Dear editor: ‘Anti-black’ racism can only be eradicated when ‘anti-Indo’ racism is also addressed

“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 business people (allegedly) 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’…”

The following Letter to the Editor on the furore over Naila Ramsaran’s description of PNM supporters as ‘loafers’ and ‘cockroaches’ who should be stopped from populating, was submitted to Wired868 by Sanjay Dhalla:

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 business people (allegedly) 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 [allegedly] deride Hindu beliefs, wear, language, customs in their classrooms.

The offence 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 apologised 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. [Dr Keith] 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 dehumanised 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 ostracised 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.

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