Tag Archive for 'Selwyn R. Cudjoe'

My Spiritual Inheritance

Published on April 6, 2020 in Africa, General T&T, Race and Identity and Religion. 1 Comment Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDuring the late 1940s and early 1950s, early on Sunday mornings, we would hear the bells ringing out loudly in the street as a band of women, dressed immaculately in white with varied colored head ties proceeded to the Tacarigua River to conduct their religious rituals. At the tender age of six or seven I did not know what such celebrations (I saw it as a celebration) were about. All I knew was that my Tantie Lenora was among that band of women. Somehow, I felt embarrassed or even ashamed.
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Black Betrayal, Or God Don’t Like Ugly

Published on March 31, 2020 in General T&T, PNM, Politics and Racism Watch. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 31, 2020

PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn response to my column of three weeks ago, “Black Betrayal,” a critic attacked me in a slanderous manner. Mercifully, the Express deleted the more vitriolic aspects of his original letter. He claimed I invented Aaron St. John to carry on my nefarious agenda.

St. John responded:

“My name is Aaron Kerwin St. John, son of Gemma St. John, and grandson of Ester St. John. I am very real although certain persons would choose not to see the truth…They would rather we, the ordinary people, just shut up and be sad, unhappy, and poor, and continue, no matter what, to support this wickedness called governance by the PNM.
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Surrendering ME for the WE

Published on March 24, 2020 in General T&T, Health and International. 3 Comments Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 24, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am not a particularly religious man (spiritual is a better adjective to describe my theological persuasion), so I do not believe that God sent the coronavirus to teach us a lesson. However, we can learn a lot from our present challenges.

Lesson One: We must become a more mature society.
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The Hot Prison

Published on March 16, 2020 in General T&T and Schools. 0 Comments Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 16, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt was a polite letter. It was sent to me after my article appeared in last Sunday’s Express. It read: “My name is Denise Brathwaite. I am the Vice President of the South East Port of Spain Secondary Teachers’ Association. I came across your article last night. It was quite an interesting read. But I am eager to discuss it with you further.”
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Black betrayal

Published on March 9, 2020 in Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics and Racism Watch. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAFTER my article appeared in the Express last Sunday I received the following note: “Gd Mr Cudjoe. I have been reading your articles in the newspapers for a while and I want to invite to come and take a look at East Port of Spain where we live. My name is Aaron St John. I am 41 years old and was born in this city. It has not changed for all my life. It remains the same dirty, nasty undeveloped, unprotected and it’s only getting worse and more dangerous. Our lives are not improving and a deep sadness covers every home and everyone in and around the city.
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Rethinking Our Approach to Education

Published on February 24, 2020 in Crime in T&T, Education and Racism Watch. 1 Comment Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 24, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeEducation has an important role to play in getting us out of the degenerating situation in which we find ourselves. By education I do not mean the mere acquisition of mathematical and scientific knowledge and reading skills. I also mean the cultivation of an inner faculty that allows us, individually and collectively, to act purposefully within the social whole.

I was excited when Dr. Roland G. Baptiste, chairman of the Catholic Education Board of Management, in speaking about the performance of the Catholic schools under his remit, observed: “I left St. Mary’s College many years ago, and I believe at this time of my life that the most important aspect of my education [was/is]…the system of values the school left with me” (Express, February 18].
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Puttin’ Yo Self in People Mouth

Published on February 18, 2020 in Carnival, Culture, General T&T and Racism Watch. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 18, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJudith Reyes is my neighbor. Our parents lived in the same spot for over eighty years. Neighbors thought our mothers were sisters. Judith’s brother Giles and I live like brothers. We have never quarreled with each other.

Every morning when I am in Trinidad Judith sends me a cup of porridge with prunes in it. She makes it clear that she is not doing that for me. Rather, she is doing this for my mother who she reminds me was my protector. She says: “Yo’ know how much candles yo’ mother light for you at Mt. St. Benedict?”
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Biden’s Dilemma

Published on February 10, 2020 in General T&T and USA. 4 Comments Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 10, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Monday night I tuned into CNN to listen to the results of the Democratic caucus that had taken place in Iowa earlier in the day. By one am on Tuesday morning the Iowa Democratic Party (I.D.P.) had issued no results although some of the candidates made their speeches and headed off to New Hampshire to continue their quest to become the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2020 election.
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Makeda Darius crowned NWAC National Calypso Queen

Published on February 4, 2020 in General T&T, Hinduism, Racism Watch and Religion. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

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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Blessed Are They Who Hunger after Righteousness

Published on February 4, 2020 in General T&T and Religion. 0 Comments Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 04, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA 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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