Category Archives: Religion

Africa, Christianity, General T&T, Religion

The Slave Bible

9 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 18, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1970 while I was a faculty member at Fordham University, New York, I taught a course on the development of Afro-American literature. One of the books I used was William Wells Brown, Clotel or the President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, published in England in 1853.

The novel told the story of Clotel, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who fathered three children by his slave, Sally Hemmings. Although the white power structure denied this incident for two centuries, in November 1998 the truth of this claim was authenticated by DNA evidence.
Continue reading The Slave Bible →

General T&T, International, Religion, USA

Exposing the danger of cult leaders

3 Comments

By Dr Kwame Nantambu
December 24, 2021

Dr. Kwame NantambuAs the US House of Representatives Select Committee continues to issue subpoenas to former president Donald John Trump’s advisers and allies in regard to the endemic dynamics of the historic, violent insurrection on the nation’s capital on January 6; plus the stark legal reality that on November 12, a federal grand jury “indicted” one of the former president’s advisers, Steve Bannon, “on two counts of contempt of Congress”; and as a sidebar, as of this writing, 32 “non-related sentences (have been) handed down so far” in cases filed by Justice Department prosecutors; ergo, it is a sine qua non to expose the gut danger of cult personality leaders: Jim Jones’ “Jonestown massacre” in Guyana on November 18, 1978, v Donald John Trump’s putatively inspired, violent insurrection on the nation’s capital in Washington DC, USA, on January 6.
Continue reading Exposing the danger of cult leaders →

General T&T, Hinduism, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Religion

Letting goodness shine for Divali

2 Comments

By Angali Hosein
November 04, 2021 – newsday.co.tt

HindusSitaram and Shubh Divali to the Hindu community and to my beloved country, Trinidad and Tobago. Divali or Deepavali translates to a row of lights or festival of lights and bears a great significance in Hindu culture as it emphasises light over darkness as well as good over evil. Thus, the auspiciousness of this day brings me feelings of joy, happiness and love, which I try my best to share with those around me.
Continue reading Letting goodness shine for Divali →

Afghanistan, General T&T, International, Islam, Pakistan, Religion, USA

Surprise us, Mullahs

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
August 23, 2021

Raffique ShahIf there was anything shocking about what happened in Afghanistan last weekend, it was the millions of people who were surprised by the speed at which the Afghan regime collapsed, the military imploded and the Taliban swiftly moved in to declare itself the new government.

BBC journalists referencing Saigon way back on May 1, 1975, when the last Americans who were evacuated from a war that never should have been, reversed on board the aircraft, kicking away desperate Vietnamese who had worked for the US, and who wanted to escape before General Giap’s army took control of the country. “Experts” spoke of the colossal waste of US resources in pursuing yet another ‘mission impossible’ in a country and among a people who will never be tamed, not by Western standards anyway.
Continue reading Surprise us, Mullahs →

Culture, Elections, General T&T, Media, MSJ, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Religion

Bernard Yawching defends book accusing UNC, Hindus of racist agenda

98 Comments

By Julien Neaves
March 17, 2021 – newsday.co.tt

Bernard YawchingPOLITICAL and social activist Bernard Yawching said he expects backlash over his book The Hidden Agenda of Race Relations in Trinidad and Tobago.

The new book accuses the United National Congress (UNC), the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), and some members of the Hindu community and the East Indian community of promoting a racist agenda. It tracks events from a 1913 speech by former Arima Mayor FEM Hosein about Africans not being as productive as Indians to more modern-day controversies such as Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar describing the Prime Minister as an “oreo.”
Continue reading Bernard Yawching defends book accusing UNC, Hindus of racist agenda →

Caribbean, COVID-19, General T&T, Health, Hinduism

A passage to India

14 Comments

Newsday Editorial
March 05, 2021 – newsday.co.tt

COVID-19 VaccineIN ALL the recent instances of wrangling over vaccines from India, a key issue has been left unaddressed.

The heated reactions to both Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh’s mischaracterisation of the custody chain of vaccines donated by Barbados and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s letter to the Indian Prime Minister have deflected attention from a more profound diplomatic quandary which this country faces – as well as Caricom as a whole.
Continue reading A passage to India →

General T&T, Passed on, Religion

A Macabre Display

2 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 01, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad and Tobago, a weird place sometimes, is given to extremes. Imagine an embalmed man in a sitting position, placed in the tray of a hearse and given an open-air last ride past the Prime Minister’s office on his way to his final resting place: “Dressed in a suit and seated in a chair, Che Lewis’s body was placed in the back of a vehicle by the Dennie’s Funeral Home and driven around the capital city” (Express, November 26).
Continue reading A Macabre Display →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Religion

Black Power and Indians

11 Comments

Indian Officer Leads
African Soldiers in Black Power Revolt
“Creolised” Indians Sowed Seeds for Birth of ULF

By Raffique Shah
June 09, 2000 – trinicenter.com

Raffique ShahIN 1970, I was the only Indian officer in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. I was also the youngest officer, having graduated from Sandhurst in July 1966, some four months after I had turned 20. When I returned from England in January 1967 to take up duties as a platoon commander, it was the first time I got to know the Regiment (as it was, and still is, commonly referred to), since I was sent to Sandhurst in 1964 without any prior training locally. At the time, fewer than five per cent of soldiers were Indians, a ratio that may still exist, although I suspect the numbers will have moved up slightly.
Continue reading Black Power and Indians →

Christianity, General T&T, Hinduism, Religion

Is COVID-19 the Flaunting of God’s Sovereignty?

7 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
April 14, 2020

Stephen KangalThe Honourable Mr Justice Frank Seepersad in his electronic Easter Message to the PCTT (Express 13 April, p.17) would seem to posit that the current exponential and unprecedented rate of the destruction of human lives now nearing 100,000 wrought by COVID-19 would appear to be, inter alia, a grim manifestation/reminder of the sovereignty of God over all things.
Continue reading Is COVID-19 the Flaunting of God’s Sovereignty? →

Africa, General T&T, Race and Identity, Religion

My Spiritual Inheritance

2 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDuring the late 1940s and early 1950s, early on Sunday mornings, we would hear the bells ringing out loudly in the street as a band of women, dressed immaculately in white with varied colored head ties proceeded to the Tacarigua River to conduct their religious rituals. At the tender age of six or seven I did not know what such celebrations (I saw it as a celebration) were about. All I knew was that my Tantie Lenora was among that band of women. Somehow, I felt embarrassed or even ashamed.
Continue reading My Spiritual Inheritance →