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New World Negroes and Black and White Fowls
November/December 2004 Issue No. 21
Published in Trinidad and Tobago
Recently a statement was made by a "talk show" host on Ebony Radio 104, relative to the events on the night of August 31, 1962, when Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation.
In one of the rare occasions that radio in this country provided significant information to us as a people, the "talk show" host perhaps, without exposed idiotic argument advanced by PNM Parliamentarian Kenneth Valley, during his attempts to defend his infamous utterances on: "dhotis, dashikis and mooks".
The radio commentator reminded those of us who were born prior to August 31, 1962 that we had undergone a change of political status which brought us from being British Nationals (or British subjects as the colonial powers preferred to call us) to nationals of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
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This simple statement comprehensively destroyed the foolish arguments of Minister Valley and the many other Afrikan people who refused to accept their Afrikaness, choosing instead to exchange, and in the process confuse, race with nationality.
What is easily recognised and accepted as fact, by members of all other ethnic groups in this society continues even after 1970, to be a source of an enormous burden for people like Minister Valley and many other purportedly successful Afrikans. They are unable to make the transition from being labelled a Negro, to reclaiming their Afrikan heritage given the shame that still lingers even today, in the minds of those whose ancestors were forced to endure the barbarism of being enslaved.
In his attempt (like so many of us who cannot escape the illusionary Negroland identity) to justify his fear of being called Afrikan, Mr. Valley had advanced what he perceive to be a very eloquent and sophisticated description of himself which is: "a new world man".
Unfortunately, despite its sophisticated 21st century sound, it seems like Mr. Valley is the only member of the "New World" race.
What is ironic about the commentator's statement is the fact that it reveals how easy it is for any person to change his or her nationality but its impossible for them to change their race.
Mr. Valley's statement and the effort of Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to defend it, is indeed frightening given the position of national leadership conferred on these gentlemen.
The problem is not Mr. Valley's perceived ignorance of his race but his perception of Afrika and things Afrikan. It is for this reason that he went to great lengths to create a rationale to dissociate himself from being called Afrikan even while proudly admitting to being a Roman Catholic.
As a "New World man" he cannot be identified with what he perceives to be the mountain of misery that is now Afrika which clearly, would damage the image of his "New Worldian" race.
"New Worldians" are supposed to be a highly sophisticated race of people technologically and socially advanced far beyond the aspirations of any Third World society hence the need for Mr. Valley to dissociate himself from this primitive civilization, whose people's close resemblance to him, is merely an accident of creation.
The entire fiasco could easily be dismissed as just another issue for good Trini jokes, but Mr. Valley's position as a senior government minister makes it too macabre and frightening to even entertain such a position.
The portfolio assigned to him as a minister, requires regular interaction with foreign business people; therefore, we cannot be so foolish to joke about Mr. Valley's new social status.
During the decades of the 1950's and 1960's there was a progressive move within the British Commonwealth by a number of member states who pursued liberation from colonial dominance but those progressive forces of liberation were faced with the political challenges of defeating the politicians who were then referred to as "Black and White fowls" because of their obstructionist position. It would seem as though remnants of that era still remain in our society. What type of leadership can we expect from those who refuse to acknowledge the fact that race is permanent, while nationality, can become a changing process, dependant on a person's migration and his desire to identify with other lands and cultures.
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