Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

General T&T, Race and Identity

Emergency: Young Black Men in Danger

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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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General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, THA, Tobago

The Allness of the Universe

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 21, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA month ago the People’s Partnership (PP) celebrated its first anniversary. Its members party fuh so. Such was their glee that Kamla even found time to stick it to Orville London and the THA. Like all-conquering heroes and monarchs of everything they surveyed, not even the lowly CEPEP was beyond the grasps of their craven ways. They wanted it all. PP was not only of T&T; it envisaged itself as the all-embracing spirit of the society.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Politics, Schools, Violence

Spinning Top in Mud

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 15, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad and Tobago ought to pause a moment; catch its collective breath, and then ask: where are we going as a nation. Anyone who viewed the video about Niyoka Folkes, a student of Barataria North Secondary School or saw the pummeling she received or the photographs of her bruises that appeared on the newspapers, cannot help but wonder at the sad turn of events at our public schools. That even an adult jumped in to add her blows seems to a dispassionate observer that our society might be going mad.
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Africa, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics

Truth and Consequences

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 07, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen I asked whether our honorable Prime Minister has a drinking problem I did not mean to be uncharitable or to be “sexist.” Given Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s difficulties I thought it responsible to raise an issue that has gained a life of its own. I still contend that the enabling role Strauss-Kahn’s friends played in supporting his illness may be analogous to the deafening public silence that surrounds the PM’s purported drinking problem. Many of Strauss-Khan’s close friends knew he had a problem. None was bold enough to speak about it publicly.
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General T&T, International

Does She or Doesn’t She?

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 25, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAlmost invariably, nations, parties and individuals possess different narratives of themselves some of which they present to the world; others that they keep quietly to protect themselves from the world and others. Some of these narratives are wrapped in perfumed sweetness while others are left to petrify, hidden from the public gaze, until their stink pollutes the nation and the self.
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General T&T, Religion

Let there be Light

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 18, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeCall me old fashioned if you wish. Whenever I feel like reading the Bible, I turn to the King James Bible (KJB). Ten years ago while I was in London I purchased a copy of the KJB, sometimes called the King James Version, bounded in Calfskin Leather, written on India paper with gilt edges. It was published by Cambridge University Press, the Queen’s Printer. This copy of the KJB possesses cross references, a Bible dictionary and the words of the Lord are written in red. After ten years, the book still smells of leather and is one of my prized possessions.
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COP, General T&T, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics

Look What the PNM Come To!!!

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 11, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn March I supported the candidacy of Penny Beckles to become the chairman of the PNM because I thought she was the better candidate. Many of my friends, including Louis Lee Sing and Ferdie Ferreira, felt that Franklyn Khan was the better candidate not necessarily because he was more accomplished than Penny but because he is an Indian. In his now-famous words, Comrade Lee Sing declared: “If we don’t elect Khan as our chairman the PNM will become a N….Party.”
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Africa, Books, Education, General T&T, Race and Identity

The Souls of Black Folk

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 04, 2011

Part 2 – Part 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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Africa, General T&T, International

Africa’s Global Importance

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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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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

Rowley’s Failure

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 20, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe hiccups PNM is going through have more to do with Keith Rowley’s failure to lead than Patrick Manning’s political intransigence and nostalgia for power. Manning, the insane victim of his own ill-judgment, is suffering from the failed-leader syndrome to which many past leaders fall prey: an inability to recognize they messed up and ought to leave the political stage quietly if they cannot do so gracefully. This is the difference between great leaders (such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania) who knew how to demit office peacefully and stubborn autocrats (such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarack of Egypt and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivore) for whom power is an entrancing aphrodisiac.
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