Makeda Darius’ response, in song, to Prof Selwyn Cudjoe’s claim that the late Sat Maharaj reminded him of US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, earned her the National Women Action Committee’s (NWAC) National Calypso Queen crown. Her piece was entitled, No Martin.
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Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Blessed Are They Who Hunger after Righteousness
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 04, 2020
A few weeks ago I wrote about the presence of money in our churches. Rev. Henry Richards of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Tacarigua, absconded with over $1,000,000 in the 1880s whereas Pastor Vinworth Anthony Dayal, pastor of the Third Exodus Assembly Church in Longdenville, accumulated about $31 million, the product of 19 years of tithes. As we contemplate these excesses, we must remember there are better exemplars of God’s words and how His blessing manifests itself to believers.
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A Foolish Dog
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 21, 2020
Last Sunday Jeralean John, one of the most dynamic persons to enter the political arena in the last year, invited me to visit Savannah Park, Waller Field, or what is known as “Gaza.” I eagerly accepted the invitation, excited at the possibility of hearing what ordinary people—although people are never ordinary—had to say about the conditions under which they live.
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Tithes and Thefts
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 14, 2020
PART 2
Archbishop Henry Richards was one of the most respected members of the Tacarigua community. His brother, S. L. B. Richards, the rector of Trinity Cathedral, was considered the “embodiment of Christian charity and was never so happy as when engaged in the relief of distress or suffering.” His well-attended funeral in 1877 demonstrated the esteem in which he was held by the community.
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Tithes & Thefts
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 8, 2020
After it was reported that Pastor Vinworth Antony Dayal, leader of the Third Exodus Assembly Church, had assembled $29 million in assets over 19 years, Dr. Knolly Clarke, head of the IRO, declared: “Each church has their own way of doing things but in the Anglican Church and I think in the Roman Catholic, we have trustees. We audit our accounts every year. Our church is very strict with funds. It is not a one-man show” (Express, January 3, 2002).
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How Our Banking System Dis-serves the Poor
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2020
The issuance of the polymer $100 bill and the hardships it caused many citizens should make us realize how the banking system discriminates against the poor and looks down on them for having created an alternative financial system that serves their needs.
The Trinidad Express, in an insightful editorial, offered a useful history of banking in this country. It cautioned: “It is in the interest of the national economy and social harmony that policy makers and bankers understand T&T’s culture of savings and design instruments appropriate to them instead of demeaning them and pushing them underground.” (December 19).
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Democrats Beware!
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 27, 2019
I was in London in 2016 when the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU). I expected that the British would remain in the EU because international cooperation is better than nationalist posturing. I was wrong. The British people voted to leave the EU by a small margin.
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NOT BECAUSE ONE IS PARANOID…
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 16, 2019
ON THURSDAY I read Jovanne Edmund’s protest against Junia Regrello being reappointed as the mayor of San Fernando.
A day earlier I had seen a video in which Edmund had made a similar plea as she protested in front of San Fernando City Hall. Her gripe, according to Newsday, was that Regrello’s son worked for the San Fernando Corporation. Her rationale was as follows: ‘Nobody would kill you to say your son working in the corporation… Come out plain and say so. The same way your son could eat a food, other people could eat a food too’ (Newsday, December 12).
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Money Does Not Always Buy You Love
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 10, 2019
In May I met Esmond Forde, the parliamentary representative of Tunapuna, at the “dead house” of a respected villager. I told him that from what I heard and saw the PNM will lose the Tunapuna seat in the next general election. He disagreed and assured me that Indians in the constituency would support him so he was not worried. I wonder if he was surprised that UNC won the Tacarigua, Paradise, Caura seat in the local election.
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Caring for the Sensitivites of Others
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 06, 2019
Ana, not her real name, is an enormously intelligent woman and a dear friend. On Monday she sent me a text: “I am one of those who disagree with you on the Sat issue. We must talk. I am organizing for work so now is not a good time but we must do so later.”
We talked later that day. She said: “Sat has said many hurtful things about black people. Black people do not have many idols to look up to but we have Martin Luther King. And then you come, as a prophet of God, to absolve Sat from all of the hurtful things he said about us.”
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