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Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach used in Communications and linguistics to analyse texts and the way language is employed to create particular meanings. Emphasis is placed on how speakers’ language choices are used to persuade people to think of events in a particular way.

In the aftermath of controversies like the #AmyCooper incident it’s always fascinating to me to observe how the very language used by these characters even after they’ve been caught red handed is employed to escape accountability. The statement ‪“My life is being destroyed right now” is what is an example of ‘passivization’, one of the tools drawn from CDA. By using a passivated verb without an agent, the speaker can obscure who acts and who has responsibility. You may recognise this approach in some newspaper headlines – for example, “10 civilians were killed during a drone strike.” What’s missing is who carried out the action. Similarly, the Amy Coopers of the world who weaponise their privilege to cause harm to others press on after being caught in the wrong and attempt to use that very privilege to evoke sentiments of sympathy by appealing to ideas of white fragility, to shield them from the consequences of their own actions. Your "life being destroyed" really equates to losing your job, losing your adopted dog and widespread ostracisation. These are fair and natural consequences to breaking whatever HR clause that exists on your contract about bringing the company into disrepute for being revealed to be acting far from a decent human being, being caught on camera ill-treating your dog and generally being a racist *fill in the blanks* Amy, you literally did this to yourself. While actually living with the consequences of your own actions may seem like death to you, it has actually been a death sentence to many black men and kids who have been shot on sight by officers arriving on the scene after receiving similar ‘distress’ calls. By comparison, while it warmed the cockles of many a heart to see you relieved of your job within 24 hours of the incident, the reality is you have thus far actually received less than the bare minimum punishment for your actions, as you’ve not yet been charged for making a false report, which is a class A misdemeanour offense in New York. It’s easy to lose focus of what’s your just due when so often in this white supremacist world, privilege trumps justice.

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In a 2014 interview with New York magazine Chris Rock gave some poignant commentary on race relations in America. His key point is one I reflect on when thinking of the women’s empowerment movement.

“When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it's all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people were crazy. Now they're not as crazy. To say that black people have made progress would be to say they deserve what happened to them before…”

Women have always been fierce, determined, smart, beautiful, human and deserving of respect. Women are great all on their own. Let’s each commit to, in our own way, playing our part in dismantling the systems of oppression that have imposed limits on them being so. Happy International Women’s Day #EachForEqual #IWD2020 #InternationalWomensDay

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Dredd Policing and Vigilante Vice — Sounding the Alarm on Dangerous Media Framing

Just over a week ago, on Saturday 28th December 2019, the Trinidad Express featured a photograph of the Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith, standing triumphantly, brooding over the body of Marcus Thomas, a suspect in the murder of Police Constable Nicholas Victor — a Traffic and Highway Patrol officer who was ambushed and killed by two gunmen on Christmas Eve. Thomas was shot dead by police in a reported shoot-out on December 27th. Following widespread criticism for featuring the graphic photo on its cover page, the Express doubled down on its decision to publish the photo in an editorial which broadly cited the “public’s right to know,” as the motivation to publish. Rather remarkably, the Express’ editors apologised for not attributing their cover page’s photograph to the Corporate Communications unit of the Police Service.

The Express’ explanation is, at best, disingenuous and at worst, a deliberate misrepresentation of the nature of the close working relationship between the Police Service and the media, in an attempt to relinquish some responsibility for the dissemination of the grotesque imagery they simultaneously claim to be unashamed of publishing.

It’s important to note that the press’ need to have constant coverage of crime-related events has led to a marriage of convenience between the Fourth Estate and the police. Police officers are customarily the first persons on the scene of a crime and, as the most visible law enforcement personnel representing the state, they are frequently sought after as sources of official information for crime reporting. As they have established themselves as the ‘authorised knowers’, the trade-off for media organisations’ quick reception of privileged information from police sources is the positioning of the police as narrative shapers. This also lends to the police framing reported events to benefit their departments in a positive light. In Rob Mawby’s 2010, Crime Reporters, the Police and ‘Law-and-Order News’ study, he explains that “the advent of corporate communications departments in police departments and the decline of specialist crime reporting has precipitated the entrenchment of the police media relationship in which ‘law-and-order news’, though contested, has produced a relationship that is “increasingly asymmetrical in favour of the police.”

In T&T’s media landscape, most of the news on crime published by the media is received directly from press statements provided by the Corporate Communications department of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). Despite the position espoused by the Express’ editorial, the non-attribution of the “the photo” to the photographer of the TTPS’ Communications Unit was not an aberration. It is standard practice for organisations of all different sizes, functions and mandates to conduct public relations by providing the media with information intended for the general public. The job of the media houses receiving these communiqués however, is to adjudicate on whether they are appropriate to publish. Appropriateness, of course is subjective. And in a country where, despite the existence of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT), media practitioners do not follow one strict journalistic code of ethics, it is increasingly challenging to pinpoint direct infringements. On the other hand, the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) Code of Practice provides some insights into the standards of journalistic practice that local practitioners should uphold.

According to TTPBA: Media practitioners should respect citizen’s right to privacy and should refrain from intruding into an individual’s life without his or her consent, inclusive of photography taken of people on private property without their consent. Notably, private property is defined as: “1) any private residence; 2) hotel bedrooms and 3) those parts of a hospital or nursing home where patients are treated or accommodated.” These are deemed “not generally acceptable and publication can only be justified when in the public interest.” While one would be forgiven for walking away from the Express’ editorial with the feeling that “the public interest” is a nebulous concept, the TTPBA clearly outlines examples of cases in which the public interest would trump a duty to strictly adhere to the principles of its code. These exceptions are outlined in the following cases:

i) Detecting or exposing crime or a serious misdemeanour,

ii) Protecting public health and safety.

iii) Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of an individual or organisation.

So how exactly then, was the public interest served by the Express’ cover page? A code of ethics need not be examined to acknowledge that it is in poor taste to facilitate the indignity of publishing someone’s lifeless body on the operating table of a hospital bed sans family consent. The code does shed light on Express’ justification for publishing to “satisfy the public interest” simply does not pass muster and rings extremely hollow.

We therefore need to ask, whose interests are being served by publishing such a grotesquely garish photo of the nation’s Commissioner of Police posing over a dead body in a curated photo that has the distinctive eerie feel of a hunter looking over his prized slaughtered prey like a trophy? Despite its attempt to do so in its editorial, the Express cannot present itself as an unbiased observer.

Media researchers have over the years established that media framing of events can have a significant impact on an audience’s perception. The press can effectively construct particular meanings in the minds of their readers through the use of language, and the selection or omission of details. Framing is essentially about selection and salience. While the term media framing has a commonly used meaning in the English language, in communication theory, media framing has an even more specific meaning which is useful when considering the way that fatal police shootings are covered in Trinidad and Tobago. Communications theorist, Robert Entman states that “to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.” The Express not only dropped the ball on upholding decent standards of journalistic ethics with their front cover page and cover story, but this depiction symbolises the type of vigilante justice framing of police killings recently championed by the top brass of the police service. Vigilante justice frame narratives are further compounded by the way the media chooses to describe fatal police shootings. By labelling Marcus Thomas as a ‘COP KILLER’ in their lead headline, “COPS KILL COP KILLER”, the Express criminalised the deceased with an emphatic pronouncement of his guilt — this is the equivalent of rubber-stamping the front page with the police’s given narrative. The police appear confident that Thomas was PC Victor’s killer, stating that they retrieved Victor’s firearm in the police operation in which Thomas was killed. There may indeed be veracity to their suspicions, but it is wholly irresponsible for media outlets to present the police’s version of events as the de facto truth and to facilitate the normalisation of officers of the law operating like the protagonist in the dystopian comic Judge Dredd — as judges, jury and executioners.

From very early in his tenure, Commissioner Griffith made his thoughts on the relationship between due process and the deadly use of force by police officers clear. When asked to clarify his adoption of the now infamous ‘one shot, one kill’ military policy in a December 2018 interview with LOOP TT, Griffith stated that “due process is (about) the lives of my officers (and it) has precedence over any other matter.”

One year later the Commissioner’s rhetoric remains consistent. In confirming the shooting death of Thomas to reporters, Griffith resurrected his gun talk with the gusto of a Midnight Robber; “You touch one, you touch all!” He reiterated that his intention was to lead operations “going after every shooter.”

A perusal of the comment sections on online forums and media outlets’ social media pages illustrates how many Trinidadians seemed to have accessed and utilised a vigilante frame to describe their view of most fatal police shooting in Trinidad and Tobago. This frame, like all good media frames — defines a problem (citizens living in fear and insecurity); diagnoses a cause (pervasive crime with lawless criminals wreaking havoc on innocent citizens); makes a moral judgement (criminals deserve to die for their crimes) and suggests a remedy (police officers should fatally shoot suspected criminals when engaging with them).

The Express claims that it is not “unaware of the growing demand for exterminating suspects by any means necessary regardless of the collateral cost to innocent persons and the Constitution.” It says “the photo” simply captured the tensions between that perspective and the “criminal siege on our nation and its people.” However, the press is a conduit through which news media organisations set the agenda for the discussions of the day and select the topics deemed worthy of national and international importance. The discourse on crime is no different, and as researchers have noted, the media fraternity has guided audiences’ understanding of crime. The media frequently dramatises crime stories, centering the villain in their crafting of crime reports, and in so doing, create a predictable narrative that their readers can come to expect before they’re even apprised of the details of a specific case when reading crime reports. The creation of digestible predetermined narratives was noted by filmmaker and scholar Rachel Lyon in 2009 and sadly, it continues today, in 2020. Failure of the media community to thoroughly and critically engage with the facts and circumstances surrounding police shootings has the potential to encourage indiscriminate use of deadly force amongst the ranks of the police service. Potentially, this could lead to the police group innocent victims and dangerous criminals alike, made worse by a media environment that allows the Police Service to essentially eulogise victims of fatal police shootings’, writing their final stories in the media.

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                                              The Resilience of a People

Trinidad and Tobago became the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery on August 1st, 1985. Just a mere century and a half before this date our African ancestors living here were granted the legal right to be free men and women. So though we may go about the hustle and bustle of our daily lives without paying much thought to the freedom in which we have to associate and assemble, to speak, to move about and to our own overall self-determination, it is not something which we should take for granted. For our ancestors less than 2 centuries ago, our everyday life today would be considered a utopian fantasy. As I sit and reflect on this today as a man of African descent who’s been able to enjoy a measure of professional success, the life I lead today is never something that I take for granted; I stand here today a benefactor of the literal back-breaking work and unimaginable sacrifices of African men and women who toiled, struggled, resisted and died for their freedom and who helped to secure mine. Resilience is often a main theme that comes to mind when I reflect on my blackness and ancestry.  It’s simply impossible to speak about being emancipated without talking about being enslaved – and it is impossible to talk about being resilient without a consideration of what you have been able to survive. The brutality of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade lasted over 400 years. From as early as the turn of the fifteenth century enslaved Africans were taken from Western Africa and brought across the Atlantic in unimaginably inhumane conditions to the Caribbean and North America to work on the plantations of the European planter class. As many of us are aware, the Middle Passage was a horrendous ordeal for these Africans. They were crammed below decks in handcuffs and leg irons. For anywhere between six weeks to three months enslaved Africans were treated as human cargo and packed like sardines in closed quarters below deck without any washroom facilities. Such was the mental toll of these conditions that many threw themselves overboard – choosing to die at the hands of the sea over enduring the hellacious conditions on board. Those who survived the dreaded middle passage were rewarded with a lifetime of slavery and brutality which they were to receive once they reached the shores of the Caribbean. They were treated as human cargo aboard the ships that brought them to our shores and reduced to chattel slaves during a lifetime of barbarous servitude. Notably, even when emancipation of slavery was formally attained in 1838, it followed the failure of the British abolitionist to sway public opinion enough for slavery’s abolition. Thirty four years after the abolitionists’ most significant victory to secure the abolition of the slave trade, it was the economic imperative of choosing free trade and obtaining cheap access to beet root sugar over the sugar obtained from Caribbean slave labour which ultimately spurred on slavery’s abolition. In other words, the freeing of enslaved Africans did not end the dehumanization of African people.

So today when we speak about the resilience of a people we are celebrating much more than the termination of the previous legal practice of enslaving African people. We are celebrating the resilience of a people who were uprooted from their birthplace; a people who lost their right to determine the course of their own lives; a people who were brutalised and treated less than human and, even years after the abolition of slavery, were treated as second class citizens; a people, who despite all of these historical and generational hindrances have been able to rise from the mire to make groundbreaking and lasting contributions to humanity; a people who have indelibly left their mark on every continent worldwide and who have infused societies with their rich cultural heritage passed on through their impressive oral tradition. As pleased as I am to be able to reflect in a ‘free society’, perhaps I may not have been able to do so in the comfort of this well-lit room without the help of Lewis Latimer. Latiner invented the carbon filament for the light bulb. It’s also genuinely difficult to imagine a world without the artificial heart peacemaker, invented by African American inventor Otis Boykin, without mobile refrigeration invented by black inventor Fredrick Jones or without blood banks invented by black innovator Charles Richards Drew. These are but a limited few of the black inventors I’ve chosen to highlight. More recently, and closer to home, in 2010 Trinidad Afro-Trini inventor Dr. Ronald De Four invented and received a patent for the De Four Back EMF Space Vector Resolver. His invention introduced a cutting-edge commutation technique for brushless DC motors, which now allows the motor to be self-starting. It is having a resounding impact in the appliances, automotive, aerospace, consumer, medical, computer and industrial automation industries as its energy-efficient capability will reduce the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, a by-product of burning fossil fuel and the key greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. There are many African personalities that have, the world over, contributed to science and technology, the arts, literature, sport and entertainment. As we as Trinbagonians reflect during emancipation day celebrations, it is important for us to also recognise our Trinbagonian African Heritage as a whole. In spite of attempts to impose a Eurocentric value system on enslaved Africans, the resilience of our African descendants shine through to this day, as evident in the African influence in carnival, our music, dance, language, food fashion and arts and craft. Though the French introduced carnival to Trinidad, enslaved Africans transformed the way the festival was celebrated through cultural expressions which represented acts of rebellion and mocked the colonial powers. The Engungun festival of Nigeria is reminiscent of the revelry, pantomime, street parades, music and masking that are seen at carnival; the moko jumbie, devil portrayal and even hat worn by the midnight robber are quite similar to characters played during the Nigerian festival. African influence can be seen in several of the folk dances of T&T including the Bongo, Shango, Limbo and Kalinda or, as we would call it, stick-fighting. The resilience of our fathers manifested itself in their creativity. In addition to the transformation of the festival of carnival, enslaved Africans used the pittance of food that they were given, in combination with the little crops which they planted, to make innovations such as callaoo, coo coo and oil down. Today Caribbean cuisine is world renowned for its unique flavour and distinctive style. And of course, we all know about the head wrap or head tie which is one of the more obvious styles brought directly to Trinidad and Tobago from Africa. It warms my heart to see my social media feeds proliferated with pictures of stunning head wrap styles.

Today, as we commemorate and celebrate our emancipation, I think it important to note that resilience and self-awareness are not mutually exclusive – in fact, the former can be informed by and spur on more of the latter. Dr. Joy Degruy, following from years of historical and psychological research, outlines in her book, Post Traumatic Slave disorder, a set of behaviors, beliefs and actions associated with multi-generational trauma experienced by persons of African descent that include undiagnosed and untreated PostTraumatic Stress Disorder in enslaved Africans and their descendants. Professor Selwyn Ryan in discussing the sensitive topic of the challenges that are peculiar to different ethnic groups in Trinidad and Tobago has in times past used the phrase “none without social sin.” I believe that it is important to understand that our resilience can shine a light on a difficult past and lead the way to a brighter future. As we reflect on the contribution of African people and our African heritage let us endeavor to commit to take the time to always build up our communities – understanding our tumultuous past, taking time to heal as well as celebrate in the present and securing our future through the commitment to continue to be a resilient people that inspire each other to push for better, and to, in the spirit of our forefathers, fight for more – for our continued emancipation.

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Reflections on International Day of the Girl Child: On Holding Each Other Accountable

I spent a fair part of my morning yesterday reflecting on empathy, violence against women, societal norms and accountability. For two straight days I’ve watched popular radio personalities, abroad and locally being called out for trivializing violence against women.

In our neck of the woods Jason ‘JW’ Williams, a host and talk show personality that I have a lot of respect for, was called out for, among other statements, stating that a woman who was pushed down and kicked for opting not to dance with a man in the recent ‘Chinatown’ party event should’ve perhaps given him “a little wine for ten seconds.”

It’s encouraging that both in the blogosphere and through several call-ins to the program Jason was held accountable for propagating this problematic stance through the nation’s airwaves.

Notwithstanding these encouraging signs, we know for a fact that Jason is not an outlier for having this line of thought - these aren’t fringe views that he holds. I believe that he, like many men and sadly women, saw his comments as reasonable - a genuine attempt to offer a useful suggestion in an unpleasant situation. The reason this line of thought is not at all useful however, is that it perpetuates the harmful narrative that women are at least partly responsible for pacifying men who violate their bodies and their space through unwanted advances.  

On this the International Day of the Girl Child I wondered, not for the first time, how it must feel for women to grow up being forced to navigate a world where violence and lack of total bodily autonomy is something that many men and women view as a natural societal condition that they must maneuver.

There are people who will never fully understand challenges that I personally face. Likewise, as much as I may empathize with struggles that my gay friends or my black American friends may undergo, it’s impossible for their plight to resonate with me 100%. This is fine. What’s not ok, is for me to belittle, deride, minimize or flat out dismiss their very legitimate concerns due to a lack of empathy and willingness to entertain perspectives from people whose experiences are not directly mirrored by my own.

Being held accountable is uncomfortable but necessary for change. Jason gave us a comprehensive guide on how to not accept accountability this morning:

1. He dismissed valid criticisms of his problematic statements on the grounds that some of the (female) callers were getting “too emotional” and were “in their feels”. If Jason’s not going to allow his views on this matter to evolve he should at least allow his sexism to enter the this century. Calling women emotional as a means of dismissing valid arguments is soo 20th century. In all seriousness though, it’s disappointing that this sort of tactic is still widely used in 2016. It amounts to tone policing and is an ad hominem attack used to discredit legitimate critiques on the grounds that the person leveling the criticism must be too emotionally invested in the topic at hand to offer up any rational thought on it. This itself is a flawed way of thinking but it also reveals a callous disregard of the experiences of others – a lack of empathy and a get out of jail free card in upholding ignorance. It was unnerving to listen to the host and several other men who called in to offer this outdated criticism at the persons who called out JW’s statement as beyond the pale. One’s mental faculties and deductive reasoning can be totally intact while discussing a topic that rightfully brings strong emotions to the fore. I for one am always livid at the implied notion that we guys are ravenous animals who can’t help but prey on women by violently lashing out when they decline granting us access to their bodies.

2. JW asked the rhetorical question “what do you go to a party to do” in response to an anonymous caller’s request that he retract his less than helpful “survival tactics” suggestion that the woman who declined to dance with the man who assaulted her should have given him “a little 10 seconds wine.” This suggestion shifts responsibility away from the perpetrator of violence and lays at least some culpability at the feet of the woman - the victim of the violence - who could have rightfully gone a party for any number of reasons. Women are free to go to ‘lime’ with their crew or chill alone, to dance alone, dance with strangers or with no one at all. The space that they are in - whether an office space or club or fete - does not grant anyone unfettered access to their bodies. Additionally, the “survival tactics” recommendation reinforces the idea that being met with violence is one of the natural consequences that women should expect when denying a man access to their bodies. The woman in question did not initiate a physical altercation with her assailant. She simply denied his request to dance. Suggesting that she should have considered foregoing her own desire not to dance to pacify him suggests that the violence meted out to her should have been expected.

3. JW ensured that we were on several occasions reminded of just how bad the emotional toll of receiving a ‘brace’ (a denial for a request to dance in a party) is for us men. While I’m certain that there is nary a Trini man who hasn’t experienced this, this phenomenon has no place in this discussion. Certainly, how to deal with rejection is a worthy topic of exploration but raising it in the context of an explanation for and not a rebuff of the violence perpetrated against women centres the male perpetrator of violence in this scenario as a victim and tacitly assigns some blame to the woman for not being understanding and accommodating of her assailant’s fragile ego.

I don’t envy the task of radio talk show announcers who are tasked with engaging a listening audience for hours on end, but the truth is that there aren’t two sides to every issue. Some behaviours are wholly unacceptable and even if part of the conversation involves an analysis of how we got here we must never make excuses for despicable behavior – we must endeavor not to precipitate the cycle of doubling the trauma women who experienced violence at the hands of men by suggesting to them that they could have prevented the violence by appeasing their attackers. No. Violence against women is an egregious act. Fullstop. And as a society we need to stop making room for it to happily coexist with us. We can also do away with the assumption that there will be a natural chasm in the views of men and women where violence perpetrated against women for not acquiescing to entitled men’s advances are concerned. This is an issue that should unify us in outrage. It requires a zero tolerance approach.

JW was right about one thing. Dialogue is one means of moving the conversation forward. In a society where violence against women is pervasive and prevalent, gaslighting women in conversations about the specific threats of violence that they experience from a tender age is not the way to go about it. Challenging the status quo of societal violence against women requires us to not only change our behavior but to take stock of our ways of thinking which may be problematic. It requires empathy on the part of those who have not been directly affected by it and demands that we all hold each other accountable.

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The curtains are closing on this weekend with a lot of laughter for me. That won’t be the case for at least 53 people in Orlando and hundreds others whose lives they would have touched in some way. Political battle lines are being drawn - the POTUS already delivered an address his press secretary probably had a draft of that just needed an adjustment of numbers and place name, while the NRA and right wing hardliners are already in possession of their talking points - ideological armaments that will certainly ensure the future prevalence of physical ones - probably available at a Walmart near you - with no checks and balances or restrictions based on the background of the unbalanced.The indifference to it all seems like an act of terror. If the dead kids of Sandy Hook didn’t make y’all say enough is enough I wonder what effect will these killings have? Time will tell. In the mean time, we mourn with those who mourn and hope for brighter days in Orlando #orlando #love #loveislove #gunviolence #massshooting #guncontrol #sad #tragic #tragedy #inmemoryof #rip #solidarity #loveconquershate #proactivenessconquershate (at Trinidad and Tobago)

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Memories of the picturesque shoreline and skyline of Dover Beach and the lovely beaches of Barbados flood my mind as I reflect on this #worldoceansday Barabadians and the Bajan Tourism Authority have done an excellent job of preserving and protecting the natural beauty of their island and honoring the 2016 World Oceans Day theme "Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planer." #worldoceansday #un #worldoceansday2016 #barbados #doverbeach #conservation #picoftheday #tourism #wanderlust #travel #exploration #sightseeing #beach #vaca #vacation

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I wonder how the history books will recall Novak Djokovic in years to come? The answer is yet unwritten but today’s tennis fans are privileged to see one of the greats write a new chapter in the history books on almost every occasion that he steps on court for a major tournament. Only the third man in history to hold all four slams at the same time, after Don Budge in 1938 and the great Ron Laver in 1967, Novak has been an inspiration to me because of his unrelenting determination to be the best through his insatiable commitment to continuous improvement - whether it meant bringing in an additional coach specifically to improve his net game, hiring one the greats in Boris Becker to help him adopt the right mentality in big matches and to win the French, or upending his whole approach to nutrition and dieting by completely cutting gluten and lactose from his diet (no small feat for the Serbian kid whose parents owned a pizzeria). Coming through the ranks at a time when challenging the dominance of Federer and Nadal seemed like an impossibility, Nole found ways to compete, and then to dominate. In a similar way to his refusal to forever remain in the shadows of Federer and Nadal, winning the French Open after having lost in the final three times, Djoko continues to be the epitome of the mantra “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I have a feeling that barring injury, in a few years the history books may have to make room for one of the popular sayings of the late and greatest of all time as well… Impossible is nothing #impossibleisnothing #congratulations #novakdjokovic #rolandgarros #frenchopen #game #games #champion #sport #sports #history #historymaker #tennis #grandslam #novakslam#dreamchaser

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A young Muhammad Ali understood that “all oppression is connected" decades before the profound words were uttered by poet Staceyann Chin. How far are you willing to go to stand firm against injustice ? What are you willing to give up to remain resolute in your beliefs ? In the prime of his career Ali was willing to risk his livelihood, hard earned accolades and even his freedom in standing firm for justice and equality. My favorite quote from him is below. Rest in power to a great fighter and champion inside and outside of the ring. "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” ~Muhammad Ali 🐐 #muhammadali #greatestofalltime #legend #socialjustice #freedomthinkers #resitance #courage #bravery #defiance #icon #rip

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I  haven’t felt quite this relieved for and good about my country in quite some time. Firstly, it warmed my heart to see so many people exercising their franchise. Folks were out in their numbers. I saw plenty of families,  the young, the old and the young helping the very old to the polls. On a personal note, it was the first time my entire family could’ve voted (word to my younger brother Jevon and camera shy dad).   Secondly, I’m as overjoyed as I am relieved that enough right thinking Trinbagonians still exist. Whether a UNC or PNM government, I’ve never felt as if a government was as downright dangerous to us as I did about this People’s Partnership administration. The PP made very concerted efforts to erode the independence of our autonomous institutions (shout out to those who never yielded under the pressure – word to the DPP and head of the PCA). Additionally, even though we’ve dealt with state funds being used to fund election campaign ads before, we’ve never dealt with a strident 5 year propaganda campaign by a sitting government, funded by the resources of the state. I’m glad that, in spite of this, (enough) people were able to resist the brainwashing effect of such an unscrupulous wasteful campaign.   I wish for us the understanding that our democracy doesn’t begin and end with the staining of our index fingers and the collective will to fervently hold all our leaders to account for every decision. The seductions of power are very real. It’s something all men have the potential to yield to. It’s our job to be the ultimate vanguards of our democracy and future. I hope we hold this administration to its promise of meaningful local government reform to ensure that we can empower ourselves at the community level and that we insist on having continued meaningful and actionable dialogue on constitutional reform so that we forge new built in systems of accountability and checks and balances to power. Let’s work on making this moment a watershed one in our political process.  “GREAT IS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, GREAT IS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, GREAT IS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO”  …and we shall prevail.

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On Rape and Re-victimization. How dare You !

Wait. Hold up a while. Wait just one damn minute! Let me get myself together to ensure that I have it right. The Honourable Member for Tobago East of the House of Representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament, Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, had the gall to use our Parliament to utter these words: "He mother get rape when she was 16, by he father friend, and he born angry. That is why he always vex." This ranks among the most obscene utterances I've ever heard from a Member of Parliament. 

Just this Tuesday, like anyone else who read the viral post of popular Facebook commentator Teocah Dove, I was wholly and utterly disgusted by the account of a young lady being gang raped on Monday night by perpetrators posing as a taxi driver and passengers. The disgust over the situation was amplified by the callousness, unprofessionalism and surreal lack of empathy shown by the doctor who attended to her, the police officer she made the report to, her boyfriend, bankers and employers. The tragedy of sexual assault for many victims lies in the fact that the hell of feeling like  your dignity has been stripped and laid bare before your very eyes is perpetuated by the re-victimisation of rape victims by society: by the 'ignorant' judgement of those blaming the victim for somehow leading their perpetrators on and also by some of the 'first responders' in the medical fraternity and police service failing to take the time to put aside personal inconvenience to display the type of professionalism needed to comfort and not further humiliate and traumatize victims (We know of several reported cases where rape victims who have gone to the police for help immediately after being raped have been told to come back another time. Teocah's friend was attended to by a doctor who failed to follow standard procedure and offer her the option of receiving antiretroviral drugs which were available right in his health centre ! ). 

But back to Mrs. Alleyne-Toppin. Honourable MP, how dare you use our honourable house to re-victimise a victim of rape ! Have you or a love one ever felt that kind of debilitating pain ? Those fortunate enough to receive the necessary care that allows them to heal over many years never forget and often never totally get over the heinous ordeal. How dare you use the cover of parliamentary privilege to bring back up an (alleged) incident that, if true, would've already caused untold pain to a woman and her loved ones so many years ago ! How dare you debase Parliamentary contributions to flippantly bring up such an ordeal to try to score cheap political points by appealing to the lowest common denominator ! How dare you demonize children conceived from rape ! Children who were conceived, by no fault of their own,  from the most heinous of acts committed against their mother don't somehow inherent criminally aggressive beahvioural tendencies from their biological father. Disgusting. The insinuation that an innocent child inherently  possess undesirable traits as a result of rape is inaccurate as it is abhorrent.

As a Member of Parliament and a representative of the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, one is expected to display the highest level of conduct in dealing with the nation's business. Mrs. Toppin Alleyne by her crass, crude, demeaning and reprehensible remarks and display in Parliament has brought herself, her party, and every office she holds into disrepute. As a nation we should not stand for this and should demand that she is never again given the opportunity to display any such similar wanton conduct. We must at some point say the buck stops here and demand better from our Members of Parliament. Mrs. Alleyne deserves all the opprobrium that will likely be heaped on her. We deserve an apology for her grotesque behaviour, followed swiftly by a resignation.

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I wish more books could be as short as this. All it takes is one maxi ride from town to the east to get through this one. Chimamanda's writing style is lucid and to the point. You never find your thoughts trailing off while reading this one - an engaging read for people of any gender. Her cogent arguments about (and anecdotes illustrating) the disservice society does to men and women alike by maintaining an expectation of adherence to strict gender norms will prompt you to reexamine your own perceptions of gender and of what a world truly embracing of gender equality might look like. #Chimamanda #Ngozi #Adichie #Essay #Gender #Equality #Feminism #Goodreads

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Over time the slogan “the personal is political” (which was first used to stress that woman’s everyday reality is informed and shaped by politics and is necessarily political) became a means of encouraging women to think that the experience of discrimination, exploitation, or oppression automatically corresponded with an understanding of the ideological and institutional apparatus shaping one’s social status. As a consequence, many women who had not fully examined their situation never developed a sophisticated understanding of their political reality and its relationship to that of women as a collective group. They were encouraged to focus on giving voice to personal experience. Like revolutionaries working to change the lot of colonized people globally, it is necessary for feminist activists to stress that the ability to see and describe one’s own reality is a significant step in the long process of consciousness, but it is only a beginning. When women internalized the idea that describing their own woe was synonymous with developing a critical political consciousness, the progress of feminist movement was stalled. Starting from such incomplete perspectives, it is not surprising that theories and strategies were developed that were collectively inadequate and misguided. To correct this inadequacy in past analysis, we must now encourage women to develop a keen, comprehensive understanding of women’s political reality. Broader perspectives can only emerge as we examine both the personal that is political, the politics of society as a whole, and global revolutionary politics.

bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (via proletarianfeminism)

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I was recently privileged enough to be asked to speak to the Standard 5 students of Cap-de-Ville government primary school as one of the UN Trinidad and Tobago speakers for its UN4U public outreach school tour in honour of UN Day. Speaking to kids has always been something I’ve enjoyed. I’ve realised that as I get older it’s and even more humbling experience. You tend to see yourself in the precocious youth who has questions about Ebola and peacekeeping or maybe as the youngster who sits in the corner as isolated from everyone else as the classroom layout would physically allow. On reflection, maybe it’s also a more humbling experience because I realise that, whilst giving up just a small fraction of my time to try and inspire a couple kids, who were just as excited at the prospect of talking to me as I was about speaking to them, many people took so much more time, invested that much more effort and made many personal sacrifices to encourage me and to contribute to my development. Without their collective efforts I wouldn’t be able to pass on the blessing and do the same. So here’s to do those who take the time out to plant a seed in the lives of others. You’re appreciated beyond measure. 

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'The Whale House'

It's been a while since I've been on here. I've missed writing but such is the nature of life at the moment as I  finish my diploma in Public Relations. It's always a great boost to stumble upon a good piece of writing though - and the following piece is an exceptional one. This year's (joint) winner of the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize is none other than our very own Trinidadian writer Sharon Miller. Enjoy her breathtaking piece, 'The Whale House', below. 

These offshore islands rise out of the water, rugged and black with deep crevices and craggy promontories. Her father used to tell the story of building the house. Dynamite under the water to blow a hole in the hill, a false plateau appearing like a shelf, the hill buckled up behind it. Sometimes, after heavy rain, stones clatter lightly on the roof as the soil shifts and moves behind the house. Her parents’ ashes are buried here in the rocky, flinty soil, but Laura and Mark scatter the baby’s ashes in the ocean, looking for black-finned porpoises as the talcum-powder dust hovers on the misty spray. When Mark releases the last of the ashes they drive the boat towards the house in silence. Laura is the first to slip over the side, wading carefully towards the shore, eyes on the horizon. Over the years she’s learned to watch for scorpion fish and the low-lying stingrays that rise like illusions when dusk slides into the bay.

Mark had cried in the hospital, but now, after they’ve scattered the ashes, there’s just the heat of blame rising off him. Even in the boat, he’d passed her with averted eyes. Later that night, she waits for him lying on her side of the two single beds pushed together. But by time he comes up from the jetty she is already dreaming hard. Under the sepia mosquito net, she lies on her side, a small feather pillow between her legs. The mosquitoes settle in dark clumps on the netting, whining softly into the night air.

By morning the dreams are gone, flying through the tiny holes in the net in sudden starling movements. The twin beds are pushed together and the net strains to cover both beds. She wakes with the mist of the dreams still heavy in the room and Over the years she’s learned to watch for scorpion fish and the low-lying stingrays that rise like illusions when dusk slides into the bay.moves up behind her husband, trying to wrap her body around his larger one. To reach him she must lie on the join in the bed. The hard knotted bump where the mattresses meet bites into her hip, but she lies still, matching her breathing to his soft exhalations; when she feels his breathing change, she knows he’s awake. Overnight their legs have tangled, their limbs sealing in the humidity but slowly he inches his leg away with the soft mollusk sound of flesh separating. She rolls back over onto her side and he leaves the room without speaking.

Would the baby have survived if she’d rested in the afternoons, stayed in bed as the doctor had advised? Mark has not accused her of endangering the baby. Such a bald statement would take them to a dangerous edge. So instead it is hovering between them, nebulous and monstrous. She had not rested enough, she knows, but it had been a time of neither wanting or not wanting, a strangely remote period. It is that indifference that she is exploring, testing it as gently as a tongue on a wound. She’d thought the feeling hidden, so solidly concealed that she’d doubted its potency. But now there is no baby, the grief has come upon her, making her bones hollow. An empty womb is punishment no man can understand. And if he did, there would be no judgment.

Out the window, the tide is changing, the sea frothing and roiling into the tight channel. But beyond, in the harbor, it expands in relieved swells, glad to be past the slick mountain walls. Four months ago, Laura had gone to see Dr Harnaysingh. She’d made the appointment because at forty-six, her body was suddenly an unknown entity. Once calm and predictable, a source of surety and absolutes, it was now dense, fleshy, prone to thickened skin and odd middle-aged lust. She’d missed three periods, but pregnancy was not something she’d considered. She’d been researching menopause and hormone-replacement options. When she’d told Mark, he’d lifted her nightie, rested his dark head between her ribs and hipbones, and traced gentle circles around the hard space above her pubic bone. She’d imagined a light swooping and fluttering deep inside of her as Mark murmured to the quicksilver heartbeat, that mere conspiracy of cells. A baby.

The day she’d felt the new baby’s first movements, she cracked three eggs. She separated the yolks from the whites; each yellow globe quivering gently on the edge of a shell as the clear albumin streamed into the bowl. Alone, in their blue bowl, the yolks leaned into one another, separated by the thinnest of membranes. Gently she skewered them, holding the bowl tightly to gain purchase on the slippery surfaces. When she next saw Dr Harnaysingh, she lied, smoothly and easily, assuring him that she was being careful and staying off her feet. At home, she continued to bake; cakes, casseroles, soufflés; balancing on the stepladder as she lugged down heavy iron pots and ancient mixing bowls. She even weeded the back stairs, squatting heavily on the mossy concrete, the varicose veins in her ankles thudding in protest.

‘Shouldn’t you be resting more?’ Mark asked.

The baby was born at just twenty eight weeks.

‘Come baby, breathe.’ Dr Harnaysingh said.

Mark sat in the corner of the room his head in his hands. Laura stretched the lavender baby along the inside of her arms, the perfect feet pressing against her breasts, the heels of her hands supporting the fragile head. Cupping the tender skull with both hands, she kissed the violet fingers, ears and toes, running her fingers along the butterfly eyebrows. To keep her warm she pulled the baby close to her breast, swaddling and rocking her. After three hours, Dr Harnaysingh sedated her so they could pry the baby from her.

‘Can babies feel regret?’ Laura asked Dr Harnaysingh as the opiate dripped into her veins.

http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/The-Whale-House

Click on the link above to finish reading 'The Whale House' 

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Indecisive? Pick the middle

“The goalkeeper picks a side and dives 93.7 percent of the time and just stands in the middle only 6.3 percent of the time. There was a clear bias toward action.”

The Journal of Economic Psychology recently looked at the link between decision making and penalty kicks, and found, somewhat surprisingly, that goalkeepers might be better off doing nothing at all. 

Analyzing close to 300 penalty kick situations, the study considered goalkeeper’s decisions in regards to which direction to move towards, the area to which the ball was actually kicked, and most importantly, whether the penalty was actually blocked.

The conclusion? Goalkeepers dive right or left 93.7% of the time, and choose to remain in the center in only 6.3% of penalty kick situations.

The problem comes from the fact that the direction of penalty kicks were distributed much more evenly, with almost 30% of penalty kicks sent towards the center of the goal.

But if goalkeepers could “almost double their save percentage by doing nothing,” why do they almost always choose to dive?

The researchers point towards something called action bias. Essentially, there’s an accepted norm that goalkeepers dive when attempting to block penalty kicks. If they fail to block a penalty kick when diving, they are considered to have made an effort; if they stay in the center when a penalty tucks into a corner, they’re lazy, indecisive, and made no attempt to block the ball. Goalkeepers favor action because of social expectations.

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Such a good read

Sometimes the World Gets you Down

For many people, in Boston and around the United States, it has been an emotionally draining week. Bostonians had their city rocked on Monday when homemade bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, ensuring for some that it was the last time they would run in their foreseeable lifetime. The Boston Police Department and the FBI resorted to Internet crowdsourcing in an attempt to find the perpetrators, which ultimately initiated the beginning of the end for these two men on Thursday night. By nine o’clock on Friday night, the ordeal was over with one suspect dead and his younger brother in custody and American breathed a collective sigh of relief that didn’t need to be heard. 

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