A Nagar in Calcutta...

So I am going to be the one to ask the question because it is either everyone else are too afraid or too bandwagonist to look at anything objectively, but what is the difference between Hilton Sandy's 'Ship from Calcutta' comment and the filth spewed all over the Divali Nagar by National Security Minister Jack Warner and the puerile garbage heaped on top of it at the end by none other than the Prime Minister herself when she brought what became a politically religious circus to a close? Her statement to her followers “That same person came kurta-clad to share in your festivities and admire your art form. The same individual who rejected your values” was designed to divide and if not on race then on what, clothes? Or do these people take us all for fools? What did Roodal Moonilal mean when, in referring to The Opposition Leader's presence he told guests at Divali Nagar Friday night that he was happy that the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) is an “all embracing” cultural organization that has welcomed all? What was the 'all?' The stray dogs in the car park? The birds in the trees? Or the 'Afro-Trinis' among them?

The United National Congress has been waging the most racist of campaigns ever since attaining office for no other purpose than to belittle and demonize their opponents and if that is what politics is today then fine, but I have had cause to point out on at least one occasion, had Dr. Keith Rowley been a different sort and had he answered any of these 'charged' taunts made under the privilege of Parliament or under the guise of campaign rhetoric, where would the country be now?

Among the ranks of the Cabinet are some notorious racists, chief among them for his notoriety is Devant Maharaj who has called for the extermination of Muslims and the 'reduction' of the African vote through 'breeding' or some other such nonsense. Is it any wonder that if you type the word 'Devant' into Google they 'finish' the search string for you as 'Devant Maharaj Racist?' In the Sunday Guardian of January 2nd 2005  Wendy Campbell wrote “The Statutory Authorities Service Commission (SASC) is investigating allegations of misconduct by the National Lotteries Control Board’s marketing and public relations officer, Devant Maharaj, who, among other things, has been accused of calling for all Muslims to be executed.”

And it is not limited to him alone as no one should forget the equally disgusting and potentially racist remark by Congress of the People Leader Prakash Ramadhar when he  referred to the leader of the Opposition as a Corbeaux during the Vote of No Confidence campaign. If not racist, what could Ramadhar have meant by that remark?

Now all of a sudden we are being told that we are all lilly white paragons of virtue and the referring to a ship from Calcutta is being made akin to desecrating the Holy of Holies. Please. If we are anything, anything at all in this country we are  a bunch of under-cover, hypocritical racists and that is as much a fact as you will probably never admit. The words 'Nigger' and 'Coolie' carry a special venom here in Trinidad & Tobago that they do not anywhere else in the world and whether it happens in the board room or the rooming house it still happens and ignoring the fact is not going to do anything to change it.

The fact is though, this election in Tobago is going to make race relations in this country that much worse because it is clear now that both sides are prepared to scrap like dogs over a bone. And as usual it is the people at the very top making the biggest mess for the people at the bottom to learn to live with.

I am in no way defending or condoning racism in any way, I am simply once again calling a spade a spade. What Hilton Sandy said on the campaign trail was tactless and sad and may well cost the PNM some support sometime in the future, but then again it might not, not if the success of the racists in the Parliament and the Cabinet is anything to go by.......