[By the way [Anthony Morgan], in another University publication you're quoted as saying: "I think the bigger issue is how little we know about the history and historical contributions of Jamaicans." Well, the issue is way bigger than Jamaica; it's a "race" issue, targeting and ridiculing Black people, all of whom are people of African descent, sons and daughters of slaves.] So those students, froshers, "...were just having fun," eh? There was "nò mal-intent?" according to director [Michel Patry]. Surely they could've found another and more interesting and humanly innocuous way to have (even more) fun. The blackface skit is a sad cliché, it's passé, plus it's not funny. Except for [White] people as they seek ways to fulfill their final stage of life: their pursuit of happiness, by any means. It serves us right; it's the 'house divided' maxim. We are fractured from pulling in so many directions. We lack cohesion and the essential elements that hold people together to secure a strong !foundation. We've long cut the ties that bind, so it's very easy for people to have their way with us.
Due to political infighting and wrangling between 1996 and 2008, the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association (CCFA), was served by five different presidents. The wrangling intensified in 2009 when a feud erupted between CCFA and the Montreal Carnival Development Foundation (MCDF) in order to determine the coordinator of the parade. Caught in the middle, the City salvaged the parade by offering each group a permit under two names and $10,000 each. In "A Deeper Look At The Perils Of Our Community" (26-8-10), Dr. Clarence Bayne took a more satirical look at the situation. He likened our existence to a minority who lives in a trap and those leaders in this arena are perceived as tricksters and community leeches that employ deception and treachery that help to keep us in chains. These are those, he noted whom Bob White has given the title "poverty pimps". Such personalities, he lamented behave like crabs in a bucket (barrel). In a commentary entitled "Community Must Stand Against Disunity and Disrespecf (20-5-10), [Egbert Gaye] asserts that "blame in this situation must be placed at the unwashed feet of the collection of invalids who chose not to come together to salvage the parade and a bit of our dignity".
Just Chillin' continued, "That's one of the reasons why everyone's going to Anancy Restaurant for those tasty fish dishes." Money said, "Alex who is a close friend of Richie, AKA Mr. Music (part of LAB NOISE), has a favourite expression: "That's your opinion..." Da Professor said, "Children should be grateful they even have a school; many children don't. In many parts of the world education is a luxury. Look at what just happened in Haiti. [Don]'t forget what happened there. People have short memories; they're still in dire need. Whatever you have to donate bring it to Montreal North and have the Brothers and the Sisters send it to their relatives in Haiti, bypassing the sticky fingers... Don't forget we arc our brothers' keeper, so we have to show some love to our neighbours (not THE SYSTEM). After all WE are the world."
I am not sure what the reasons why "the arena on Vezina" was left empty on Carifiesta weekend while fans of Caribbean culture had to travel all the way to the West Island from place as far as the South Shore, Cote des Neiges, and La Salle to get a taste of Machel, Tall Pree, Traffik, and others. And perhaps the reasons are really not that important. The CCFA, as public trustees, are in no position to allow private and personal issues to get in the way of denying its use to anyone who wishes to use it for the benefit and promotion of Caribbean culture (save for the fact that they might cause material damages for which the CCFA might be held liable). given the fact that the CCFA is in no position to organize expensive parties (because of current and past financial losses) the next best thing would be to allow private individuals that opportunity. This is something which has been done in the past with some kind of honoraria going to the CCFA.
A recent editorial in the Trinidad Express quotes V.S. Naipaul in describing the idea that "if people cannot live in the day they would live in the night", as indicated in the greater willingness of people to cross the fine line between legitimate religion and superstition as life becomes more complex and challenging. The `mental darkness' to which the author was referring is the result of "the inevitable accompaniment of social marginalization and economic hopelessness in which so large a part of our population lives." From Montreal to Toronto to New York and the Caribbean there would seem to be a proliferation of new churches (38 in one small Toronto community), and ministers with questionable credentials promising solutions to all problems (`miracles' to be more precise) including childlessness, drug and alcohol addiction, impotence, disease, release from `spells', and depression. All for a price, of course. Two recent cases involving the deaths of teenagers in Trinidad can also serve to highlight the extremes to which this new `religion' has gone. In the first case a 17-year-old girl who became sick at her parents home was taken to her late grandmother's house (apparently a well-known Baptist woman in South Trinidad) where her body was kept for three days after her death (in spite of decay and flies) in the hope that the spirit of her dead grandmother would resurrect her back to life.
