Tag Archives: Racism

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

Fanning the race flames

12 Comments

By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2014

Raffique ShahThe persons who orchestrated the racist placards that triggered a furore that lingers long after the protest-dust has settled do not belong to any “lunatic fringe”, as some politicians suggest.

They are perfectly sane, albeit devilishly motivated in their evil designs. Anyone with a modicum of sense could discern that the pro-Rowley placards were intended to have the extreme opposite effect—cast the PNM leader as a bigot, as being anti-Indian to the extent that he would display his venom openly, outside Parliament to boot.
Continue reading Fanning the race flames →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Racism Watch, USA

Any Sterlings here?

26 Comments

By Winford James
April 30, 2014 – trinidadexpress.com

Dr. Winford jamesDonald Sterling, the suddenly infamous owner of the NBA team, Los Angeles Clippers, has been caught out being racist and now finds himself having to sell his team and dissociate himself entirely from basketball. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner has fined him $US2.5 million and, on top of that, banned him from all association with both the Clippers and the NBA for life. But since he is 80, the last punishment will unfortunately not be as severe as warranted.
Continue reading Any Sterlings here? →

General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Brotherhood that Transcends Race

14 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 27, 2014

Raffique ShahAs we grapple with divisive elements in the society that seem to thrive on fomenting mistrust between our two main ethnic groups, I take comfort in the fact that for the vast majority of our people, especially the young, racialism and racism have little space in Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading Brotherhood that Transcends Race →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, International

Racism through Advaita Philosophy

27 Comments

HinduAccording to scholars racism developed in the world society only from the 19th c.A.D. Even though the development of racism in the world is a recent phenomena, the root cause for this racism is Advaita philosophy which was developed in India in 9th c.A.D. Another face of racism is casteism that can be seen in India for a long period of time. Casteism is also known as Varnashrama Dharma.
Continue reading Racism through Advaita Philosophy →

Africa, General T&T, India, Labour, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

The Indian Experience in Trinidad, or The Triumph of Ideology Over Scholarship

13 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 24, 2013

No one, again with the exception of the extinct Carib people, and perhaps the Spanish people can claim to be ‘natives’ of the island. All peoples were newcomers to Trinidad, and all were immigrants. The immigrant nature of the society of Trinidad needs to be recognized for what it was and what it is. (537)

GeradTikasingh, Trinidad During the 19th Century

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeGerad Tikasingh has written an interesting book, Trinidad During the 19th Century: The Indian Experience, an extension of his doctoral thesis, “The Establishment of Indians in Trinidad, 1870,” that he completed at UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad in 1973. Although his book is filled with facts, it is marred by an ideological orientation (one may say Indo-centric perspective) and a negative rendering of the African experience in the country. This book continues an argument made by other Indo-Caribbean scholars that suggests that the dominance of an Afro-centric ethos (which Tikasingh calls a “black bias”) has “tended to downplay, if not obscure the parallel Indo-Caribbean experience of indentureship and its contributions to Guyanese and Trinidadian culture in particular” (see Frank Birbalsingh, Indo Caribbean Resistance, 1993).

Continue reading The Indian Experience in Trinidad, or The Triumph of Ideology Over Scholarship →

Africa, Gender, General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

A Female’s Scorn

18 Comments

“A black woman is no different to any other woman”
By Akilah Holder – Trinidad Express – March 08, 2013
www.trinidadexpress.com/woman-magazine/A_black_woman-196637151.html

Am I not a man and a brother?
AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?
I was standing in my local mini-mart one day, waiting to be served and minding my own business, when this scruffy and questionable-looking black man who had walked into the mini mart began eyeing me. From the corner of my eyes I had noted that he was eyeing me, and had thought to myself, “Oh gosh, here we go!”. As I had anticipated, this “character” walked over to me and began hitting on me. I shot him a look intended to convey “Ugh! Please!” At that point, I looked away. And I must have succeeded in communicating the meaning that I had wanted because he persisted, “why you have to treat me like I is a beast?” Yep, green verbs and all! I responded “because you are acting like one,” and so aggravated was I, that I was about to spit out “and you look like one too,” but I thought to myself “Look, Akilah, hush, jus hush”.
Continue reading A Female’s Scorn →

Caribbean, General T&T, Haiti, International, Politics

How the International Community Failed Haiti

6 Comments

Hundreds of Thousands Homeless in Haiti Three Years After the Earthquake Despite Billions in Aid Funneled to NGOs, Contractors and Internationals

By Bill Quigley and Amber Ramanauskas
January 17, 2013 – counterpunch.org

Aid?Despite billions in aid which were supposed to go to the Haitian people, hundreds of thousands are still homeless, living in shanty tent camps as the effects from the earthquake of January 12, 2010 remain.

The earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010 killing, according to Oxfam International, 250,000 people and injuring another 300,000. 360,000 Haitians are still displaced and living hand to mouth in 496 tent camps across the country according to the International Organization of Migration. Most eat only one meal a day.
Continue reading How the International Community Failed Haiti →

Africa, Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, Labour, People's Partnership, Politics, Racism Watch

Sat and Devant on the Saddle

24 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 15, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSat and Devant riding high on de saddle now and dey driving a hard bargain. Many who voted for the UNC never expected them to thrust Sat and Devant on we with such force, guns ablazing. Even those who refused to vote (and I am culpably in this regard), are feeling uneasy about what is happening in the country. However, I do not think those who voted for UNC and those who abstain should feel badly. They did the correct thing in telling Patrick Manning that he had gone too far and had to be restrained. That is the essence of democracy. Whenever things go out of whack, a countervailing force always steps in to correct the excesses of any party. Silvio Berlusconi who ruled Italy supreme for seventeen years is gone. Muamar Gaddafi ruled Libya for forty two years. He’s gone. As my mamma used to say, “Nothing lasts forever.”
Continue reading Sat and Devant on the Saddle →

Africa, General T&T, International, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Apology for Slavery and Reparations

24 Comments

By. Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 14, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuSince 8 January 1455, when Pope Nicholas V authorized the Portuguese “to subject to servitude all infidel peoples”, no Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has apologized for the European enslavement of Afrikan people.

In April 2006, the Church of England voted “to apologize to the descendants of victims of the slave trade” and in March 2007, considered paying reparations.
Continue reading Apology for Slavery and Reparations →

England, General T&T, International, Racism Watch

Cameron’s multiple morality disorder

6 Comments

By Suzanne Mills
August 19, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

British Prime Minister David CameronBy blaming the English riots not on poverty, unravelling race relations, government’s austerity measures, the global crisis, but on the perverse and criminal behaviour of some English people, British Prime Minister David Cameron is arguing that in the case of the rioters, bad behaviour triggered bad behaviour and that in general, conduct is not a symptom but a cause.
Continue reading Cameron’s multiple morality disorder →