Increase in Anti-African Sentiments
Fake JournalismSeptember 7, 2000
By Kurt GarciaSince the advent of Power 102 a couple of years ago there has been a paranoia and an increase in anti-African sentiment and statements coming over the airwaves of this national radio station from certain of their personnel who feel that they are entitled to lambaste, characterize, stereotype and deny this section of the population the right to self-definition, affirmation and expression. They seem to get quite paranoid and adverse to any form of recognition and open discussion with those who seek to identity and affirm the ancestral part of their Trinidadianess.
If Jack Warner is aware of a secret pro black caucus then I am aware of an open racist [maybe unconsciously] anti black caucus that operates daily and soon to be again weekly at that radio station and others are implicated by their selective silence and acquired dumbness to the issue. It is much easier to be highly critical and disparaging in remarks to and about African people in particular and it seems you are guaranteed air time, no matter how many times you are fired from there. The journalistic concept of space for opposing views, never seems to apply for these characters.
They have openly allowed presenters to use the derogatory, racially divisive N-word and other offensive terminology and consider it free speech, especially if anti-African, but dare not do the same to other groups in the society.
They always seem to lose their neutrality and favor lots of non-informative queries and commentaries anytime the word African or some related issue comes to the forefront like Emancipation Day, African names, African history and awareness programs. An unintended consequence of this, is that they conveniently seek interest in their "Trinidadianess", totally unaware of what contributed heavily to the making of the very same Trinidadianess and gives the country it's identity.
In matters of party politics they claim balance by giving the impression of not being critical of a single party at any one time, but in the political sociology which is almost similar they never bother to use the same tool for analysis and criticism or comment, preferring an inane continuous stream of one-sided and uninformed comment.
This group evidently has had no access to tertiary education at the formal or informal level. The result of this is that they pass on the confusion and limited amount of knowledge in their own minds on matters of race, ethnicity, nationality and history to a large listenership who remain without the benefit of accurate information on such matters.
They seem to believe that they alone have the right to be critical of things that need to criticized and on many occasions make many statements that can be challenged on accuracy everyday but it is virtually impossible to get on and then to be rushed of. Corresponding to this they have removed all their open forums for full comment on many unsettling issues. It seems they are mortally afraid of free speech or as some say it's the Gillette factor.
The CEO of the said organization proudly crystallized the sentiment of the group when he said that any introduction of African related programming would lead to division in the society and we would end up like Bosnia. In this a country of 5 East Indian radio stations, one of which was created by him. From this statement he obviously thinks little of the capacity for learning of African descended people in this society and instantly associate programs with them in mind as disastrous and dangerous to the nation. What a quantitative leap in crassness and hatred for something he cares little for, knows nothing about, and is only exhibiting a warped sense of reasoning and a case of aggravated personal bias.
This group of people for all their short comings and very often less than accurate opinions and information still has the temerity to label the work of other media persons as " fake journalism". No one can doubt that they are the leaders in their industry as all the surveys have shown so far, but people are attracted to entertainment and also mishaps. My hope is that they are prepared to respond to these criticisms and eventually deal with their fear.
