By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 06, 2022 On the celebration of Indian Arrival Day, May 31, an Express editorial recounted: “On this day 177 years ago the Fatel Razack entered the Gulf of Paria with over 200 Indians aboard, the first of 143,939 citizens of India to be brought here under a British scheme … Continue reading Origin of Indian indentureship in Trinidad
We can’t beat our way out of it By Jensen La Vende April 21, 2022 – newsday.co.tt CORPORAL PUNISHMENT will not be the solution for school violence the Prime Minister said on Thursday as he responded to number of videos of school children fighting. Speaking with the media at the Piarco International Airport on Thursday, … Continue reading Prime Minister on school violence
Express Editorial November 15, 2021 – trinidadexpress.com Given the Prime Minister’s statement that he had no intention of seeking an extension of the state of emergency when it came to a natural end at month-end, we, too, are taken aback by his decision to end the SoE on Wednesday, 12 days ahead if its scheduled … Continue reading Odd SoE decision
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 09, 2021 PART II “Pas de six ans, Point de six ans!” (“No to Six Years. No more six years!”) —The chant of the ex-slaves on Emancipation Day More apprentices came to Government House on Saturday, August 2, to assert their freedom. There was “a visible increase of insolence … Continue reading GLORIOUS DAYS OF THE HAPPY AND THE FREE
By Clint Chan Tack August 01, 2021 – newsday.co.tt MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah said slavery continues today in different forms. He made the statement in his Emancipation Day message to the nation. He said the MSJ “deplores the fact that our education system is so deficient in the teaching of … Continue reading MSJ’s David Abdulah: Slavery continues today
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 01, 2021 PART 1 The masters were “dam tief”, the Governor an “old rogue”, and the King not such a fool as to buy them half free when he was rich enough to pay for them altogether. —Port of Spain Gazette, August 5, 1834 Today is Emancipation Day. Ashton … Continue reading Glorious day(s) of the happy and the free
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe July 26, 2021 By the rivers of Babylon/Where we sat down/And there we wept/When we remembered Zion. But the wicked carried us away in captivity/Required from us a song/How can we sing King Alpha song/ In a strange land? —Jimmy Cliff, “Rivers of Babylon” Two Fridays ago Brian Lehrer interviewed … Continue reading Honorable Lives / Forgotten Worlds
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe July 04, 2021 The condemnations came fast and furious. U.S. actor Michael B. Jordan, it seems, was farse and outaplace to name his new rum J’Ouvert and equally outatiming to set the label of his product on a box that included “a schematic of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, … Continue reading Saying Yes, Sometimes
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 29, 2021 “Nations seldom listen to advice from individuals, however reasonable. They are taught less by theories than by facts and events.” —Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Last week I commended President Joseph Biden for signing into law a bill that made June 19 a national holiday to … Continue reading A Luta Continua
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 21, 2021 On Thursday last, US President Joseph Biden signed into law an important bill (the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act) that makes June 19 a national holiday in the United States to commemorate the end of slavery. In signing this bill President Biden reminded Americans: “The promise of … Continue reading Facing the Past