You almost ruined a good article.
Raffique, you are doing it again. You almost ruined a good article with some superficial statements that you should know by now does not make sense; therefore, I have taken the liberty to point them out.
In your article titled, 'The Lessons we have not learnt', with reference to the children of the affluent you said, "Their own children will soon desert them, and immerse themselves among their friends of different races and backgrounds, making the "apan jhat" generation (of every race and colour) obsolete." Now that is a load of crock if I ever heard any. We have always had young White children fraternizing with Black youths but they eventually grow up to carry on with the same attitudes as their parents.
Racial discrimination is kept alive by the greedy nature of most people, who in their desire to ‘climb socially’ emulate the behaviors and attitudes of the rich and famous. The pull to socially separate oneself from the masses is just as strong for the children of affluent who are at times threatened with disinheritance if they do not stop associating with the lower classes. Parents encourage this by giving their children more liberty to go out to clubs if they are assured that their children would not be mixing with too much Black people.
We can only look to Brazil and Venezuela where a lot of race mixing took place to see that even though people may be swayed by their sexual urges, this takes second place to their urge to rise economically and socially. In Brazil and Venezuela, the racial characteristics of people are less definable and the people there have the most complex social system where people are graded according their varying shades, with white at the helm and Black at the bottom.
We saw Miss Venezuela from the last Miss Universe held here openly saying that she was Black, and this I am sure disturbed some people who would easily classify her as White. The force that is at work in Venezuela and Brazil is alive and well here in Trinidad. That force is peoples' unconscious greedy nature, which is annexed to class and racial discriminations.
Racial discrimination is the product of greed, where people look for physical ways to show their superiority. These struggles for a superior identity exist amongst people in similar racial groupings.
In Brazil and Venezuela where poverty is rampant and the rich are few, the colour lines have been so acutely defined that people who live outside of those societies find it very difficult to understand their class and racial distinctions. The elites are whitish-pink in colour and they hold the yardstick by which social acceptability is defined. This same 'colonial mindset' is passed on to children from parents and the wider society. In these Latin American countries, for wealthy Blacks to get social recognition they marry White females, and this they believe propels them into a higher class.
Mr. Shah, people will mix racially but that does not change bigoted attitudes. Don't you hear the comments from people whenever I say that there is a need for programs that tells the African story from the African point of view? Their negative responses is an attitude that is passed on from one generation to the next, where parents show their children that if they want to 'make it', they should forget about questioning popular 'history'.
You cannot even get Indians in Trinidad to discuss the problems that affect Black Indians. Most of them cringe at the idea that they may have Black ancestors.
It is natural for people to continually struggle for a superior Identity. However, most people believe that having money gives them that superiority. Success is largely measured by the quantity of ones material possessions.
So, by saying that races will mix, that does not solve the problems of racism which conveniently shifts the definition of lower classes while maintaining white superiority.
Lets fantasize a bit; supposing most of the people become 'mixed' and they remain with their same attitudes towards people who are darker than they are, would this country be better if the majority of people oppress the minority Black people?
The other statement that you made was; " Sabga should seek to salvage his reputation before it is too late." What reputation are you speaking of? Are you speaking about his reputation of covertly doing the same things he is now doing as opposed to him overtly doing the same? Do you believe that Sabga was better when the ordinary people could not decipher where he was coming from?
Personally, I prefer the present Sabga who is being very open about his bigotries; at least he is being less of a hypocrite.
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