African group slams Manning for Dashiki talk

Patrick Manning has scoffed at the opposition People's Partnership and its inclusion of social activist Makandaal Daaga, suggesting that Daaga is irrelevant to today's politics.

He even took issue with the fact that the leader of the 1970s uprising still wears a Dashiki, saying he could not remember the last time he saw a Dashiki in the country.

But he himself wears the African garment and his comments have offended the Emancipation Support Committee, which has called on Manning and other politicians to be respectful of "all cultures in our multiracial society".

In a media release, the committee said it accepts that political picong is "an ingrained trait of all parties contesting elections, but people’s cultural expressions have to be respected."

The committee said Manning contradicted himself since he "often wears African garments at commemorative activities of African emancipation."

It said Manning's comment is offensive to many persons in the society and across all party lines, adding that it "can open the floodgates to other expressions of cultural contempt which can mar the elections’ environment."

It added, "It can also send a negative signal to Africans, with whom the country is trying to strengthen cultural and economic relationships at the state and non-governmental levels."

The group noted that the issue is particularly sensitive this year since it is the 40th anniversary of the Black Power Revolution in T&T, led by Daaga and the National Joint Action Committee.

The committee said that event transformed Trinidad and Tobago society in many positive ways, including the reassertion of pride in African identity.

It noted that one expression of that pride is the wearing of dashikis and other traditional African clothing.