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Take away the gold chain and the ‘Zesser’ descriptor fits several other people in Trinidad and Tobago. Some of them drive Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes Benz, Range Rover, BMW and other high-end cars. Some of them live in specially outfitted high-rise apartments; they pay for tables where their friends lime or where they can prey on potential victims.
Some of them are sexually promiscuous, wear brand name or designer clothes and expensive red gold watches and I could go on and on about their abhorrent behaviours; but the Attorney General may know them better.
So exactly what was the AG trying to communicate when he attempted to threaten or scare those persons who wear big gold chains as a symbol of their authority and status among their peers? Why didn’t he use other examples of Zessers?
Like those who have moved from DJ-ing to multi-millionaires in less than 10 years, or from tent rentals and scaffolding suppliers to become almost billionaires in less than a generation.
He chose to focus on the gold-chain-wearing Zessers and has not considered that there are hundreds or maybe thousands of young people wearing costume jewellery to signal their belonging. Every generation has their outliers who externalise their symbols of belonging.
The AG commented that the gold-chain wearing Zessers will be asked to prove that they purchased jewellery legally and that is commendable; but while he’s at it there is a long list of other examples of Zessers whom he should ask to account for their material possessions
Stereotyping will not get us to the root cause of criminality, nor will it bring home the Mr Bigs of our country. What the AG did is stereotype every youth from the ghetto as a misfit and a criminal simply because he chooses to wear a big gold chain.
Like the majority of citizens, I want you to trace the money, but stereotyping the young person on a fad is no way to embrace and encourage young people in another direction.
To bring home the Mr Bigs and really get to the root of criminality, you have to have the courage to dig close to home. Find out who were the financiers of both political parties. Hold persons to account for their recent wealth from the prison officer who lives in a mansion and police officer who parks his high-end car at the station to the opportunistic landholder who just happened to own land which the government needed.
You cannot simply stand in Parliament and point at the ghetto. Remember the persons in the ghetto are simply collateral damage—according to a late Prime Minister—and they are desperate enough to do whatever is required. Go after those persons who are liquid enough to engage in major funding of illicit activity.
To do otherwise is to engage in a meaningless charade. There are Zessers who don’t wear big gold chains.
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Dennise Demming grew up in East Dry River, Port of Spain and has more than 30 years experience as a communication strategist, political commentator and event planner. She has 15 years experience lecturing business communications at UWI and is the co-licensee for TEDxPortofSpain. Dennise is a member of the HOPE political party.
What’s her problem? She thinks everybody else is stupid.
I’ve asked this dishonourable man Faris Al Rawi in previous articles to explain the wealth being accrued by himself and his family on the building rented to both of TT corrupt parties at different times. He instead takes aim at TT low lying fruit, our go to everready scapegoat , the ghetto black boy. But I cannot blame him or any of our other stinking, rotting core of politicians as much as I can blame a dog for licking it’s own ass, I blame us and our apathy, our lack of meaningful effort to take to the streets and push for meaningful change. Our naivety in being distracted by intentional racist provocations that keep our so called Indians and our so called Africans looking to Delhi and Accra rather than looking to POS, Chaguanas and San Fernando. I curse us not them because their existence is conditioned and supported ONLY by our complicity.
BRILLIANT Dennise! Needed to be said.
Wearers of gold chains bringing in people who can’t speak a word of English, with no $$, waltzing thru Immigration & Customs, chauffeured to top-class homes, all documents delivered to their homes (work permit etc) by Public Servants, open their new business the next day, charging VAT on the sale of suspect & dubious merchandise to dotish Trinis, but pay no VAT to the Treasury, deal only in cash so there is no trace of the money and hence no tax paid, running corrupt & rigged casino and paying no tax etc, bringing in their country men & women to work like 21st Century slaves in their business, operating rigged gambling machines with no taxes paid, and then paying 8 to 9 $TT for one $US in the illegal forex market so they can repatriate their loot..
Politicians creating diversions and digressions to fool you into thinking the source of problems in T&T are “zessers” and not the elite 1%.
I’d bet!
That’s right! There are Zessors with their money in offshore bank accounts in Antigua and the Cayman Islands instead of around their necks.
its very easy to talk about whats not done. in any task one chooses an easy entry point and then escalates. when you engage in meaningless discouragement you get nowhere.
How is it that the “easy entry point” always points to the Ghettos which were created by their neglect?