africa, desertification caused diverse groups to migrate to the fertile Nile valley for survival. This caused the development of more complexed societies. Then we had Mediterranean and other bands of migrating Europeans who, because of the shortage of food and arable land, competed intensively for resources. Brutal warfare developed based on these factors. Coastal Africans were used to this emerging trend of brutality, but heartland Africans were unprepared for this. Spears for hunting was no match for large armies and guns. Nothing was wrong with heartland Africans; their societies did not degrade to the extent as others to warrant similar societal changes. The only thing most Africans were guilty of, prior to the slave trade, was ignorance — totally unprepared for the brutality and materialistic nature of the outside world.
Previously, I gave some history of how Africans sold Africans to help answer how the deep-seated divisions were sewn among Africans on the continent. To protect themselves during the ravages of the slave trade, clans and tribes became very distrustful of themselves. Europeans later exploited these divisions when they colonised the continent. The African community has work to do to repair this psychological damage. This helps explain what is ‘wrong’ with many continental Africans.
Diasporan Africans were cut off from their indigenous cultures for a long time and were forced to adapt to slavery. This also created psychological damage that can only be addressed with education about what happened and why together with rediscovering the value of integrity.
I am also advancing the argument that not only diasporan and continental Africans lack a fair understanding of world history, especially the history of African development on and off the continent, but all other people as well. This ignorance explains the lack of empathy most people have within their own groups and with others who appear to be different.
“This is it for me as a blogger on this site….It’s all about African this and that, as if is a Model for All to follow….”
Thank you, jonjo.
Mr Achong, it seems that i’ve opened you up, but i will not back down or cower, your hidden dislike for Africans, gives you a fervent opportunity to voice your discards. You live in your secluded enclaves, live off the fat of the land, without having any discomforts whatsoever about the ills of the less fortunate, i’m no apologist, History, i tend not to throw in the waste basket of time, the learned knows that History of the past, resonates in the present. Mr Achong, you come across as being very intelligent, your schooling in Trinidad, gives you all you need to know, but the Historical facts of the country you claim to be yours, You see the African, as a thing, not an equal, your nest have been well layered. I will reiterate, that you are whats wrong with Trinidad, like a Horse at the Santa Rosa race tracks, you continue to be blind folded. The History you know , is that Africans sold their own, where is your sense of Historical intelligence? what is your take on England and America’ Opium trade in the land of your Ancestors? Mr Achong, your Trinidad History have been the continuous exploitation of the lesser communities with commercial invaluables, while giving nothing back, the chickens will come home to roost, if you know what i mean, don’t isolate your self Mr Achong, reeducate your self, open your eyes, take in, and articulate the inequalities of the Trinidad you love or Don’t love, your mind must be open and clear, if not? your reflections will be like the Criminal minded, Killing, maiming,stealing, raping, over pricing, while showing no remorse whatsoever. These debates, should engulf the imagination of true thinking Trinidadians, it will not evaporate over night, your heritage, have never been in the forefront for SOCIAL JUSTICE, while benefitting from everything, Trinidad have to offer.
It is scary that a former military person can advocate a military response to a civilian issue. The method described is usually implemented by the police and rubber bullets are used to distract the crowd and break their momentum not kill the instigators. The use of deadly force on citizens would most definitely scream a lack of control by national security.
As one of the contributors said the protest and subsequent actions are as a result of poor governance, criminal elements substituting for authority and sustenance and, the feeling of impotence by this community. All things we bemoan but excuse from white-collar criminals as they wear suits and are from more desired neighbourhoods. Let’s face it, we admire and aspire to be like and be aligned with the suited-up criminals and want to kill the Timberland boots and large gold chain wearing ones.
It is indeed troubling that this has happened as often as it has over the years but what’s more disturbing is the lack of true analysis and effective remedy (if any remedy) being applied. One might assume that no remedy was sought due to the prevalence of this course of action. I would like to know did we care what their plights or issues were before they began to demonstrate in this manner?
I also find it instructive that there was a similar road protest in Rio Claro after the reading of the National Budget where the road (public infrastructure) was damaged and it wasn’t attributed to race deficiencies, as the first comment did, in fact, fellow citizens focused on what the residents were upset about. Curious that there was no call for the army to do military maneuvers on citizens at that protest. One of the recurring issues that the criminals in suits count on is the rest of the population not seeing Beetham residence as fellow citizens. Thereby invalidating their concerns and not seeing them as valid or pertinent to our national development, even when they inconvenience us.
If we would stop and truly address or even contemplate the issues that continue to affect them we too will benefit from the reasoning brought forth from these analysis. Their frustration is one we share; the feeling of impotence and helplessness experienced due to corruption.
Unequivocally, urban crime and violence rates are higher than rural ones due to greater population density. Furthermore, the rate of crime and violence is higher in societies with a ruinous rate of inequalities among communities regarding sustenance opportunities, access to resources and self identity. Disadvantaged residents of urban communities are raveled in socio economic traps of poverty with little to no tools that can place them in any real position to untwine themselves from such a web. This debilitating trap of violence and crime is not only a vicious cycle of subjugation but one of social and economic immobility that is correspondingly inescapable for those who are born into such conditions. The dynamics of urban crimes must be informed by knowledge of historical, demographic, socio-economic and cultural contexts of the places in which they occur. This is not just a problem for Africans but all underprivileged groups within an urban setting. This can be seen in the urban communities of India. Delhi is classed as one of the most unsafe cities to top the crime chart among 19 major Indian cities.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-tops-crime-chart-among-19-major-indian-cities-national-crime-records-bureau/story-e4iawBXJLsJ8ZrO5SF0zrL.html
i could only agree with M.r Shah’s synopsis,assessment and application…Thanking you
Shah’s solution that “it’s time to kill” is a favorable military solution in times of crisis. Crime in T&T has reached critical proportions which demand drastic action to protect the lives of citizens and to prevent the criminals from taking control of the nation. Citizens cannot live their lives in fear and intimidation while governments fiddle, bankrupt of solutions and focused only on their re-election.This is not a time for race debates and political debates. This is not a time to re-litigate slavery and its effects on Africans. This is a time for self-preservation and the rule of law.
Only when the raging bulls are contained can we begin to think of holistic, long term solutions to a sociological and educational problem.Many experts have offered countless theories and solutions to the problem. Many politicians have experimented with programs for these deprived communities, but nothing has worked. The failure of the system of education in T&T must be examined because this failure is at the root of many of the societal evils which confront us today.
Very well said TMan. But still our problems lie in how programmes are implemented by government. I have attended lectures given by Sociologists (Trinidadians) returning to give the benefit of their knowledge for consideration here.
All of them presented their plans to government, yet there is no concerted efforts by government to experiment change. Politics and politicians should have some patience to include in its process, reasonably advanced solutions that offer hope to eliminating this problem.
The criminals and young men from deprived areas come from dysfunctional families. They attend failing schools with inadequate, irrelevant and outdated rote systems of education. There is no monitoring by parents.
Most of these criminals have dropped out of school are more likely to have parents who have that kind of inter-generational persistence in places like Beetham etc.This increases the likelihood that the young person will get involved in property crime and drug dealing.
Unless serious and sweeping education reform is undertaken in T&T, the crime problem will remain.
The government is hard pressed to act against Beetham residents because they are living in a PNM stronghold.
Why is it when when matters of crime comes up, it automatically becomes a race war?. If I am not mistaken, the topic is about the prevalence of crime in Trinidad and Tobago. In that respect, there are several menacing realities that makes this serious malady a concern for ALL citizens. What appears to be the separating factor is how crime is viewed. The way it is viewed depends on how you see yourself in the community of residential patterns. If you live in a privileged community like Westmoorings, your most serious would be residential breakins, auto thefts, crime of the person, degradation of the neighborhood and class identity. In a working class neighborhood, the same concerns apply with the additional worry of drugs and addiction.
The underprivileged neighborhood bears the brunt of all of this plus poverty, prostitution, squalor and personal safety. These ingredients, although leading to the same type of criminal behavior is enough to challenge how we navigate ourselves economically, socially and purposely. There is no doubt that we ALL want the scourge of crime to go away (QUICKLY!!!!!). When insults become a part of that conversation, then we are no longer talking about crime, it is the venting of anger and looking for someone else to blame. The forgotten ingredient in looking for answers is HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT?
When communities like Maloney were built in the early sixties and seventies, they were designed by ‘the educated class’. The emphasis was NEVER in building cohesive communities, it was all about ‘finding a place to live’, that was the most pressing condition. The residents were just hurled together, not thinking about the economic and health needs of the new communities, but strictly on finding accommodation. Healthy communities consists of the working class, the professional class, the shopkeeping class, skilled class and most definitely the spiritual class. They may not all be prosperous but such a mix does provide the need for communal development. The converse is true of places like Maloney and Beetham, where these communities were formed for the main purpose of ‘finding accommodation’, where most of its residents are unskilled, uneducated, unemployed and unsophisticated. A natural outgrowth of this kind of living MUST BE CRIME AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR.
There is an adage that says ‘nothing from nothing leaves nothing’. One of the main negatives of growing up in Trinidad and that ‘you are never told, what you can do’. You are always told ‘what you cannot do’. I grew up in a small southern community which consists of one elementary school, about four shops, about six palors, two churches and one playground. There were no community centers, our most eloquent residents were the elders, who we were forced to look up to, because they represented the voice of the community. In terms of industries it was fishing, agriculture and forestry. We had no professional class or skilled class in our neighborhood. The wealthiest among us were the shopkeepers. We had nothing to add to the national economy and many among us were unemployed. In spite of this, our community produced contractors, engineers, educational professionals, military pioneers, medical practitioners and skilled workers. All doing their practices outside of the district. Oh one more thing!, we had no crime.
Wherever opportunities are scarcest, is where there is going to be the lure of criminal activities that promise fast money, easy returns with little efforts. That is what depressed communities provide for those lacking in skills, education and a bleak future. People do not exist to please those who enjoy a better means of survival. The basic need to enjoy clothes, food and shelter is what every living being look for. When society does not cater for those who are victims of lost opportunities, there is a price to pay. Often, crime becomes the beneficiary of neglect or lost opportunities and this is what we are experiencing.
It is easy to call those who examine rationale as a means to understanding crime ‘apologists’. But isn’t it also true that those who think crime is a favored profession, when opportunities abound VERY FOOLISH? It is the duty of society to eliminate criminal behavior. There is no easy way to do that. Sociologists are best suited to examine the conditions in which we live and congregate to minimize the incidence of criminality.
Violence will only begot violence, so that is a foolish solution.
Such violence will only lead towards anarchy. When anarchy steps, we multiply the negatives and minimize the hopes.
The choice is ours to either seek a cure or increase the danger for us all.
I do not believe that any government will fail to act against places like Beetham because they are PNM strongholds.
How many of you remember when the old “shanty town” was leveled and replaced with new buildings for residents during the Eric Williams days?
It did not take long for these new structures to be reduced to another shanty town. The thinking was that new facilities would improve pride in one’s community, with a corresponding decrease in crime. It did not happen. New basketball courts, better roads and facilities did not result in positive change. Even make work programs provided by government did not have a positive effect on the communities. These band-aid solutions do not work.Unless the youth in these communities are able to see some light at the end of the tunnel, they will always lack the motivation, education and long term planning required to advance and improve their communities.
I repeat. The root cause of the problem of crime and disenfranchisement in many parts of the country is the failure of our system of education.Unless major, sweeping educational reform is undertaken crime will eventually consume the nation.
Our failure rates at all levels is too high. There are too many failing schools.Our curriculum focus is too narrow. Methods of instruction are outdated.The dependence on rote learning and ancient evaluation methods are driving up failure rates.
Most importantly, the end result is an excessively high dropout rate especially in deprived communities.
While we publish the few pictures of proud parents and students who top the examination results ,we ignore the vast percentages of failures and worst of all, we have no plans for their improvement.
The Beetham problem is nothing new, it has been going on for as long as I can remember. If the police enters that area to arrest a gang leader, they are immediately surrounded by residents who taunt the police.
One can say lack of education, family breakdown, guns, gangs and all the associated ills of broken society. But that does not give them the right to attack innocent people and totally traumatized them. They will continue to act out from time to time. The key for them is to act out after a length of time has passed..
No, No Mr Achong, I’m no apologist, you don’t have to accept or play dead, your tunnel vision have left you somewhat not being ready to indulge in this current debate. Apparently, it seems that you have been a victim of crime in Trinidad, and your guns are focused on one ethnic group, your lack of historical intel, opens up the biases, only a victim can entertain.You had your full in stereotyping the African.are you aware that the Chinese were practically enslaved while building the Great American train lines? of all the mass migration to America in the last century, the Chinese people were exempted and ostracized, these are some of the History i expect you to know, before pointing fingers, today, the Chinese Mafia are doing very well in the USA, and crime is a major part of it, just like the African in Trinidad, marginalization they were forced to live with, don’t be a CRAB in the hole, speak out against the SOCIAL INJUSTICES of former PLANTATION Trinidad, there is enough in the basket for all to have a share, your Heritage have gotten more than a fair share while giving absolutely nothing back, THAT’S THE CHINESE FOR YOU.
You and yuh dotishness again. Tunnel vision? If even I had tunnel vision it would be better than your vision, in fact you ent have no vision, yuh capable of only looking back, behind you, your backwardness is entrenched, making excuse after excuse after excuse, blaming everyone and everything except the miscreants for the crime they commit…Yeah! Is de local media, is de foreign black controlled media, is de foreign white controlled media, is de govvament, is de opposition, is Jed Achong what is wrong with Trinidad, is de scumbag TnT monitor and he sada roti mentality dat wrong with trinidad, is dem Lagoon people dat making we kill, Is dem Indians, dem from de filthy Caroni waters dat causing black people to kill. (Those are your insultinmg words spewed right here in this blog) It is because of your kind of backward thinking that Trinidad and Tobago is the third world sh*t hole and Caribbean latrine it is today. Thank God me and mine ent have to live here and wallow in the Sh*t that your backward mentality creating here for us. We have options ..you ent have none ..you doomed to living here to eat sh*t and pretend is ice cream until one ah dem same Beetham/Sealots criminals put ah 9mm to yuh duncey head and blow what liitle brains yuh have out….
And yuh know what yuh dotish last words likely to be??? … OH Gawd Poleece, is Jed Achong, TnT monitor and JonJo cause dis bandit to shoot meh.
“THAT’S THE CHINESE FOR YOU”.
Yeah and now is de Chinese too. Who else yuh go blame Cooper?
“Apparently, it seems that you have been a victim of crime in Trinidad, and your guns are focused on one ethnic group, your lack of historical intel, opens up the biases, only a victim can entertain”.
Yes, I have been a victim of crime in Trinidad, several times, each worse than the previous. And guess what? It wasn’t the Indian, Syrian, Chinese or White Man holding the gun. My wife also has been a victim of crime. And guess what again? It wasn’t the Indian, Syrian, Chinese or White man that held the gun on her, her mother and sisters while his accomplices who also were not Indian, Syrian, Chinese or White men, slit the throat of her eldest brother after robbing them.
“the Chinese were practically enslaved while building the Great American train lines? the Chinese people were exempted and ostracized, today the Chinese Mafia are doing very well in the USA, and crime is a major part of it, just like the African in Trinidad”.
NO SIR! NOT JUST LIKE THE AFRICAN IN TRINIDAD. NOT AT ALL
You mean UNLIKE the African in Trinidad because the Chinese progressed in spite of the negatives you highlight. They moved on and they have never stopped.
Are you and the criminals you defend moving on? Are you progressing right now? ….LMAO
“don’t be a CRAB in the hole, speak out against the SOCIAL INJUSTICES of former PLANTATION Trinidad”
And what will that do? Will it stop you and your people from murdering me and mine? Will It suddenly give you a conscience and take away the psychological shackles that enslave you?
Will it stop you from regurgitating the apologist claptrap you have been feeding on since childbirth?
And by the way, Trinidad is STILL a plantation. With slave mentalities like yours in abundance can it ever be anything else?
You are really riled up Jed, you have been reading my blogs all along, your Heritage came to the Island as Indentures, but a niche was carved out for your people, unlike the Africans, the colonial powers put things in place, so that today, Mr Achong can run his mouth, Did the Africans got the same goodies that your people got? like an ostrich, you hide your head in the sand, you may call my writing spewed, but the TRUTH IS SPEWED always, it takes a clean spirited man to decipher, JED, you don’t seem to be that caliber. Unlike you, I don’t have to stereotype, my facts can, and will stand the test, like the TAO says, you should be able to see the world from your window, but the blind man you are, theres no inner light. Mr Achong lets be honest, what have your people contributed to the development of Trinidad, with the exception of ripping off the people commercially? “you ENT have to live in Trinidad to wallow in its SHIT, your people have a history of not doing that, you take, and continue to take everything Trinidad have to offer in terms of foreign exchange out of the country, when things are not going well, the first to leave are the Chinese, why? because enough is placed outside , to start business afresh. People like your kind, is what’s wrong with Trinidad, you get and take SO ,SO, SO much without giving back nutten, in all cases, people like you are the most vociferous. And please, please Mr Achong, please read my blogs objectively, if you have the GUTS to.
“You are really riled up Jed, you have been reading my blogs all along. please read my blogs objectively, if you have the GUTS to”.
Reading your blogs? You have blogs to read? Man, get your terminology right. I have been reading your comments on this blog, and believe me, dey boring as hell. Maybe you can liven up your contributions by explaining to me how best the State can put an end to the violent crime that you defend. How best can the State bring relief to the long suffering law abiding majority?
And please don’t bore me any further with references to two hundred years ago. The crime problem, although years in the making is cutting our backsides today, in the here and now. We need relief now, not in the decades ahead that it will take to reverse those “historical wrongs”.
Specifically what do you propose the State do? My proposal is that the bigger and more powerful guns of the State should be used to blast all criminals, their ancestry and their progeny into thy kingdom come, AND THEN embark on a holistic crime prevention programme, addressing and eradicating the social ills and injustices you constantly whine about.
Let’s hear you, Cooper.
Can you imagine you Achong? you admiting having options, while the Africans have none, says all about you, a true SCUMBAG you are, like you say, “the Africans are doomed to living here , eating shit, pretending to be ice cream”, as i will continue to spell out, you have been a sleeper cell waiting for the right moment which is the now, to have your say, you are Chinese first, Trinidad third or fourth, you have been exposed Achong, well, you exposed your self, you did not have to write all the DIATRIBE you did, all you had to say in a few words is “I AM AN AFRICAN HATER” and i would OVERSTAND…
A word of caution Cooper!!!!. You address ‘Jed Achong’ as if he is Chinese. Don’t allow that name to fool you. Read how he contextualize his words and you will realize that is just a disguise.
What de hell does it matter whether I am a Nigaa with sugar grain hair, or a coconut oil dhal rice and bhaggi Coolie, or a flat nose and chinkee eye Chinee or a half breed Dougla or Haqwai?
And ah certainly ent no Honkee or French creole.
Am ah Trini and ah damn good looking one too, better looking dan most wit damn good genes too, representative of our racial diversity.
Orl like to deal with irrelevance? Den swallow dat
Orl yuh like to deal with irrelevance? Den swallow dat.
Jed, you ain’t fooling anyone Buddy..
And stop trying to ‘play’ the Chinese…. Bro..
You have real issues Bro.
https://youtu.be/xeM2UH0tc0w
“Jed, you ain’t fooling anyone Buddy..And stop trying to ‘play’ the Chinese…. Bro..You have real issues Bro”.
Yuh tink so?
You seem to be de one wit de issues, obsessing over my ethnicity. Of what relevance is it? Does my ethnicity add to or take away from anything I have written here? The issue here is whether the State should kill criminals or be soft on them. I say wipe their sorry asses off the face of this PNM blighted land. If the Government) does not have the political balls to do it, they should arm law abiding Society and let us do it. We outnumber the lawless and and can decimate them.
“a true SCUMBAG you are, you did not have to write all the DIATRIBE you did, all you had to say in a few words is ‘I AM AN AFRICAN HATER’.”
Yeah Yeah Yeah, I have been called worse. But right now I am more interested in hearing your proposed solutions as requested in my previous post than responding to your insults.
My comments are not so boring after all, seeing that i’ve got you hot under the collar, a very bitter Jed Achong, you asked for my proposals, yours, are to bring out the big guns, will it solve what you are seeking? Mr Shah’ blog, “IS A TIME TO KILL” you have had your say and day in the SUN, are you wiling to bring out your big Gun? you have written a volume, but not once have you delved into the root of what you are so passionately speaking against, you make general statements, you have made no distinction between poverty and crime. Deprived neighborhoods have some of the highest crime rates, thats no care of yours. Crime is the dependent variable, while the causes of crime are the independent variables, in reality? crime is crime, regardless white, blue , red, Black , Indian or Chinese. I empathize with you Jed Achong, your case is not an isolated one, the people you are asking to bring on the big Guns, are all part of the epidemic. Crime is nestled in all aspects of the SHIT HOLE you allayed to in your previous comment. The police, Army, Gov’t, all Gov’t institutions, Business big and small, whites, Arabs, Indians, Africans, Chinese, all make up crime in Trinidad, you may be a victim many times over, Jed, as i’ve said before, move away from your TUNNEL VISION. Scumbag, may come across as a defile word, far from it, but it does put you all in first place.
So your proposal to stop crime in the immediate to short term would be ??????????? and ah doh want anyone to jump to answer for yuh.
Ah want to hear your proposals, Cooper, no explanations, no regurgitation of history.
The criminals are waging violent, bloody war against law abiding Society NOW, YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW.
How do we, the Government, the State, put an immediate stop to their attacks”
I gave you my proposal which is to blow their miserables asses into 2020 AND THEN deal with crime in a holistic manner.
Obviously you disagree.
What do you propose? We need relief now, today, not decades from now.
Again, Cooper, what do you propose?
You have made this topic a rivalry, do you really want my proposal for stoping crime? take DAT. (1) Do away with parliamentary elections. (2) Get rid of all Religions.(3) Get rid of most of so-called national holidays. (4) Get rid of exam base school work.(5) Implement self fed agricultural programs for members the Defense Force. (6) Create community base trade schools for students not academically inclined.(7) Create licensed community watch groups to nip crime in the bud before it takes root. (8) Do away with all religious based schools. (9) implement a national fishing program/ macro agri jobs. (10) Create a national Gov’t, no more winner takes all election. (11) Juveniles caught in the system, should be taught a trade or play a musical instrument, and (12) each community must be responsible for the health and safety care of their environment. At the end of the day, every citizen, will be a stake holder and abide by the law of the land, anything less? will be continued MAYHEM. You notice that i eat blowing no body head off, my proposals are HOLISTIC enough for the change needed to mend your ACHING heart and mind, give it some taught.
My only response is, victims of the Italian Mob are usually Italians, Russians, ditto, Columbians, ditto. And, we all know, who drink, and chop up another.The killer of the 58 persons in Las Vegas was American Caucasian, and the killer of the 26 persons in Texas, as well as the killer of the children of Sandy Hook, so Blacks aren’t the only ethnic group the kill one another. But, who brings the guns,drugs,and prostitutes. The people from Beetham !