What is the message from Fitzgerald Hinds to
supporters of the People's National Movement (PNM)?
Here is what he said last week.
"I know this would break your heart but I will tell you this. One day, at about 1.30 p.m., I was walking through the streets of Port of Spain and I spoke to a former minister of government from a PNM cabinet...
"He said to me that he had just come from a meeting with a couple of other former ministers and some businessmen...(who) told me shockingly that the only issue that came up in objection (to Keith Rowley) was that we had never had such a dark-skinned prime minister."
It is insignificant if his story is fabricated or true. My suspicion is that Hinds fabricated his little piece of drama with a clear purpose in mind.
Many people on all sides of the political divide believe Keith Rowley is not fit to be prime minister. But that was not the message from Hinds. What he was doing was similar to the infamous Calcutta Ship statement that Rowley accepted, then condemned for the public gallery.
Hinds was telling supporters that they need to keep Rowley as their leader and make him prime minister BECAUSE he is black.
And his talk about Rowley being 'too dark' is all nonsense because all PNM leaders who became prime ministers were black and of African ancestry. And their ethnicity - or more precisely the colour of their skin - had nothing to do with their acceptance or rejection.
The man who replaced the PNM in 1986 was also black.
So Hinds needs to stop this stupidity. His utterances are always tinged with racism. He is the person who threatened to cut off the locks of a little rasta boy for kissing the prime minister's hand.
"I saw an idiot little rasta boy kissing the Prime Minister's palm. That made me sick. And if I had my way, I cut every dreadlock off his head, every one, madame vice President, that idiot boy, what a rude little dreadlock," Hinds said in the Senate in November 2011.
The boy's 'sin' was to acknowledge the leader of the country and to tell her thanks for visiting and offering to help people in the flood stricken areas of Diego Martin. For that, Hinds determined the boy was an 'idiot' and a 'rude little dreadlock'.
So when Hinds says people are saying Rowley's skin is too dark to be prime minister he is telling PNM supporters to be wary of anyone who is not "black" like Rowley.
It seems that Hinds is responding in code to a claim by a member of his own party that Indians are not welcome in the PNM. That charge has come from Bose Sharma, who has been a member of the PNM since 2006 and was the party's St Augustine candidate for the 2010 general election.
But instead of the party considering whether there might be some merit in what the man told a public meeting, they labelled him as an agent of the UNC.
The UNC's three leaders have been of Indian origin but they didn't get the job because of their skin colour. One of them is a former PM and another is the present PM.
The people have accepted all our prime ministers - Williams, Chambers, Manning, Robinson, Panday and Kamla. That is how democracy works. Our country is an ethnically diverse one and any one of us could be prime minister.
A man who has held ministerial posts and has been a Senator should know better than to try to create division in the society based on race. That is what Hinds is desperately trying to do.
The people would decide in a general election if Keith Rowley is fit to be prime minister, assuming he continues to lead the PNM after May 18. And they would elect him even if his skin is black, blue, green, brown or yellow.
Since he took over the leadership of his party Rowley has demonstrated that he is not even fit to lead the PNM. So now that Hinds is seeing that Rowley could fall he is appealing to his party's supporters to put competence and performance aside and elect Rowley because of the colour of his skin.
I doubt PNM members are that stupid. People like Hinds are way past their political shelf life and deserve to be sent into retirement. The sooner the better for Trinidad and Tobago.
Jai Parasram - 10 February 2014
RELATED:
COP ‘concerned’ over race talk
Here is what he said last week.
"I know this would break your heart but I will tell you this. One day, at about 1.30 p.m., I was walking through the streets of Port of Spain and I spoke to a former minister of government from a PNM cabinet...
"He said to me that he had just come from a meeting with a couple of other former ministers and some businessmen...(who) told me shockingly that the only issue that came up in objection (to Keith Rowley) was that we had never had such a dark-skinned prime minister."
It is insignificant if his story is fabricated or true. My suspicion is that Hinds fabricated his little piece of drama with a clear purpose in mind.
 |
| Eric Williams (PNM) |
Many people on all sides of the political divide believe Keith Rowley is not fit to be prime minister. But that was not the message from Hinds. What he was doing was similar to the infamous Calcutta Ship statement that Rowley accepted, then condemned for the public gallery.
Hinds was telling supporters that they need to keep Rowley as their leader and make him prime minister BECAUSE he is black.
And his talk about Rowley being 'too dark' is all nonsense because all PNM leaders who became prime ministers were black and of African ancestry. And their ethnicity - or more precisely the colour of their skin - had nothing to do with their acceptance or rejection.
 |
| George Chambers (PNM) |
 |
| Patrick Manning (PNM) |
So Hinds needs to stop this stupidity. His utterances are always tinged with racism. He is the person who threatened to cut off the locks of a little rasta boy for kissing the prime minister's hand.
"I saw an idiot little rasta boy kissing the Prime Minister's palm. That made me sick. And if I had my way, I cut every dreadlock off his head, every one, madame vice President, that idiot boy, what a rude little dreadlock," Hinds said in the Senate in November 2011.
 |
| ANR Robinson (NAR) |
The boy's 'sin' was to acknowledge the leader of the country and to tell her thanks for visiting and offering to help people in the flood stricken areas of Diego Martin. For that, Hinds determined the boy was an 'idiot' and a 'rude little dreadlock'.
So when Hinds says people are saying Rowley's skin is too dark to be prime minister he is telling PNM supporters to be wary of anyone who is not "black" like Rowley.
It seems that Hinds is responding in code to a claim by a member of his own party that Indians are not welcome in the PNM. That charge has come from Bose Sharma, who has been a member of the PNM since 2006 and was the party's St Augustine candidate for the 2010 general election.
But instead of the party considering whether there might be some merit in what the man told a public meeting, they labelled him as an agent of the UNC.
The UNC's three leaders have been of Indian origin but they didn't get the job because of their skin colour. One of them is a former PM and another is the present PM.
 |
| PM Kamla with former PM Panday |
A man who has held ministerial posts and has been a Senator should know better than to try to create division in the society based on race. That is what Hinds is desperately trying to do.
The people would decide in a general election if Keith Rowley is fit to be prime minister, assuming he continues to lead the PNM after May 18. And they would elect him even if his skin is black, blue, green, brown or yellow.
Since he took over the leadership of his party Rowley has demonstrated that he is not even fit to lead the PNM. So now that Hinds is seeing that Rowley could fall he is appealing to his party's supporters to put competence and performance aside and elect Rowley because of the colour of his skin.
I doubt PNM members are that stupid. People like Hinds are way past their political shelf life and deserve to be sent into retirement. The sooner the better for Trinidad and Tobago.
Jai Parasram - 10 February 2014
RELATED:
COP ‘concerned’ over race talk
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