Tag Archives: African

Power versus powerlessness in T&T

Emancipation Day Special: Part 2

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 26, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuPart 2 of this Emancipation Day Special focuses on the power dynamics between Trinbagonians of Indian descent versus the powerlessness of Trinbagonians of African descent. And this overt ethnic imbalance is real despite the current United Nations-sponsored year-long celebration.
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All Non-Africans Part Neanderthal, Genetics Confirm

Analysis by Jennifer Viegas
Monday July 18, 2011 – discovery.com

NeanderthalIf your heritage is non-African, you are part Neanderthal, according to a new study in the July issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution. Discovery News has been reporting on human/Neanderthal interbreeding for some time now, so this latest research confirms earlier findings.
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Trinbagonian versus African Descent

Emancipation Day Special: Part 1

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 19, 2011

As T&T celebrates the United Nations-sponsored “International Year for People of African Descent,” it is a sine qua non to analyze/investigate the crucial reality of being Trinbagonian versus, albeit compared to, being of African descent in this Euro-centric environment.

The stark reality is that the ordinary Trinbagonian of African descent does not regard himself or herself as African. He/she is Trinbagonian, period.
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Emergency: Young Black Men in Danger

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn March of last year the General Assembly of the United Nations declared 2011 “The International Year for People of African Descent.” It called for the “strengthening national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civic and political rights, their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society, and the promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.”
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The Souls of Black Folk

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 04, 2011

Part 2Part 1

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJoseph Winthrop Holley, the founder of Albany State University and the son of a former slave, was born in Albany, Georgia, which explains why he wanted to build a school in his native town. He attended Revere Lay College in Revere, Massachusetts which changed its name to the Boston Evangelical Institute before it merged with another school to form Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary that my former wife attended. During the latter part of the 1980s I visited that seminary often.
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Ethnicity versus race in T&T

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 03, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuWithin recent times, issues of ethnicity versus race have been discussed and bandied about in T&T without any clear, professional/intellectual/historical delineation.

The fact of the matter is that official 2000 census figures reveal that about 42 per cent of T&T’s population is of Indian descent while 38 per cent is of African descent.
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Africa’s Global Importance

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt is true generally that citizens of nation states are emboldened by the relative power their original homelands enjoy in the world’s council of governance. Jews all over the world are emboldened and strengthened by Israel’s power as Indians all over the world are strengthened and empowered by the growing international importance of India which is why not one East Indian demurred when India offered citizenship to Indians in its diaspora after our government allowed Indian and Russian business people to enter Trinidad and Tobago without a visa.
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Nizam’s Race Comments Lack Historical Perspective

Nizam MohammedTHE EDITOR: Politicians in Trinidad and Tobago have always used cultural (ethnic) differences among our people to gain office, power and wealth. This ethnic baiting strategy is most notable at election time and goes back to colonial times.
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Nizam’s Conspiratorial Theories

Why Nizam Must Go

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 31, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn January 20th, 2011 I wrote an article entitled, “Mother Trinidad and Tobago” in which I strongly rejected the People’s Partnership’s position on multiculturalism. I emphasized that Dr. Williams’ cultural policy as enunciated in his “Mother Trinidad and Tobago Speech” seemed a better position from which to base a national cultural policy rather than the nebulous, ill-informed multicultural thrust that the PP adopted. On January 20th I received the following response from Nizam Mohammed:
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Listen to Mohammed’s message, not the messenger

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 30, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuIt has been a rather perplexing and strange experience to follow the national chorus of prominent citizens’ adamant position that President George Maxwell Richards should remove Nizam Mohammed as chairman of the PSC.

Their rationale for his revocation is the comment he made before Parliament’s JSC. Mr. Nizam Mohammed told the JSC and by extension, the national community that:
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