When Gordon Rohlehr and Brinsley Samaroo died recently, the torrent of tributes celebrated their contributions to the world. Especially significant was the consistent references to their generosity with knowledge—the way they shared without regard for ­financial remuneration or public recog­nition. Along with the indefatigable Bridget Brereton, they have been exemplars …

Discovering Frank Worrell through a comic book was a powerful moment in my primary school days. A voracious reader, I was growing up with the idea that heroic figures were remote figures from faraway lands. The one major investment in books in our home had been a set of encyclopaedias …

We are already far down the road where even if we can string words together, we cannot process ideas. There was a time when our oppressed peoples fully embraced the concept that the way to shake off their shackles was through education, and they went at it with great commitment …

Two aspects of the situation in West Indies cricket have to be addressed in tandem with each other. The first is for the future: rebuilding capacity all round, and the second is figuring out how to get current performances back to a respectable level. The former is the gargantuan task …

Last Tuesday, Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, delivered the 22nd annual Sir Frank Worrell Memorial lecture at the Cave Hill campus. I happened to come across the live broadcast quite by chance and, as usual, was riveted by her candour, relevance and fervour as she discussed the state of …

We can divide the discussions into two. The internal, what’s happening inside the body of West Indies cricket, its circuitry; and the external, the factors contributing to its current state. It’s really an analogy for the state of our region. Everything applies to what’s happening in our societies. We have …

It was a pleasant surprise to find myself so eager to watch the First Test match between the West Indies and India in Dominica. I embraced the prospect, knowing fully well that we were unlikely to do well against that formidable team. I prepared for Wednesday, basically leaving the day …

Even when you have always believed that a unified Caribbean is the ideal state for regional development; even when you support the idea of Caricom, it is hard to buy in to what it has turned out to be in its 50 years of existence. I was but a child …

The last time local government elections were held on 2 December 2019, there were 139 electoral districts. On 14 August, there will be 141, to be contested by 373 candidates—barring any withdrawals. Only 34.7 per cent (374,878) of the electorate (1,079,976) cast their ballots on that occasion. It is not …

Trauma is a loaded word—carrying burdens that are often invisible until something triggers an eruption. The first part is the event that invokes it, some truly cataclysmic occurrence that horrifies and terrifies to such an extent that even if it seems to have dissipated with time, it is a continuous …

He was telling me about a group discussion about childhood. In an unfamiliar environment, he’d told those strangers that he had experienced what he’d considered a typical West Indian approach to discipline. Licks. When they pressed for details, they concluded that it had been abuse. “I learned about a thing …

Our national boast is a beautiful one. Here in this republic of the new world, we are perhaps one of the earliest examples of a truly cosmopolitan nation. We’ve co-existed relatively peacefully for centuries, and over time, I’d say we have assimilated far more than we’ve rejected. And we are …