Madness

Trinis seem to be an accommodating lot. For donkeys’ years we have all sat back and watched as our beautiful Trini women are threatened, slapped, grabbed, cuffed, kicked and even disfigured into submission by violent partners. We have also seen that the most extreme of these cases results in murder; usually of woman and child. The general public and institutions of state seem unable or unwilling to provide meaningful refuge and help for the many vulnerable women in our society. ‘‘Dat is man and woman ting…me ain gettin involve’’ is the usual retort. In fact, we have fostered a culture whereby many women feel that they are to blame for the ‘cutass’ inflicted on them by their psychopathic men. Those that do decide to take the matter further find that they are often faced with a myriad of obstacles; indifferent police attitudes, snail’s progress at court and apathetic friends, family and employers. Consequently, many domestic violence cases go unreported and our mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and nieces are left to suffer in silence. This week, we will cry our crocodile tears for Sylona Constantine, who was so brutally murdered at the hands of her jilted lover. However, before long we will all forget and move on…T’is after all the season to be merry…

It now seems that you have nothing to fear from the police if you are hell bent on pushing drugs, robbing, or killing people like the infamous gunslinger Jesse James. However, should you decide to wear a pair of camouflage pants and walk down the street then expect to literally feel the strong and heavy arm of the law. I am still trying to envisage how in the process of asking a young man to take off his camouflage pants (apparently an offence) a police officer felt warranted not only to take out his weapon but remove the safety and fire a shot or shots. The rest as they say is history and Sheldon Des Vignes from St. Barbs, Laventille is now dead and buried. The Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul has promised that a full and thorough investigation will be conducted. Didn’t George Bush say that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with oil? Some people still think that they could fool all the people all the time…

I have noticed a particularly worrying trend developing in the media reporting of some murder cases. It seems that if you’re a young black man living in an area associated with a high level of crime and violence, then you warrant no more than a mere mention in the papers. It usually follows along similar lines:

‘Around such and such time, residents from such and such heard several gunshots and moments later, found such and such lying in a pool of blood in the road. Such and such had sustained gunshot wounds to the head and body and was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the such and such murder victim this year and police say his murder was linked to his illegal activities and drug dealing in the area.’

The foolhardy among us will read the morning papers and breathe a sigh of relief that this doesn’t happen where we live. No further thought would be given to the victim or the murderer still at large. After all, these things happen all the time in ‘dem places,’ with further ‘investigation’ by the police producing the customary nought. After all, as one blogger on a site (www.triniblag.blogspot.com) stated, ‘‘Who cares if the niggas kill themselves?’’

Well my racist partner, try this for size. Trinidad being Trinidad, chances are that one day this nigga will spot you at some party and decide there and then that he wants to go home with your B52 Sentra-and your wife! See if you find it so funny when you’re staring down the barrel of his .45 Magnum…

I remember learning about Patrick Manning, Basdeo Panday, Winston Dookeran and co when I was in Joyce Thompson’s Standard Two Class at Richmond Street. I am now 29 years old and it amazes me that these men are still at the head of the political class in Trinidad and Tobago. They were running our affairs when Ronald Reagan was president of the United States and Margaret Thatcher was referred to as the Iron Lady. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics still existed and Berlin had a wall running through the middle of it. Politically, it seems that the whole world has moved on-bar sweet T & T. Come election time, the farce and scandal is laughable and the decision for the electorate must be like choosing between the proverbial rock and the hard place. Basdeo Panday seems to have grasped how arduous the task facing the electorate is when he lambasted ‘errant’ voters for exercising their democratic right. He was right: It’s either vote for the PNM and deal with constant crime and violence or vote UNC and have all your money transferred to undeclared bank accounts in London…

prophet