Ramsaran’s sack Naila! Supermarkets pull products as backlash begins over anti-PNM ‘racist’ taunts


Naila Ramsaran has been fired from family-owned business, Ramsaran’s Dairy Products, for a controversial Facebook post on Tuesday in which she referred to supporters of the People’s National Movement (PNM) party as ‘loafers’ and ‘cockroaches’ and suggested that contraceptives be placed in the water to stop them from ‘populating’.

The founder of the Ramsaran’s company passed away in 1980 and the business, which he started as a small dairy farm in St Augustine in the 1940s, has since been run by his sons. Naila’s relation to the founder is not confirmed, although the company admitted she is a ‘close relative’ to the owners and an employee.

Photo: A racially tinged Facebook post by Naila Ramsaran on 11 August 2020.

Today, Naila ‘apologised’ for her comments, via social media, but did not win many friends in the process as she attempted to offer ‘context’ to her initial post.

“[…] I would also like to apologise to my family and the customers of Ramsaran’s Dairy products as I pride myself of always being fair and giving the best customer service,” stated Naila. “To clarify the context of the screenshots, they were posted out of anger and in response to years of racial discrimination and criminal acts against myself and my family in the last few years.

“I understand that this does not justify my reaction but I do hope that you accept my apology and respect my family and their business’ privacy by not defaming them or the business…”

It did not slow down calls to boycott the Ramsaran’s business; and, within hours, national grocery chain, Massy Stores, confirmed that it had pulled their products after a petition from customers.

“Massy Stores Trinidad operates as a responsible retailer and we make every effort to align ourselves with partners who hold similar values,” stated a release from Massy Stores. “We have listened to our customers and have taken a decision to remove Ramsaran products from our shelves at this time and temporarily suspend ordering of this product.”

Photo: Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.

The Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) was next as it asked members to also boycott Ramsaran’s goods.

“The Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago takes note of the very derogatory statements made by a member of the Ramsaran Family,” stated a release. “These divisive and inflammatory comments do not belong in our multi-ethnic society. We recognise that given the rich diversity of cultures and ethnicities in our cosmopolitan nation that these actions will not be tolerated.

“We are advising all our members that a boycott of all Ramsaran’s Dairy Products is to be undertaken immediately. This will stay in place until such time that the company seeks the appropriate remedy action in a consistent and satisfactory manner.

“SATT recognises the keen values which underscore the fabric of our society and is prepared to uphold the fundamental right that every creed and race is given an equal place and will adapt this policy until further notice.”

Ramsaran’s responded with a statement of its own, as the company distanced itself from ‘a close family member’ and described her post as ‘utterly unacceptable and reprehensible’.

Photo: PNM supporters celebrate the September 7 election results at Balisier House.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)

“It is with a heavy heart that the Ramsaran’s Dairy Products family addresses below the recent damaging and offensive comments posted on social media by a close family member of the owners of our organisation,” stated the company. “Ramsaran’s Dairy Products wishes to unequivocally state that such views expressed by the family member, which were widely publicised, are not in any way whatsoever reflective of the views and beliefs of our small business.

“[…] Given these unfortunate developments, we have taken urgent and active steps to part ways with the employee and author of the subject comments and statements, the content of which cannot and will not be tolerated by us.

“[…] While the said employee cannot speak on our behalf, even by association, we must unreservedly extend our apologies nationwide and to all those who have been impacted by the statements which were utterly unacceptable and reprehensible. Ramsaran’s Dairy Products assures that it will continue to serve this nation and remain unwavering in its stance of equality and fair treatment to all.”

In a separate incident, Bishop Anstey High School and Trinity College East has launched an investigation into school teacher, Kamel Ali, for a series of racist Facebook posts into the aftermath of PNM’s electoral victory on Monday night.

Photo: Bishop Anstey and Trinity College East claimed to be investigating a series of race-tinged references on the Facebook page of Kamel Ali, who is a teacher there.

In the lead-up to the election, a message on Ali’s page said PNM voters had ‘no shame no common sense and less education’ and said the second wave of Covid-19 came when ‘PNM mammie open she leg’.

After PNM triumphed at the polls, further posts on Ali’s page appeared to mock PNM supporters with claims that ‘half of them only eat bread and KFC so the price of groceries wouldn’t matter to them’ and that they similarly did not own property or vehicles.

Former People’s Partnership government Minister of Sport Anil Roberts, who spoke on the UNC platform during the 2020 election campaign, posted a photograph of himself eating a banana on General Election day, to howls of laughter from his followers.

Ruper Rampersad: ‘Love this politically mischievous photo right up to the hilt Anil.’

Vishnu Deonarine: ‘Don’t let Rowley see you with that banana. lol.’

Photo: A Facebook post by former People’s Partnership minister of sport Anil Roberts on 10 August 2020.

Basdeo Bekharry: ‘A wonder if Rowley go be able to eat one this evening.’

Abraham Mohammed: ‘Yah tooo wicked!!!’

Baboolal Singh: ‘For some reason Rowley dose (sic) look at dem big bananas with a lot ah envy.’

Roberts did not respond to the comments, or chide any of the persons who appeared to interpret his photograph as a racist taunt.

Up until the time of publication, the United National Congress (UNC) had not addressed the multiple racist social media posts by its supporters, or the suggestive image by a former minister in the UNC-led coalition government.

Instead, there were multiple messages of support for Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to continue at the helm of the party—despite losing successive general elections.

Photo: UNC leader and Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar (background) hits the campaign trail during the run up to the 10 August 2020 elections.
(via UNC)

Full statement from Ramsaran’s Dairy Products:

It is with a heavy heart that the Ramsaran’s Dairy Products family addresses below the recent damaging and offensive comments posted on social media by a close family member of the owners of our organisation.

Ramsaran’s Dairy Products wishes to unequivocally state that such views expressed by the family member which were widely publicised are not in any way whatsoever reflective of the views and beliefs of our small business.

The Company’s history and traditions have always been steeped in equality and respect for every person irrespective of religion, creed, race or belief.

Given these unfortunate developments, we have taken urgent and active steps to part ways with the employee and author of the subject comments and statements, the content of which cannot and will not be tolerated by us.

Ramsaran’s Dairy Products has been in operation serving the people of Trinidad and Tobago for over 70 years without incident. We started our operations as a humble business and over time, only with the cherished support of our loyal customer base, have our products been able to become a staple in many homes across the nation.

Photo: Ramsaran’s Dairy Products are available at most groceries and schools.

Throughout this time, we have built, developed and maintained a bond with countless employees, suppliers, customers and the public at large.

While the said employee cannot speak on our behalf, even by association, we must unreservedly extend our apologies nationwide and to all those who have been impacted by the statements which were utterly unacceptable and reprehensible.

Ramsaran’s Dairy Products assures that it will continue to serve this nation and remain unwavering in its stance of equality and fair treatment to all.

Editor’s Note: JT Allum Group of Companies today ‘terminated all purchases of the Ramsaran products’ due to ‘zero tolerance towards discrimination of any kind’.

S&S Persad Supermarket, Xtra Foods Supermarket, Tru Valu and West Bees Supermarket also stated it will boycott Ramsaran’s Dairy Products out of solidarity with its customers and to ‘align ourselves with partners who hold similar values’.

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19 comments

  1. I love the sound of good ol’ Indo-Trinidadian honesty. They HATE black people, but love their money and their labour.

  2. “The Company’s history and traditions have always been steeped in equality and respect for every person irrespective of religion, creed, race or belief.” Do we have any factual evidence for this?

  3. “the appropriate remedy action in a consistent and satisfactory manner” what should constitute this remedy action and how do we define consistent and satisfactory? I think all of this needs to be laid out before they attempt…just in case they give us some watered down reparations and expect us to take that…not that I will ever buy this product…it’s made with milk and I prefer less carbs in my drinks. Also, their apology came very late!

  4. Indo-Trinidadians are letting themselves down here in a big way. A lot of Hindus are really put off by what has been said. The community must do better.

    But I do know that a lot of the Indian/Hindu population feel hated in their own country. They remember “No Calcutta ship to Tobago”, and “to build a temple in Tobago is to spit in the eye of God”, the endless kidnappings and murders done upon Indo-Trinidadian businesspeople by Laventille gangs, the various jibes from Fitzgerald Hinds, decades of being called coolie, being denied jobs and education unless you converted, the trips of evangelical pastors down to Debe and Penal to “cleanse the area of evil spirits.” Teachers at Anglican and Catholic denominational schools are allowed to deride Hindu beliefs, wear, language, customs in their classrooms.

    The offense and anger caused by the skit performed for entertainment at the PNM function a few short years ago cannot be overestimated. It was a crude mockery of the Hindu religion, where an Indian woman, ostensibly the holy Sita, was “stripped.” The Prime Minister called those who objected to a stridently anti-Hindu act as racist. There was not any sympathy at all from the PNM leaders or membership.

    Something sacred to Hindus was publicly mocked and insulted, but there was no outrage outside of the Hindu community. Why? Because it is acceptable in Trinidad culture to show contempt for Hindus and Indians.

    That was a line that should not have been crossed and it was never sufficiently acknowledged or apologized for by the PNM or its supporters. If a woman in African-wear was “disrobed” in front of a cheering crowd of Indo-Trinidadians, would the PNM be okay with it? I would find it disturbing, at the very least. Rowley could have shown himself to be a true leader and addressed the grievance, but he doubled-down, ignoring that Hindus had valid reason to be upset, calling them racist.

    The PNM also campaigns using religious hints that their side is blessed by God, and they are walking through the valley, etc. The UNC supporters, many of whom are Hindu (who are only 24% of the population, by the way) thus feel depicted as evil and heathen–because that is what is being obviously implied.

    Indo-Trinidadians have, since arrival, been subtly and openly dehumanized for not being of African lineage and/or for not being Christian. When this clear dislike comes from the Prime Minister, they feel oppressed. And when the man they see as an unapologetic race-baiter wins an election, with so much support from their fellow citizens, they feel ostracized and lash out with bitterness. This will happen until not only anti-black racism is properly highlighted and widely derided, but anti-Indian racism too.

    • Sanjay, sounds like you really are in support of Ms. Ramsaran’s rant. Playing the victim card does not absolve you from your obvious sympathies for racism against Black people. All the kidnappings of Indian people by “Laventille gangs”? So, you solved all those crimes?! You should be the Commissioner of Police!

      You hide behind the history that Indians were/are referred to in derogatory terms like this gives Indian people the right to call Black people whatever they like and to use cruel stereotypes against them.

      And of course, the old trope about religious schools! The same schools you would give an arm and a leg to get your child into?

      Grow up, man. Try to truly empathize with your fellow man and learn to live a better life!

      • Dear Marcia, let me be clear – I find Ms. Ramsaran’s remarks ugly and repellent. My purpose was to explain perhaps why elements in the Indo-Trinidadian community have responded with such excessive vitriol at this time. It does not excuse the offenses, but just aims to provide some insight into the Indo-Trinidadian community, in the hopes that readers might understand and empathize, at least a little.

        Selwyn Ryan wrote to the effect that the presiding culture of Trinidad and Tobago is Afro-Christian. If you are in that community, you cannot know how it is to live outside it. It is not playing the victim card when there is a long and deep history of unfair treatment, which, let me reiterate, goes far beyond name-calling. But the community’s concerns are usually belittled because Indo-Trinidadians are outsiders to the mainstream Afro-Christian culture. This is how outsiders are treated everywhere. The community feels there is little sympathy or empathy from Afro-Trinidadians, and that any redress has to be fought for. That’s why resentment will fester.

        Yes, Indo-Trinidadians attended (and still do attend) Christian denominational schools, only because they are some of the islands’ best schools and we are like everyone else in wanting to have successful lives. Is that a good enough reason to insult our religious beliefs? Up until the past ten or fifteen years, there was no real alternative but to attend such schools–and we did them credit.

        But, presuming that you are Christian, imagine having no choice but to attend a school where teachers and students are free to openly deride Christ. I don’t think you’d find it pleasant.

        Imagine it: a teacher who’s supposed to be teaching a class going on an anti-Christian diatribe, saying, “This man Jesus – he could get anyone into heaven? They call him the Son of God and he couldn’t even save himself. And Christians want to drink his blood. It’s a death-cult. That’s not holy. That’s the devil at work.” Indo-Trinidadians have had to swallow insults of equivalent ignorance, daily or weekly, in schools around the country, for generations.

        We have also had to tolerate the current Prime Minister showing unequivocal support for a racist skit in front of his supporters, and the late Patrick Manning implying Hindu holy flags are demonic. To foster a united society, couldn’t they have at least hidden their distaste? Fake some respect? Being politically correct is sometimes helpful.

        Again, this does not excuse racism against Afro-Trinidadians. You have the empathy of the majority of Indo-Trinidadians for the anti-Afro-Trinidadian, racist things that have been written and said. We know they must hurt deeply. But we often feel, as the outsider culture, that we rarely get such empathy in return.

        I don’t know you, but I wish you well.

        *About the gangs and kidnapping: I had many colleagues from Laventille during that time, all Afro-Trinidadians whom I liked and respected. Many of their childhood friends were then in gangs, and my colleagues talked freely about all the mischief they got up to. When the kidnappings began, my colleagues matter-of-factly explained that gangs in the Laventille area had moved into that terrible business seeing that it had been lucrative for another party.

        • Sanjay Dhalla you bring up some interesting info pertaining to the perceived or factual Indo Trinbagonian experience as it pertains to race. You are however mistaken when you claim that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley didn’t apologize for the Sari skit, here is the link of the apology https://www.looptt.com/content/watch-pm-apologises-hindu-community-over-sari-skit
          A quote from the report ”Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley ‘unreservedly apologized’ for the controversial sari skit portrayed at a PNM family day last Sunday, saying he has since spoken with Hindu religious leaders and learned the religious significance of the portrayal.”

          You talk about denominational schools and their attitude towards Hindus, but you should know that that attitude isn’t just towards Hindus, it is towards Rastas, Baptists, Muslims, Atheists, LGBTQ etc., they have even cut children’s hair to conform with Christian ideas or supposed Christian ideas, I mean Jesus himself is always portrayed as a long haired man but whatever. My point is different religious institutions will enforce their religious and political world views within their own 4 walls that they own and control (are they right or wrong for doing that?), or are we to believe that a Hindu school would bend over backwards to not make a Muslim, Christian etc. feel perturbed by their religious teachings and expectations.
          https://www.looptt.com/content/muslim-woman-allegedly-barred-hindu-school-over-hijab
          Take a look at the allegations made by a female Muslim student against a Hindu school in Trinidad.
          I am not saying that it is right and good but any parent who sends their children to a school from another religion has to expect that their child will have to conform in some way, and you know something for the last decades it was perfectly normal, but today we ask questions, we challenge old ideas, especially also because of the availability of the internet and the stories from other nations and how they deal with similar situations. So if we say as a nation that a Hindu child in a Christian school, a Muslim child in a Hindu school, an African religion child in a Baptist school and so on must be allowed the full range of their religious practices in that school then let’s figure it out, but how far does it go, will it go so far that Christians enter a Hindu Temple to pray to Jesus and Hindus must humble themselves and accept this, because well it’s religious freedom, or is it in fact that some spaces are reserved for particular religious beliefs and that those who do not share those beliefs should instead be respectful and mindful of where they are and that they should humble themselves and accept that this is one place of a few where they cannot do what they would normally do, but they can go to their own schools, their own Churches, Mosques, Temples etc. and do their stuff in their own place and nobody from no other religion will interfere with that, if anything we will defend your rights as fellow Trinbagonians to practice your beliefs in the designated space for that. To illustrate it with an alternative example imagine a vegetarian at a burger festival complaining of the smell of meat in the air, what would you say to that person lmao.

          When it comes to the alleged crimes of black gangs from POS and environs against Indo Trinbagonians, this is of course of serious concern to the entire nation, everybody is affected in some way by crime. I do not know of a single good Trini of African decent who has ever advocated for something like that and I do not know of a single good Indo Trinbagonian who has advocated for trafficking (weapons, drugs, humans) or corruption etc. If a black gang targeted Indians then the question is why, is it that these Indians had businesses and money and so the criminals chose to follow the money and ended up by Indians, or is it that they had criminal dealings with these specific business persons and knew that if they robbed them they can’t go to the police because what are they going to say ”Officer he stole my drug money” lmao.
          I have theorized for a long time that as a result of black gunmen (are they getting their guns from an Indian trafficker, a Venezuelan, a white man from the USA, corrupt black police etc.?), robbers etc. that this will create racism in Trinidad and Tobago, because it is very easy to fall into that mindset in a situation like that, however we must sit down and analyze the situation with common sense (my wife says common sense is not very common).
          In T&T crime is not about black vs indian, indian vs black and syrian vs black, indian, white etc., crime in T&T is about money, sometimes about power, but it always comes down to the money, because even if they want power it still translates into getting the money.

          Let me share a conclusion I came to a while ago. A murder is committed, officers in white suits show up and take pictures and gather evidence, 500 murders a year, year after year after year, of this maybe 80 get solved and it is the domestic disputes eg husband vs wife, boyfriend vs girlfriend, love triangle etc. (those are the cases where the perpetrator is immediately known), then you have the odd imbecile robber who murdered somebody and was caught without a mask on CCTV. The bulk of murders go unsolved, not because they can’t be solved, but because the cooperation needed from the public to solve them is not forthcoming, and even when eyewitnesses have done their civic duty some paid the ultimate price for it. So year after year we hope for a change when it comes to crime but we keep playing the game the same, there is a murder, there is an investigation and again ”unsolved murder”. The killers know or at least believe that they will get away with it. We have to change the rules of the game, if we can’t catch, convict & execute murderers then we have to take who we can catch and convict and subsequently execute them eg robbers, illegal gun possessors, kidnappers, gang members, car thieves, traffickers (weapons, drugs, humans), corrupt public officials. As long as our leaders (regardless of PNM or UNC) continue to play the game by the same old rules we will never defeat crime, because the criminals know the rules and they know how to win under the current system and even when they die or go to prison they get replaced by new recruits quicker than the system can defeat them.
          Imagine for conversation sake that a man was caught with 5 illegal guns and a ski mask, and the magistrate could sentence him to death, and the state approached him and said ”It’s your only choice, you can turn state witness against your friends and maybe die one day many years from now by their hand, or you can die tomorrow in the gallows”, you think he wouldn’t talk. We have to change who dying, instead of the taxi driver being murdered for the 200dollars in his pocket and his car (wife crying on his casket, children without their father etc.), or the raped woman abused and murdered and dumped like trash (that is somebodies wife, daughter, mother etc.), or the elderly victims of burglaries murdered, let it be the illegal gun possessors, robbers, kidnappers, gang members and corrupt cops/officials who die. What do they have illegal guns for if not to rob, rape and murder the innocent and the guilty, what are the corrupt officials taking bribes for if not to facilitate the crimes of these people in total violation of their oaths of office (treason!), so let’s treat them like would be murderers and conspirators and give them their consequence.
          You want security, well it can never be free, there is a price and not just in money but in blood.
          If we change the law to do this we will clean out T&T in 10 years, because criminals will not be able to survive. I am of course conscious of the fact that there will be a high blood price (my estimate 1200 executed gang members, robbers, traffickers, corrupt officials etc.) and a political price (international condemnation etc.) for our newfound security. Can I live with the knowledge that a man convicted for possessing an AR15 and anti gang convictions was executed? YES I CAN. We all can, and even the biggest abolitionist of capital punishment among us will celebrate the newfound security if that day should come. But don’t worry because it won’t come, you know why? because the politicians don’t have the stomach to do what I suggest, these are people who play golf and wear nice shirts, they do not want to be snubbed by Sweden at the UN. So we continue to give criminals all the human rights and we continue with the crime wave, and an entire nation pays the price. Do you all really believe that 500 murders a year is the full potential of violence in T&T, I suspect that there is in fact room for more, maybe 700 or even 800 murders a year, it is of course connected to population growth, the availability of illegal guns, corruption, the situation in Venezuela and the will of the law abiding to continue being victimized.
          Sorry if my comment got long but I am very passionate about this.

          • @Mr. Bickmaus (in case this reply doesn’t get put in the right place) I salute your common sense and factual rebuttal of Sanjay’s inflammatory fiction. Thank you. Your wife is right. Common sense is not very common. Your views on crime also have merit. Sometimes it feels like we are between a rock and a hard place in terms of finding the solution for some crimes.

          • Dear Mr. Bickmaus,

            Thanks for your interesting and instructive reply.

            It is good to know that the PM eventually apologized. That is a credit to him. But a skit that offensive never should have been cancelled after the first mention. But, again, I’m glad of the update.

            I think the hijab issue was an indirect tit-for-tat for Hindu students being told they can’t wear the cloth bands, called rakshas, around their wrists at non-Hindu schools. Both are wrong. A hijab is harmless. I think though that a denominational school should be aware of any students not of that religion, and treat them with tolerance. They don’t have to be allowed private worship spaces or anything, but at least their beliefs should not be mocked. Just leave them alone. Don’t proselytize. That’s disrespectful and intolerant.

            A Christian or Muslim can enter a Hindu temple and quietly worship whomever they wish. Hinduism teaches that everyone has their own path. I have been to multiple Hindu events where Jesus, Mother Mary and Allah were all given respectful mentions. Why, if Hinduism holds the deities of other religions in regard, is there a problem with a Hindu converting to another religion, is a discussion for another time.

            A point that I find contentious. “If a black gang targeted Indians then the question is why, is it that these Indians had businesses and money and so the criminals chose to follow the money and ended up by Indians, or is it that they had criminal dealings with these specific business persons and knew that if they robbed them they can’t go to the police because what are they going to say ”Officer he stole my drug money”

            Please don’t assume that all Indo-Trinidadian businessmen are involved in drugs, or that all those who were kidnap victims were involved. It might be the case in some of the kidnappings but it is a stereotype and quite untrue. Most Indo-Trinidadian businessmen have built their businesses honestly.

            As to the levels of crime in this country – Trinidad is a drug-and-gun trans-shipment point between South and North America. I don’t know, but my feeling that this illegal activity is not quashed one, because some local people with connections are benefiting, and two, the US likes knowing where this route is. If it’s mashed up, then they’d have to monitor vast sweeps of the South and Central American coastline. Easier to keep it here and try to contain it.

            You might remember during the kidnapping spree that the son of a highly prominent business family was kidnapped. Not an Indo-Trinidadian family. The arrests were made made the very next day, the remaining suspects on the run were all shortly shot dead–and I don’t think by the police. At that time, the police knew exactly who to pick up and the assassins knew exactly where the remaining kidnappers were hiding out. The police frequently know, but their higher-ups rarely authorize them to act. Crime, and many other ills, in this country, would be solved with improved governance. It’s the case worldwide.

            • Thanks for the reply Mr Sanjay Dhalla. Of course I didn’t mean that all indo Trinbagonian business persons who got robbed, kidnapped etc. were somehow involved in crime, I am simply pointing out the possibilities of why this may have happened. Some criminals are opportunists, they might drive for 1 hour and see a nice house, a Hilux parked in the yard and say ”yeah boy, this is the one”, they have no idea who living there, what race they are etc., and then there are more targeted approaches.
              What our nation needs is a healing, a coming together, one love, and it must be the media that leads because the media can reach into every house. Instead of all the Hollywood shoot them up movies we need more shows (preferably locally produced) that address racial and other social issues head on and help people to think about this and learn the necessary lessons.
              I also ask myself if maybe TT needs a new form of Government that is more inclusive, ask yourself this there are 41 seats, the PNM won 22 and the UNC 19 seats, now ALL the Government positions will be PNM, had it been the other way around ALL the Government positions would have been UNC, but why? is that democracy? is that proper representation based on the people’s vote, shouldn’t there in essence be a sharing of all Gov positions based on the support the different political actors have at any given point in time, and it wouldn’t be a reinvention of the wheel, because there is a country that already does this Switzerland, one of the best ran nations in the World. Of course the rules of how that works would have to be made in advance of any elections because nobody would voluntarily give up their power right after winning the election. Can you imagine the look on PNM people’s faces if Dr.Keith Rowley were to announce that ”As Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, I am appointing Dr. Roodal Moonilal as Minister of Rural Development” lmao. Can you imagine the look on Imbert face wheeeee. But it goes both ways imagine a PM Kamla Persad Bissessar ”Based on the power sharing principle enshrined in our constitution I am appointing Colm Imbert as Minister of Finance, a position he has been in before and served in with distinction, welcome to the Government”. We need to start thinking about this, because it will also serve to dampen any racialisms that arise out of an election (is it really from the election or is it from everyday?!?), and interestingly it would also tamper proof our nation from things like what we are seeing right next door in Venezuela. What it would do about corruption I don’t know, but it would be interesting to see.

        • Thank you, Sanjay. I get it, some of your best friends are Black.

    • The Truth About Racism In Trinidad | Racism struggles
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODctqv4h-68

      …1 out of a million is closer to accuracy, but, point noted.

  5. They can make any comment they want and we can choose NOT to buy their products, NOT to attend the class of that teacher, NOT to vote for them. Imagine this teacher going to school on Monday and not a single student shows up, and instead there is a protest outside by the ”bread and KFC” eating students, as if this teacher never enjoyed a nice piece of fry chicken. The Ramsaran lady points to some kind of incidents, presumably criminal ones that her family experienced. We have a crime problem, and I personally have theorized that eventually this crime problem will lead to racism, because if it’s a black gunman, robber etc. and a victim of a different background then it’s easy to fall into that kind of thoughts, but crime is not black or indian etc., that same black robber may have got his gun from an indian background gun trafficker, we don’t know, crime isn’t about race it’s about money, and your family have money so you need to take the necessary precautions to avert such incidents. Without the guns these guys would be doing something constructive or at least not robbing and killing, where are these guns coming from, and why is there a mysterious increase in guns in our country since around the year 2000 at the same time that the USA and Venezuela dispute started heating up?!?
    Are these things connected, is it some kind of US destabilization plan, is it simply criminals who decided to activate a gun pipeline and make big money, are elements of the police involved, who is behind the never ending flow of guns into our society, that is the heart of the problem.If there are 500 murders a year then presumably there are thousands or even tens of thousands of illegal guns in our country, why doesn’t the Police try to see if they can buy some and in doing so catch the criminals, if there is no law for it then let’s get this law, we need to get these guns and whoever is bringing them into circulation. Without those illegal guns our nation could come back to a sense of normalcy, we all could live like Kings and Queens under the Caribbean climate, we would be the envy of the World.

  6. The responsibility of this unfortunate show of utter disrespect and unbridled hatred of some of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago lies squarely on the shoulders of one of the prominent leaders of our nation,whose open racial slurs against the the leader and prime minister of our nation and his party members left us very shocked and sad during the recently concluded election campaign. If we think sensibly we will realize that racism of this kind will benefit none of us, not in a country like Trinidad and Tobago where we are so inextricably bound in so many different ways. To continue like this would be to self destruct.
    The instigator therefore needs to see what can be done to put to sleep this destructive divisive giant that has been awakened ,before the rising sun sets once and for all.

    • Whether it is PNM or UNC in power, isn’t there a sizable middle class in T&T, they have food in their fridge, they have a car or in some cases multiple cars, they have a house or apartment, they have tv, pc, smartphones, clothes, they have pets, they even travel to the USA and Europe. My point is besides the vip’s who get in and close to the political actors where the feeding from the treasury occurs who can really say that they get anything other than the typical utilities, infrastructure, education, healthcare etc., and isn’t that exactly what you are supposed to be getting. Gov does what it does, it not there to put food in your fridge or fix your roof, Gov provides the basics so you can learn to do that yourself. Whether sought or unsought T&T has entered a tribal phase of politics and this is dangerous, thankfully we have not seen political violence with very few exceptions, but this sentiment can be exploited by nefarious actors who wish our nation harm, as Trinbagonians we must never allow anybody whether local or international to bring division into our society. We have free and fair elections, we run a good campaign, we either win or lose, the day after elections we move on and live like normal.

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