Earlier in the week, fiery leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots, Watson Duke said that he would like to see positive prejudice shown for black people in Tobago,in all areas of life including the formal adoption of Tobago dialect as the official language,with standard English becoming a second language.
Now, following on from the established momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement and the recent celebration of Emancipation,Mr Duke obviously feels the wind in his sails as he expounds on behalf of positions that will change and gain little on behalf of Tobago’s largely black population,but could turn away a healthy dose of potential visitors,investors and benefactors.
To put his positions here in perspective, can you imagine the Jamaican or Barbadian Prime Ministers making similar statements.
I suppose Mr Duke is sticking to his established playbook of making really hyperbolic rants to energise and expand his support base in the sister isle.
Conversely,his party’s candidate for Tobago West is a really accomplished young management professional called Tasha Grace Burris.
An energetic holder of both a BSC in computing and information systems and an MBA in International Marketing Management,this fiery speaker firmly believes that youths in Tobago want to be heard and respected.
She is passionate about the movement to transform Tobago and this dynamic native of Canaan clearly shows that the next generation of leadership in Tobago is in good hands.
Gregory Wight
via email