Today - March 30th 2011 - is a public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago, the anniversary of Shouter Baptist Liberation Day.No denying that one of the great significances of today lies in the awakening of tolerance among that diversity of ethnicity we call home - Trinidad and Tobago. But, there is this other aspect which many have overlooked - whether by accident or design, matters not - and which must now, straightforwardly, be set.
For many, many years Shouter Baptists were oppressed, simply because they belonged to the "lower" stratum of society - sons and daughters of ex-slaves - and, so, did not control the corridors of power.
Evidence of this is had in the what the then Attorney General said in 1917, during his condescending contribution to the Legislative Council debate to introduce The Shouters Prohibition Ordinance:
"..It is not only the inconvenience caused by the noise which they make that has given rise to this legislation, but also the fact that, from the information that has been received, the practices which are indulged in are not such as should be tolerated in a well-conducted community..."
Truth was that the then establishment - white, Eurocentric, led by an Englishman Governor, Sir John Chancellor - in passing the prohibition law, was merely essaying to continue its centuries-old dominant socio-politico-economic role, by nipping in the bud any movement which potentially could gel the Afro- Trinbagonian majority into a superior force.
It would take nigh on four decades for the establishment to understand that not even they had the power to halt a surging tide; or, that when a plant's buds are nipped, such action serves the purpose of strengthening the roots and trunk.
Thus, despite the best - some swear "worst" - efforts to suppress it, Shouter Baptist religious worship not only flourished, but blossomed into a charismatic, ubiquitous manifestation that would radically rattle the status quo in Trinidad and Tobago.
Tubal Uriah "Buzz" Butler was an avowed Shouter Baptist! Not just an ordinary member of the flock, but a Leader - as Shouter Baptist preachers are called.
That, in part, explains why he adopted the fervent mantle "Chief Servant" - not, as many believe, as a play on his surname "Butler".
It also explains why, more than any one else in Trinbago's history, it was a Shouter Baptist who would open the eyes of the Trinbago's downtrodden to the power which only their unity can to them bring.
A native of Grenada, "Buzz" Butler settled in Trinidad in 1921, three years after returning from duty as a soldier in the British West India Regiment during World War One.
Perhaps it was at the invitation of his war unit leader, Captain Andrew Arthur Cipriani, that so he did - Cipriani had already formed the Trinidad Labour Party and was on the lookout for able lieutenants to help him run it - for, though Cipriani was white and upper class, yet, primarily he used his political party to champion the cause of the the underprivileged masses.
Butler aligned himself with Cipriani and, having found work in Trinbago's rapidly-burgeoning oil industry - as a rigman with Apex (Trinidad) Oilfields at la Brea - came soon to see, first-hand, the slavelike conditions under which blacks still suffered - poor wages, housing, education and medical facilities, though in the midst of the overabundant bounties they were being used to produce.
Butler viewed such exploitation with contempt and disdain. Being a Shouter Baptist, he knew that no meaningful way forward would be had without first undertaking a period of deep introspection.
Shouter Baptists "go into moaning", during which time the moaner develops the special gifts that enable him/her to achieve the moral light of wisdom, knowledge and understanding and the ability to face up to the higher calling of his or her spiritual office and the challenges of daily living.
No doubt, it was then that Butler came to understand how his previous life's experiences were naught but for the purpose of preparing him for his true calling - that of leading the disadvantaged peoples of Trinidad and Tobago out of the morass in which the establishment had them quagmired.
Too, he surmised - from his war experience - that if a black man could be called upon to sacrifice his utmost to defend the Mother Country - England - then the Mother Country had a forsworn duty to treat them in a decent manner when their tour of war duty was done.
Shouter Baptist he was, so he soon tired of Cipriani's staid approach of negotiating improved standard of living by platitudinous entreaties.
Shouter Baptist he was, so his weariness, rather than as a dampening effect on his spirit, he treasured as the wax of the Shouter Baptist's ceremonial candle - a primeval darkness, yet, simultaneously, vitalizing fuel, needed to feed the flame that lights the way to a better day.
At last he knew what he had to do. He had to let the Shouter Baptist in him take the fore. So, he lit his candle. By its steady glow, the Chief Servant discarded Cipriani's style and blazed a novel approach to solving Trinbagonian oilworkers' problems.
That innovation entailed all out aggression against - and, inevitably, direct confrontation with - a recalcitrant mercantilist ruling class. Yet, all the while, he feigned deference to the true overlords - the Mother Country.
His new strategy soon sent tremors throughout the whole oil industry - workers of every category downed tools and came in droves, from far-flung locations, as if in Shouter Baptist pilgrimage, to hear him speak.
In alarm, the ruling elite regarded him as nothing more than a demagogue and troublemaker. In reality, behind closed doors, they viewed his speeches with intense suspicion, even though they were replete with quotations from the Bible.
The response was so overwhelming that within a year of severing ties with Cipriani and his Trinidad Labour Party, Butler was confident enough to springboard from trade unionism into the formal political waters by forming the British Empire Workers' and Citizens' Home Rule Party in 1936.
Butler hoped that his new party would resonate the line of the hymn he was fond of quoting: "I have a sword in my hand, Help me to use it well!"
Were it not for the intervention of World War Two - 1939 to 1945 - and the successful subterfuges of the wily colonial masters, a Shouter Baptist would have become the first black ruler of the twin islands since pre-Columbian times.
For, despite winning the largest slice of contested seats in the 1950 national elections - of a total of twenty-six, eighteen were contested, of which the Butler-led party won seven; no other party or political group captured more than two - it was a more palatable Albert Maria Gomes - son of wealthy, white Portuguese immigrants - who was selected by the Governor to be the Chief Minister.
Many were upset at the Governor's decision but, because their champion was now in the Legislature, remained hesitant about showing open protest. Nonetheless, the die had been cast.
Butler had crafted a new and enticing political product by bringing together Trinbagonians of African and Indian descent, which is what the British Empire Home Rule party was and did.
He was inspired so to do because he had drawn from his Shouter Baptist religious traditions, for the faith was heavily influenced by Hinduism in its outward form of worshipful practice - brass "lotas" (Hindi for "brass prayer-bowls") and "jhandis" (Hindi for "flags on bamboo poles") are integral to the Shouter Baptist ceremonies.
No doubt he understood that this new political animal, if properly managed, would be an irresistible force for transforming Trinbago into what she was intended to be.
Quite naturally, the colonial masters were very alarmed at such a prospect and set about - as was their tirelessly tried and proven custom - to nip it in the bud by the usual divide-and-rule stratagem.
That's how the People's National Movement came to power in 1956, even though - like Butler's party - it won the largest block of seats but not the outright majority, unlike 1950 - when Butler was denied - Dr. Williams was not.
But, that's a story to be told another time.
Prior to Shouter Baptist Butler assuming office in the 1950 Council - October 20, 1950 - there were many futile pleas for the repeal of the nefarious ordinance.
Notable among those was the masterfully-outlined petition filed by the Shouter Baptists in 1940, when, as a united body under Bishop Elton Griffith, they unsuccessfully approached the Legislative Council asking for the ordinance to be revoked.
What ensued was the usual runaround, of the sort such parliamentary bodies usually give. Albert Gomes made a case "for the Council to appoint a committee to look into a repeal of the 1917 ordinance".
The verbosity of the request signalled that nothing soon was going to happen - other than, a committee being formed - since it took several years before any findings were determined.
Butler used his Legislative sword to argue against the injustice of the Shouter Baptist Prohibition Ordinance. So compelling were the cut and thrust of his arguments that they could not be ignored.
Thus it was that, on 30 March 1951, within a few months of the new Legislative Council - the one dominated by Shouter Baptist Leader, Tubal Uriah "Buzz" Butler - being sworn into office, the bill to repeal the Shouter Baptist Prohibition Ordinance was passed - though officially - recorded history takes great pains to try to tell it otherwise.
Today - March 30th 2011 - is therefore a day for great celebration, as it's the day when Trinidad and Tobago learnt, for the first time, that this land would not become a nation unless the minority were given the respect and protection of the majority.
That's why not only Shouter Baptists, but, all, MUST feel liberated by the significance this day bears. Happy Shouter Baptist Liberation Day, 2010, then, to all! "I have a sword in my hand, Help me to use it well!"
Richard Wm. Thomas | Five Rivers,Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago. www.kid5rivers.com
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