An interesting juxtaposition, this UWI incident and the contents of Raffique Shah's weekly column.

It was more than a decade ago that an African-American girl was shot in the head by a Korean-American grocery store owner because she was suspected of stealing a bag of chips. The most telling comment in its aftermath was the view of the Korean-American community that Anglo-America's exportation of their brand of racism and racial prejudice engenders such disproportionate reactions.

While I do not condone the behavior and views of an Islamic community that promotes terrorism, their belief in the destructive effects of Anglo-American culture on their developing nations is self-evident.

Raffique Shah is correct in his observation that two generations ago racially divisive oratories and behavior did not occur and if it did it was superficial and temporary.

Fast forward to the era of global communications and its ability to bombard the senses and supplant, subliminally, the local and ethnic culture with that of Anglo-America's imperialistic and separatist culture and we have these results which are manifested in university campus coffee shops and grocery stores around the globe.

Once you are plugged into the matrix, "resistance is futile." Hitherto, the manifestation of Anglo-America's influence on our society was consigned to our penchant for Nike shoes and Tommy Hilfiger clothing. These, though viewed by many as benign, has an ultimate purpose of creating another "society of unbridled serfs." Witness now, its other insidious side effects.

Trinidad's talk-shows are only echoes of the right-wing conservatism of the Anglo-American ownership class. What these unsuspecting mouth-pieces fail to realize is that they will never receive an acceptance letter to that class.

That young adults and students at our tertiary level are still as uninformed about the politics and economics of race as the local village idiot, also typifies another failure in our educational infrastructure.

Relying on our government to correct and reverse this encroaching societal decay is an exercise in futility. Only grass-root efforts at local community levels will succeed in promoting acceptance and tolerance of ethnic and racial differences.

The time has come to un-plug.