EDITOR: I have just viewed the Trinidad and Tobago Residential Telephone Directory 2013 for the first time. The image consists of 6 faces. I wonder what percentage of Africans and Indians are dark-skinned in Trinidad and Tobago?
I also would like to know why so many promotional advertisements in the country are not representative of the dark-skinned black aspect of the population.
Akilah
Unpleasant reality, if you black nobody considers you for advertising.
So many using “Skin whitening Cream” The censors reveal that 29% mix race in Trinidad & Tobago. Things are changing !
There is a pre-occupation with colour of skin and hair texture in Trinidad and Tobago a gift passed from our colonial experience which have us counting every environment that comes before our eyes, we count by race, color, creed, religion and and association.
Essentially, that is the legacy of colonialism. Perhaps, over time it will change. Take a look at Michelle Obama.
Colorism plays a major role in advertising and how ads are received. Most societies struggle with the idea of portraying black faces in the media. When the media and by extension society deny the black face the black voice is silenced, muffled and ignored. The cover of the Trinidad and Tobago Residential Telephone Directory does not represent the darker skinned persons in our society and is therefore a key issue in my book.
Probably we still with the Twang !!!:
If you White, you alright…
If you Brown, you stick around…
If you Black, you stay back…
Trini full of Legends…
Since the Jewish monopoly on creative media advertising has been the first to predominance in stereo type racism and sex as the Fairer Sexes even toilet paper & bad breath mouth washes have its suggested relevance.I’m black & Proud or shall I say dark&Proud. Lets take back our Media-TV
I find it fascinating that black people in Trinidad are so docile in defending their citizenship, race and culture. Throughout the years of challenge and struggle we always seem to leave our battle for someone else to fight for us rather than go to the frontline and face it ourselves. In Trinidad the dark-skinned has always been neglected in spite of the high percentage of our population. In the earlier years of the Carnival experience, everywhere there will be black people participating, but when it came to the crowning of the Carnival Queen, you can be assured it will be a WHITE woman. That act was as glaring as daylight. The change did not happen until it was brought to the attention of the Carnival Committees who eventually gave us our first (black) queen who also became our most visible Air Hostess for BWIA. The same took place in oilfields where black got as far as Rigmen but will always be bossed by white managers. In this scenario happened in every field of endeavor until our only authentic black hero in the form of Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler came to the scene and was brave enough to challenge the statisco. The cover of the Phone directory is only a reflection of that history and what might be telling is that the managers responsible for the product might be mostly black. That means that we have accepted our role which Rosa Parks fought so hard to overcome, that is being in the back of the BUS!!!! When will we black people stand up for ourselves?
Kian my friend, I am presently in Barbados and I will tell you T&T has come a long way compared to Barbados.If Trinis are on the back of the bus, then Bajans are yet to board the bus.
Foreign and local whites own and control this nation. They are still not free from mental slavery.The irony is that they seem to be offended by Trinis buying their businesses and property, but readily accept White dominance!
“Open minded” black Bajans sometimes refer to Bim as “the plantation” and I cannot stand being around Bajans they talk s..t and sometimes Only a Bajan will jump to the side of racist whites against other blacks, in Canada I’ve seen this for myself with my OWN eyes in various places I’ve worked “yuh damn blasted F@#$% Trini”! I’m shocked that Eric Williams helped to fund that place with oil $$ so they can have FREE Polytechnic University & Community College education while Trinis had NOTHING but “10 days” etc.
Well well! You all wanna know something? When I was in secondary school (south east pos sen sec) I was teased mercilessly about my richly melatinised skin…..by other afro students. I actually thought that I was ugly……and the pimples did not help. Today I’m considered handsome but I’m still a dark chocolate. Point is black people (dark skinned ones) look and accept themselves as ugly so. So don’t expect to see any change soon in the media or in the wider society as a whole.
As for the Bajans…..What do you expect from a population that lovingly speaks the queen’s English and cultivates the aura of ‘little england’. LOST! It is this subservient attitude that makes that place perfect for tourism…..but that’s just my 2 cents.
Several years ago I was on a business trip to Barbados. I was invited to the home of a senior businessman. I was the only black skinned person among the group of about fifty persons and the home was in a gated community where the only black Barbadian who lived there was Sir Garfield Sobers. His wife was white.
Sobers wife is Australian and last I know he is happily married since 1969. What is the problem? His self esteem is still very high.
Update for Loyaltrini;
Sobers is divorced from Pru.
I find these comments interesting and true. I will not venture to say that the black man in the Caribbean is lost because if I use that analogy I would be downplaying the talents and contributions so many black people of the past have provided. The future can only be bright if we shine the light in that direction. The youths of today must look backwards in history in order to be prepared for the future. In order words, we cannot know where we are going if we dont know where we came from.
Ok, Bajans maybe wannabe Englishmen(not the ones that I know), but they don’t kill their own like some Trinis are currently doing.