Ryan Hadeed
Orlando, Florida–a city known far and wide as the home of 'The Happiest Place On Earth'. It's a veritable vacation Mecca for families looking for an escape into the worlds of fun and fantasy provided by Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. This proud reputation was shattered two weekends ago with a massacre that transpired at a popular nightclub, resulting in 49 innocent deaths and an additional 53 people wounded. It bears the morbid distinction of being the deadliest mass shooting carried out by a single gunman (for now at least). Was this an act of terror? Perhaps, after all, the gunman was a Muslim man who claimed allegiance to the preposterous Islamic State. But the fact that he targeted a known venue for LGBTQ patrons, indicates that it was most likely a hate crime. Unfortunately, the United States of America has become accustomed to such tragedies, but for those citizens who find themselves living beyond the established idea of 'normal', it was a stark reminder that being 'different' can also make you 'dead'.
It's times like these that cause me to recall a quotation from The Stand, a post-apocalyptic novel by American author Stephen King (published in 1978). It reads, "Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare." It seeks to describe the duality of mankind; how we are capable of both inspiring accomplishments and committing terrible atrocities. I've always found it intriguing how the author chose to precede war with prejudice. Yet it is undeniably a characteristic we tend to rely upon; to quickly and easily pass judgment on entire swaths of people, even when there's no logical or rational reason to support it. But when negative preconceptions dictate how we treat each other, in words and actions, we do harm not only to them but to ourselves.
With regards racial tensions here in T&T, the optimist in me always sought to believe that the discord was mostly an illusion; a phantom hysteria stoked by the politicians every five years for the sake of votes. But over the course of the last few months, seeing how the post-election fire is still smouldering has caused me to reconsider my opinion and wonder if the soul of this country is prone to prejudice. Spend an hour or even just a few minutes reading the comment threads on social media or the online publications (I'm partial to the Guardian). Whatever the topic or news story may be, I guarantee you it doesn't take long for racism to rear its ugly head. There's everything from casually blaming the UNC for the economy and the PNM for the crime, to the more offensive declarations that all East Indians are scheming, pagan-worshiping thieves and all Africans are raping, murdering bandits. What's worse is that these aren't words being spewed from the mouths of the elderly and the uneducated, but from the current generation who are destined to be our future professionals and civic leaders.
Are words like 'diversity' and 'cosmopolitan' only part of the spiel we tell the tourists who visit our shores, selling them the notion that everyone here lives in harmonious bliss? The truth, however, is that our prejudice goes a lot further than race-based issues. And in a grotesque way, we've become so accustomed to its pervasive nature that it's tolerated. Take the recent occurrence in Orlando: imagine the contradiction of our politicians sending condolences and standing in solidarity with the people of the United States, and all the while refusing to have any meaningful dialogue with respect to decriminalising homosexuality. We are left to assume that it either isn't worth their time or they are fine with the way things are. But whatever the reason, it sends the message that 'dem nasty people doh matter'. So what we have is a policy supported by a small-minded few representing the sentiment of the small-minded masses. This is because as a national community we have yet to accept that same-sex and gender equality need to be counted as basic human rights and not 'un-Godly' ways that put us on the path to damnation. It's the same mentality that depicts women as whores for embracing their sexuality, gay men as perverted deviants, and transgender people as weirdos looking for attention.
Regardless of the form it may take, holding or acting on prejudice is the sort of personal conviction that only perpetuates hate and bitterness. Beneath skin colour, gender, sexuality and religious beliefs, we are all human beings who deserve to be treated with mutual dignity and respect. By the way, the before-mentioned quote adds that, "Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home." I trust that the Devil is pleased when we give into petty things that divide instead of unite us. And from His place in Hell, He looks upon our deeds and laughs in malevolent satisfaction.