Dr Rowley, you wrong. Ms Springer, you wrong. Mr Kambon, you wrong.

Firstly, those who were shipped from the continent called Africa and even the present inhabitants do not respond to that identification but instead are animated by their nationality. Secondly, referring to them as “black people” only confirms a deep ignorance and your acceptance of that degrading association. These are simply people with black skin.

It is easy for a dominant group to create a system that discriminates and subjugates. Those who do not measure up to that system are categorised as under-performers and relegated to second class or worse. If you put a horse and a turtle to race in the sea, guess which will win?

Would you conclude that the defeated underperformed or that the environment did not lend itself to equal opportunity?

So many of our systems, education the leader, put people unfairly in a caste and they are not given a second chance. Every system has a rating and the further away it is from the top the lower the ranking. Those who find themselves on the bottom rung have great difficulty coping with the elevated systems. Self-esteem is low and in their perceived helplessness may even drive them to employ violence to counter-punch suppression.

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Between Covid-19 and the warring surrounding the Trini­dad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), the biggest loser is the beautiful game of football.

While the thousands for whom the sport is a source of joy ­remain under Covid-19 lockdown, its national administrators are wrangling among themselves and with FIFA, the governing body for the pyramid of football organisations linked to the World Cup competition.

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Just before his very welcome elevation to the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Boodoo­singh gave a decision on the Public Health Ordinance and the Coronavirus Regulations made under it. The importance of the decision was blurred by claims of who won or lost the case made by politicians interested in the case.

Total disrespect

Total disrespect

I do not believe the Commissioner of Police, Captain Gary Griffith, is a foolish man. He may be egotistic, over-sensitive, loquacious, combative. But foolish? No. I make this assessment of him purely by watching him from a distance, listening to his pronouncements on people from every strata of the society whom he perceives as being his critics.

Gutsy Gary

Gutsy Gary

Instead of engaging in consultation, the prime minister often publicly chastises individuals and groups—“throwing words”, as they say, to hide his own ineptitude. In 2016, with the economy slowing, he openly criticised the business sector, which had to forcefully remind him of his own administration’s responsibility in creating the conducive environment for the investment he wanted.

Thinking Race, Understanding Colour

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“Nobody can be properly termed educated who knows little or nothing of the history of his own race and of his country.” —Frederick Alexander Durham, The Lone-Star of Liberia.

TTFA can’t condone breach by FIFA

In respect of the current standoff between the TTFA (Trinidad and Tobago Football Association) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), Lennox Francis (Saturday Express, Page 14) posits that “there is no reason why the stakeholders cannot meet and chart a new course”.