John Lennon, the Beatle, in 1965, wrote these haunting lyrics: “You better run for your life if you can, little girl / Hide your head in the sand, little girl / Catch you with another man / That’s the end, little girl / Well, you know that I’m a wicked …
Read More »Dear Abuser… if you love them, leave them alone: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“Dear Abuser… I am asking you please, if you love them, leave them alone. Acknowledge that you are toxic. “Acknowledge that you have hurt and violated them in a way intimate partners never should, and leave them alone…” The following letter written by Rachael Amanda Espinet—who described herself as the …
Read More »Caribbean gender violence is a left-over from colonialism: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“The Caribbean’s brand of gender-based violence is partly supported by the legacy of colonialism that manifests in race, age, gender and class relations. “The power construct of the plantation system included the ownership of bodies that transferred into the post-emancipation/post-indentureship entitlement of men and masculinities in domestic and social relationships.” …
Read More »I was 17 when a man first threatened to rape me in Tacarigua: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“I was 17 when I was first verbally accosted on the street. I was standing on the PBR at the Tacarigua intersection, when a man—probably in his 20s—who I had seen at the corner before, approached me. “He began: ‘Next time yuh come ’round here looking so sweet…’ Or maybe …
Read More »And God liberated woman: Afryea finds genesis of today’s gender struggle in Holy Bible
In the King James Version of the Holy Bible, Job 42:12-15 reads as follows: So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. […] He had also seven sons and three daughters, and he called the name of the first Jemima, and the name of the …
Read More »The Grand Bizarre Shooting; Live Wire reviews worst shooting since Raheem Sterling against Man Utd
In what may go down as the Grand Bizarre Shooting, two fully armed policemen with personal scores to settle fired shots at each other from point-blank range outside the Ruby Tuesday restaurant on Wednesday night. “I thought I was dreaming; this could not be happening right before my eyes,” one …
Read More »Dear Editor: Do stats confirm domestic violence ‘epidemic’? Baldeosingh examines
“The police get more than 1,800 domestic violence reports annually and about 1,300 of these involve physical violence. This works out to an average of 25 per day. This means that, if the mandate being demanded by activists is met, at least 50 police officers will be expending at least …
Read More »Dear Editor: Requiem for my murdered sisters on International Women’s Day
“[…] I have no good wishes or aspirational sentiments. I’m not checking milestones women have achieved or the records we have smashed… I am preoccupied by our extinction at the hands of our men—our husbands, partners, baby fathers, lovers. “Who can celebrate on Women’s Day when there is so much …
Read More »STREET VIBES: Backward Garcia must go if we are to go forward
The old adage “If yuh cyah beat them, join them” can be heard loud and clear behind the latest statement by that dinosaur OJT who has somehow found himself at the helm of education in Trinidad and Tobago. Instead of seeking to find creative ways of treating with the Ministry …
Read More »Do churches condone domestic violence? Can Christian spouses continue to turn the other cheek?
“In conversations with a couple of Christian girlfriends about my situation, I discovered that their Christian husbands were also physically and emotionally abusive. And in October of this year, I met another young woman at a Christmas event who admitted that her Christian husband was also guilty of abuse but …
Read More »Farewell Mrs Officer: How many murders will it take to puncture T&T’s self-delusion?
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.” SE Hinton, The Outsiders. Somewhere in Trinidad and Tobago, there is likely to be a high powered national security meeting going on right now. But it will have little to do with catching the killer of WPC Nyasha …
Read More »Letter to Editor: We can alter our attitude towards women at home
“Now, when these men are “old and strong” and the society is reaping the results of generations of domestic and communal dysfunction on a large scale, we are conveniently pointing accusatory fingers at a veritable forest of old, hard, crooked trees that we as a national collective did nothing to …
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