No Euro-Aryan Race Model in TnT

May 11, 2004
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu

Within recent times, "race matters" issues have attempted to dislodge TnT from its pillar of a polyglot, multi-racial society, where "every creed and race find an equal place"; at least, so the theory of the national anthem suggests.

Opposition politicians have publicly accused the ruling government of overt racial discrimination and by extension, outright racism.

This article seeks to examine the race question in TnT not in terms of political grandstanding, psychological warfare tactics or bouts of altruistic ego-tripping but facing historical reality in time and space.

In 1950, the London-based grandmaster Lord Kitchener wrote in a calypso titled "If you're not black, white" as follows:

"Your father is an African
Your mother maybe Norwegian
You pass me, you wouldn't say goodnight
Feeling you are really white
Your skin maybe a little pink
And that's the reason why you think
Dat de complexion of your face
Can hide you from the Negro(Black) race
No! you can never get away from the fact
If you not white then you considered Black"

The salient point made by Kitch is very clear and plain: even if you are a "mixed" or "Red-man" Trinbagonian, then, you are considered Black as in non-white. You are not White. A "Trini White" or "Red-man" only pertains to small, micro TnT. To the larger. Outside world, such Trinbagonians are Black, non-White people period.

The people whom the Europeans involuntarily brought from Africa to be enslaved as dentured servants in TnT are African, Black, non-White.

And even if their descendants are now thin and light or red-skinned with straight nose and bleached blonde/brunette hair, they are not White; they may be so in thought and desire but in the real world, they are definitely not White.

The people whom the Europeans voluntarily brought from India to be enslaved as indentured servants in TnT are a people of colour; they are not White.

And even if their descendants are now thin or light-skinned with straight nose and long-flowing hair, they are not White; they may be so in thought and desire but in the real world, they are definitely not White.

Ergo, in terms of historical reality, the majority population in TnT is Black, non-White and a people of colour.

The poignant question that immediately arises is: how can one group shout "racism" among non-white peoples?

If none of us is white, then how can one group be racist? This is all a massive game-plan and ploy by some people in TnT. This master-plan must be exposed for what it really is.

Indeed, C.L.R.James has cleared up this cobweb by concluding that:

"The race question is subsidiary to the class question in politics and to think of imperialism in terms of race is disastrous. But to neglect the racial factor as merely incidental is an error only less grave than to make it fundamental."

In other words, since Africans and Indians were both victims of European enslavement and colonialism then the "race question" must give way to the "class question". The latter is the real, endemic and intractable problem in TnT today.

TnT has a class cum ethnic problem not a race problem.

However, in order to cloud this historical reality, it seems as though one ethnic group of colour is bent on assuming and/or copying the successful 15th century European modus operandi of Divide and Rule(Conquer).

In the very same way the policy of European racial superiority (racism) towards Africans came subsequent to the financial and economic gains of the slave trade, it seems as though one ethnic group of colour in TnT is attempting to wield and direct its financial and economic gains in the same direction a la European.

This ethnic group is, therefore, surreptitiously trying to recreate, reactivate and retool a new, improved, home-grown European Aryan superior-inferior race model in TnT.

The covert attempt at repeating this Euro-centric history is per the slick guise or politrick of accusing the other ethnic group of racism.

Truth be Told: One thing a racist never, never, never wants to be accused of and that is in being called a racist.

What such a person does instead is to accuse the other person of being a racist; in that way, the true racist deflects, camoflagoues and concedes his real intention. mind-set and inner feelings towards the other person or ethnic group. It is all a mind-game.

The fact of the matter is that historically, Africans never said or wrote that they are superior to the Indians or anybody else, period.

Europeans are the real culprits who have said and written that they are superior to Africans; at the end of the day, let us hope that some Indian-Trinbagonians are not of similar Euro-elk, mind-set and world-view.

The Euro-centric, supremacist concepts of etnocentrism(lack of tolerance of other cultures), ethnocentrism ( lack of tolerance of other races) and xenophobia (fear of other races) have absolutely no place in TnT politics and way of life today.

Hence, all the more reason why no ethnic group of colour in TnT must be allowed and/or permitted to clandestinely expouse, vent or parley such diabolical belief-systems in TnT.

In this specific case, since the two major ethnic groups in TnT are of the same racial hue, that is, people of colour, non-white and Black, then ethnic supremacy seems to be the hidden agenda and real-targeted goal.

As such, one must " neglect the racial factor" in C.L.R. James' assertion.

However, in another social milieu as in the United States of America, "to neglect the racial factor as merely accidental" is not only "an error" but also fundamentally insane and devoid of any societal reality.

Now is the time for the "emancipated" and "freed"Afican and Indian to heed the poignant but apocalyptic admonition of the slain African-American Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King as follows:

"Now the judgement of God is upon us and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools."

The time is now to prevent the slightest intrusion of any violent and/or political bigotry, divisiveness, prejudice, enmity and internecine carnage into our daily lives. This can be done by not only diffusing the race bomb but also by strongly vilifying, denouncing and castigating its carriers.

Energies must be mobilized to stymie the rule of the tyranny of any ethnic-racial majority in TnT.

Energies must be placed on our common, inherited, historical experiences rather than on our accidental hue and/or ethnic features. They were all imposed upon us by our various European slave-masters.

The fact of the matter is that Trinbagonians have more in common than we have in differences---- beat de Tassa, beat de Drum! No budding , incipient, supremacist ethnic group must be given the green light in TnT.

Integration is our name; polarization is not our game. Trinbagonians are one former oppressed, enslaved and colonized people from Mother Africa and Mother India. Case closed, end of discussion.

In this regard, TnT must not become an innocent victim and/or hostage of those who apparently have mastered the art of the dialectics of division, derision and diversion.

Let us take a very serious reality check and in the process, come to grips with some real, global racial facts.

Truth be Told: Within the context of European supremacy, Europeans are White; Asians are classified as "Honorary Whites" or "Quasi Europeans", while Asian-Americans are considered "Probationary Whites"; African-Americans (mixed or otherwise) are Black, non-white.

Europeans ( White people) are the global minority, although they comprise the majority population in the so-callled First World and Second World.

Non-white people and people of colour are the global majority; they comprise the majority population in the so-called Third World. TnT and India are in the Third World.

According to the United Nations Population Division : In 2000, Europeans made up 20 per cent of the world's population; by the year 2020, Europeans will consist of 16 per cent of the world's population and in 2050, Europeans will be less than 10 per cent of the world's population.

And according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2050, America will be a "Brown" nation with a majority population of non-white people and European-Americans will be the national minority.

In 2003, Euro-America consisted of less than 5 per cent of the world's population.

At the local level, according to the 2000 census figures, 40 per cent of the population has roots that could be traced back to Africa and 40 per cent has roots that could be traced back to India; the remaining 20 per cent is primarily made up of people with roots in England, China, Portugal, Syria, Corsica, Lebanon, etc.

Truth be Told: The general public, including policy-makers in the government, must cease and desist from using the label "Afro" and "Indo" to refer to a particular ethnic segment of the population.

The term "Afro" is no longer in vogue in America and the Black population in that country considers such a label as downright insulting, repulsive and fighting words.

The label "Negro" is even more insulting, repulsive and derogatory. These labels must stop being used in TnT.

The racial minority population in America is referred to as African-Americans. They are not called "Afro-Americans." Let this be very,very, very clear.

The fact of the matter is that this segment of the U.S. population was brought involuntarily from the Continent of Africa to be enslaved on the plantations in the American South from 1619-1865.

This population, these people, did not come from the Continent of "Afro"; no such Continent exists nor ever existed.

These people are Africans living in America, hence their proper, historical, ancestral and geographic designation is African - Americans. Nothing more, nothing less.

Likewise, Africans were involuntarily brought from the Continent of Africa to be enslaved on the plantations in the Caribbean, including TnT, from 1516-1834-38.

These people also did not come from the Continent of "Afro" to TnT, hence, their descendants today are African-Trinbagonians, whether they like it or not. That is totally immaterial and irrelevant. We are an African people, period. We are not "Afro-Trinbagonians" and this writer hopes that this Euro-centric, ahistorical and dysfunctional term/label will no longer find its way in official government policy-documents.

Similarly, Indians came voluntarily from a country called India to endure "semi-servitude" in TnT from 1845-1917.

These indentured servants did not come from a country named "Indo"; no such country exists nor ever existed; hence, their descendants today are Indian-Trinbagonians. They are not "Indo-Trinbagonians."

The time is now to put our common history back on its proper, geographic, ancestral, ethnic and cultural footing and locus.

The two major ethnic groups in TnT are African - Trinbagonians and Indian-Trinbagonians.

TnT needs to go back to the good-ole days when it was considered " such a conglomeration of racial and cultural mixtures that each group has to some extent internalized or learned to appreciate the way of life of several other groups and thus, through this process of ' plural acculturation', a fluid yet stable system of inner-group relations is maintained."

However, "something happen along de way" to completely mess-up things; such that what now exists in TnT is "madness, total madness" and the dire strive to achieve ethnic supremacy.

Truth be Told: TnT must not be transformed into a society that is "separate but equal.

Public policy and governance must be fashioned and tailored such that all Trinbagonians, We the people, "are judged by the content of our character rather than the colour of our skin."

In today's real world, although you "Don't Haffi Dread to be Rasta", you don't have to be dark-skinned to be considered African (Black); you can be thin, light-skinned with a straight nose and thin lips and still be considered African ( Black); whether you like it or not is totally immaterial and irrelevant.

African peoples come in different shapes, sizes, features, hair-styles, colours and appearances.

Likewise, you may be light-skinned with long-flowing bleached blonde/brunette hair and even thin ( as in size ten) with a thin nose but those features do not make you an equal, White European person. You are NOT White, period. You are or maybe every and anything else but you are Not White. This is the reality of today's outside world, my fellow Trinbagonians.


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