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“[…] Neither African nor Indian communities benefit from this… In cases where division arises unintentionally, accountability must fall on leaders, organizers, media voices and political parties to clarify intent, calm tensions and redirect focus to the real issues.
“But if division is deliberately stoked, then consequences must follow. Heads should roll, because deliberate manipulation of race for political gain is a betrayal of the people…”
The following guest column was submitted to Wired868 by Bryan St Louis, who is a former education officer for the Communication Workers Union (CWU):
The recent outrage over African Emancipation Day celebrations has once again shown how quickly race can be turned into a weapon in our politics. But let’s be honest: neither African nor Indian communities benefit from this.
The ones who gain are those who profit from keeping us distracted and divided, politicians and elites who use race as a shield against accountability.
Both PNM and UNC have, at different times, leaned on racial loyalties to secure votes. It is a convenient distraction.
While citizens quarrel over identity, the hard questions about crime, unemployment, healthcare and corruption remain unanswered. Division becomes theatre, a show staged to keep supporters busy with outrage while the real failures go unchallenged.
African Emancipation Day should be a moment of pride, honouring resilience and freedom. To twist it into a flashpoint of division is to rob it of its meaning.
And whether the controversy is intentional or simply unintended, the effect is the same: confusion, distraction and a descent into racial and political theatrics that serve no one but the powerful.
In cases where division arises unintentionally, accountability must fall on leaders, organizers, media voices and political parties to clarify intent, calm tensions and redirect focus to the real issues.
Copyright: Office of the Parliament 2025.
But if division is deliberately stoked, then consequences must follow. Heads should roll, because deliberate manipulation of race for political gain is a betrayal of the people.
Trinidad and Tobago’s strength has always been its diversity—African, Indian, Chinese, Syrian, Indigenous and European roots intertwined. To fracture that is to weaken ourselves while the powerful walk away untouched.
The question we must keep asking is not “which race benefits?” but “who profits from keeping us apart?”
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The answer is plain: not the people, but the few who depend on division to hold power.
If we are serious about progress, we must refuse to let cultural or symbolic issues, whether raised carelessly or deliberately, be twisted into distractions that drag us into party-line theatrics.
Outrage should not blind us to the bigger picture: unity is our greatest threat to those who exploit division and our greatest weapon for real change.
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Bryan St Louis is a former education officer for the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU).
