Professor Selwyn Cudjoe has warned of "turbulent times" for people of African origin in Trinidad and Tobago "because they are now a minority in this country".Cudjoe delivered the blunt message in speech at an Emancipation Day celebrations dinner for the National Association for the Empowerment of African People (NAEAP).
The President of the NAEAP cited official statistics to make his point that the Indian community outnumbers the Africans. Cudjoe said data from the Central Statistical Office indicate that Africans make up 37.5 per cent of the population while Indians account for 40 per cent.
He said one effect of this could be the use of race to influence voting, warning that one race would have political supremacy over the others. “If ethnic trends in voting continue, it is likely that in the next ten years we might see that same pattern that has emerged in Guyana in which the dominant group will hold power in perpetuity.”
Cudjoe warned his audience, which include Prime Minister Patrick Manning and President Max Richards, of divisions within the African community.
“There are some high class Africans who believe that they are better off than the lower class blacks; light skin blacks who feel they are better off than dark skin blacks; blacks who live in gated communities who feel they are more privileged than blacks who live in the ghetto; and educated blacks who look down contemptuously at the less-educated blacks.”
He suggested that such distinctions are irrelevant and called for a greater understanding of commonality that is founded on culture rather than colour.
“If we do not pull ourselves together as a group and support one another, I see only a negative future for Africans in this land.”
He also dismissed the notion of discrimination in Trinidad and Tobago.
Speaking about cases of discrimination that have been won by citizens who had to go to court to fight for their rights, Cudjoe said the findings of eight cases of discrimination in the civil service out of some 70,000 persons “cannot be presented as proof positive of the systematic discrimination of East Indians in the service.”
Cudjoe also rejected MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh's charge of “ethnic cleansing” at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and said statistics confirm that 80 per cent of the doctors in Trinidad and Tobago are people of Indian origin and that more than half of the doctors at the hospital are Indians.
Commenting on the recent motion of no-confidence in the Attorney-General by the Law Association Cudjoe declared that it was racially motivated, noting that the assopciation is dominated by Indians.
He called it an example of "how advocates of ethnic advantage seek to hide attempts at achieving racial advantage under the guise of democratic demands”.
Cudjoe also went after the media, accusing them of failing to report what the “black community” in the country is saying. “The press of this country says nothing of the systematic silencing of our people, yet their headlines are blazoned with everything that is negative about black people,” he declared.
Read Dr Cudjoe's full Emancipation Day speech
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