…house slaves?
Responding to some Big Market cussdowns – all the way from Brooklyn – at an “Anti-PPP Racism March & Rally”, PM Mark Phillips issued a Press Release denouncing the “numerous malicious and false claims” made by the APNU MPs and associates. He also panned statements by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries at the rally as “appalling”. Your Eyewitness thought it quite a mild and temperate response to the very incendiary statements made by the large Opposition delegation. They focused on the alleged “racism” of the Govt of which Phillips is a prominent member.
But how dare he even respond??!! The Guyanese expatriate from Brooklyn – seemingly the chief cook and bottle washer of the Rally – went ballistic. It was clear that the source of his ire wasn’t anything that Phillips said…it was what he DIDN’T say. Phillips didn’t even allude to him much less mention his name!! Now for a fella who’s spent decades in NY fighting to become somebody in GUYANA (!) this was the ultimate humiliation!! After all, what can you say about a man who’s ashamed about living in Brooklyn and claims residence in Dix Hills, an upscale suburb in Long Island??!! Or that he worked in the Office of the President in Guyana, but doesn’t say it was as a teenaged office go-fer!!
So how did the grizzled grifter, “Straight out of Canarsie”, counter the PM? That the latter was “a despicable, token, house slave.” Imagine that!! Following Malcolm X, the term “house slave” has become the worst insult one Black man can hurl against another. House slaves were seen as taking Massa’s side against his own people and were contrasted to the “Field Slave” who was given no quarter and asked for none. But with Haitians at the rally the Brooklyn hustler should know that Toussaint L’Ouverture was a house slave!!
Anyhow, if, according to the Dix Hills wannabe, any African Guyanese who works with the PPP is a “house slave”, what does he call the Indian Guyanese who join the PNC?? Like the six or so of them who shared his stage in Brooklyn?? Well, since they didn’t share the “slave” legacy, maybe he’ll consider the Indian Guyanese equivalent –- “Neemakaram”!! These were the indentureds who wouldn’t strike but take Massa’s side when there was a labour dispute in the fields.
But your Eyewitness really wants to know why the schoolyard name calling? The name caller betrays his lack of imagination to merely regurgitate an abused cliche that’s now bereft of its original sting. Presently don’t most politicians have to be “house slaves” to get elected to Congress? Check out Hakeem Jeffries top 20 campaign donors – all Wall Street biggies!
He who pays the piper…
…fans of Fanon
Seems that after a decade of relative quiet on the Fanonian Front, the venerable revolutionary who passed away sixty years ago this December is making a comeback. In case you forgot what Fanon was famous for, it was his dictum that violence wasn’t just useful because it could get rid of the colonists – but was “cathartic” since it restores the damaged ‘self’ of the armed insurrectors! Violence was good for the soul!!
Have you heard the rhetoric of some of the minnows who want to seize the leadership of the PNC from Granger and Harmon? Positively Fanonian!! They’re not just talking about removing the PPP via the ballot box any longer – they know their rigging attempt failed and they see the petition going nowhere – but they’re calling for its “undermining and overthrow”!! Outflanking Granger!!
But it’s clear they’ve forgotten the last Fanonian assault “Straight out of Buxton”!! As always, the violence ended up devouring those with the guns!
At that point doesn’t the state of their souls become moot?
…successful COVID-19 countries
Sure, Mauritius is an island, but with the same population as Trinidad’s 1.3 million imagine them having only 22 deaths from COVID-19 as opposed the latter’s 1219!!
Rowley dissed Guyana, but maybe he should call Mauritius?
