Recently, my friends and I were discussing an article highlighting Khafra Kambon's discourse in the panel discussion regarding Race Relations, Gun Violence and Human Rights.In his contribution, he basically branded our beautiful country as 'racist against Africans' based on T&T's ban on Ebola-stricken countries.
He suggested that the allegedly abusive treatment of over 1,000 illegal Nigerians in the Detention Centre is also evidence of this so-called 'racism against Africans' and criticised recent killings by police in the ongoing tensions with young males in predominantly urban, black communities.
Strangely enough, I expected some sort of rebuttal to Mr Kambon's absurdist statements, but alas, none was forthcoming. (I would have loved to read one of Kevin Baldeosingh's scathing satirical pieces in response to Mr Kambon).I think that using such woefully illogical reasoning to imply wanton discrimination against Africans and those of African descent such as myself, was highly irresponsible of Mr Kambon.
The Government did not discriminate against West Africa any more than the 30 out of 47 other African countries that also implemented travel restrictions on their African neighbours, since the Ebola virus started its rapid spread this year.Our fellow Caricom counterparts such as Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, Belize, Antigua and St Vincent implemented these restrictions as well, many of them before us!
He used this vitriol to fuel his arguments that T&T has an agenda against Nigeria by not allowing their illegal immigrants to enter our borders unfettered. His hollow accusations of discriminatory abuse of illegal Nigerian immigrants also hold little credibility as prisoner abuse is a problem endemic to most of our penal establishments since time immemorial.
The most dreadful aspect of Mr Kambon's speech, however, was his unreserved condemnation of our Police Service. He basically whittled down the crime situation in certain hotspots to one of indiscriminate police brutality to what Selwyn Ryan refers to as the 'at risk youth' in areas such as Laventille, Morvant, Port-of-Spain and Beetham Gardens.
While the issue of police brutality is a serious one (akin to the prisoner abuse matter), to completely absolve the criminal element of any responsibility in the current conflict with our protective services is indeed a great disservice to the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to ensure our protection.Mr Kambon fails to realise that such irrational and ad hoc statements only trivialises the drive towards a balanced, multi-tiered and scientific approach that focuses on our social ills.
Mr Kambon, the youth of today is far less concerned with skin colour or hair texture than our for forebears and we no longer endorse persons who stumble their way into prominence, spewing outdated nonsense masked as social reformation and academia.
We demand better Mr Kambon!
Jevan De Coteau
Arima