By Anil Roberts
……53 years of PNM vs 12 years of UNC
The latest quarrel over race in Trinidad and Tobago demonstrates, once again, how quickly our politics can descend into accusation and counter-accusation.
Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has described Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Independence messaging as racist and dangerous. The Express and other commentators are entitled to question her language and tone.
But there is an important distinction that must not be lost: an appeal to a community to stand proudly, demand equality and refuse humiliation is not, by itself, racism.
That distinction matters.
It is possible to disagree with some of the Prime Minister’s language while still accepting the legitimacy of the broader message that no citizen should feel inferior or have to beg for an equal place in Trinidad and Tobago.
Our political history cannot simply be erased because it makes us uncomfortable. Race, ethnicity and party allegiance have intersected in Trinidad and Tobago for generations.
That does not mean every African is PNM or every Indo-Trinidadian is UNC. Both parties have always contained supporters from different racial, religious and social backgrounds.
But it would be equally foolish to pretend that race has never influenced political allegiance, representation or perceptions of access to State institutions.
Indo-Trinidadians have carried historical grievances concerning political representation, cultural recognition, employment and access to public institutions. Whether every complaint was justified is open to debate. What cannot reasonably be denied is that those perceptions existed and became embedded in the country’s political consciousness.
That is why history must be discussed carefully rather than conveniently forgotten.
Equality is not racism
The strongest argument is also the simplest:
Seeking equality is not racism. Seeking domination is.
Demanding fair access to employment is not racism.
Celebrating your ancestry is not racism.
Being proud of being African is not racism.
Being proud of being Indian is not racism.
Being proud of being Chinese, Syrian-Lebanese, mixed or indigenous is not racism.
The problem begins when pride requires somebody else to be diminished.
There is also an important qualification. Historical disadvantage does not give any individual or group immunity from accusations of racial prejudice. Anybody, regardless of ethnicity, is capable of prejudice.
But demanding equality after believing that your community has been disadvantaged is fundamentally different from demanding supremacy over another group.
That difference should be obvious.
The American civil-rights movement was not based upon replacing white supremacy with Black supremacy. It demanded equal citizenship.
Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid ultimately sought a democratic society in which South Africans would enjoy equal rights rather than racial revenge.
That should be our standard too.
Our present political climate matters
Neither should the Prime Minister’s comments be examined in isolation from the racial language that periodically contaminates Trinidad and Tobago politics.
Offensive rhetoric has emerged from different sides.
That is precisely why one standard must apply to everybody.
If racial stereotyping from the UNC is unacceptable, racial stereotyping from the PNM must be equally unacceptable.
If an insult against an African Trinidadian is unacceptable, an insult against an Indo-Trinidadian is equally unacceptable.
There cannot be one definition of racism for Balisier House and another for Rienzi Complex.
Nor should newspapers, commentators or politicians alter their standards depending upon who is speaking.
The Prime Minister has a wider responsibility
There is, however, another side that supporters of Kamla Persad-Bissessar should acknowledge.
She is not only Political Leader of the UNC.
She is Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
That office carries an obligation to speak to those who supported her as well as those who did not.
That includes PNM supporters.
It includes African Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians.
It includes Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of other beliefs.
It includes Trinidad and Tobago in its entirety.
The Prime Minister therefore has every right to encourage her supporters to stand proudly and refuse discrimination. But the most powerful version of that message is one grounded in a larger national principle:
Nobody in Trinidad and Tobago should have to beg for equality.
Not Indians.
Not Africans.
Not anybody.
That is where the argument should begin and end.
Meritocracy must mean everybody
The answer to perceived historical imbalance cannot be another imbalance.
It cannot become: “Our turn now.”
It must be fairness.
If people are appointed to State boards, select them because they are competent.
If appointments are made to the public service, protective services or public institutions, merit must matter.
If State resources are distributed, national need rather than race or political allegiance should determine who benefits.
If discrimination is alleged, expose it, establish the evidence and challenge it.
That is what genuine equality looks like.
For too long Trinidad and Tobago has allowed political parties to convert legitimate cultural pride into political ammunition.
African culture belongs here.
Indian culture belongs here.
Pan, tassa, calypso, chutney, soca, parang, Hosay, Divali, Eid, Christmas and Emancipation all form part of the civilisation Trinidad and Tobago has created.
None has to disappear for another to flourish.
There is room at the table for everybody.
So slow your roll
Dr Rowley has every democratic right to criticise Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The media have every right to interrogate her words.
Citizens have every right to consider some of her language unnecessarily combative.
But criticism should not become historical amnesia.
Indo-Trinidadians do not have to apologise for discussing discrimination they believe their parents and grandparents experienced.
African Trinidadians do not have to apologise for celebrating emancipation, resistance and their enormous contribution to Trinidad and Tobago.
Neither group should be persuaded that advancement by the other automatically means loss for them.
That is the political trap.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar should continue to tell citizens to stand strong and stand proud—but the message should ultimately be broad enough for every Trinidadian and Tobagonian:
Stand proud of who you are.
Know where you came from.
Never accept humiliation.
Never deny another citizen the dignity you demand for yourself.
Demand merit.
Demand fairness.
Reject discrimination whether it wears yellow or red.
Because equality is not racism.
Equity is not revenge.
And after 64 years of Independence, Trinidad and Tobago should be mature enough to know the difference.
