Race committee: No race crisis in TT

MEMBERS of the re-established Race Relations Committee yesterday said there was no race crisis in Trinidad and Tobago. Speaking to reporters before the Committee’s inaugural meeting at Whitehall, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha General Secretary Sat Maharaj declared: “Nearly every country in the world that has a diverse population or some diversity may have the same problems that we have. I want to probably proclaim that in TT we may have a race problem but in no way does it compare to the kinds of problems that we see across the world. One of the reasons is that we always try to find solutions to the problems that we have.  That is the beauty of TT. The freedom to speak out. That is why I have not migrated. I prefer to remain here to fight my battles locally.” He said his main concern and that of the Hindu community was the equitable distribution of State resources.

Emancipation Support Committee representative Pearl Eintou Springer agreed with Maharaj, noting that “the fact that we are talking will have a positive effect on our society.” Asked if she felt the Committee was starting all over, compared to its previous tenure from 1991 to 1995, Springer replied: “It is not the same. We not starting over but we are not starting at the same point. Our interaction has impacted.” Professor Selwyn Cudjoe believed there was no race problem in the country but fundamental problems of misunderstanding between ethnic groups. Cudjoe said the only way to solve these problems was through the development of mutual respect and understanding amongst the nation’s ethnicities. Muslim Coordination Council representative Yacoob Ali observed that in all diverse societies there was a degree of “vertical separation” and was optimistic that the Committee would serve as a catalyst to “ensure that the dispossessed are able to achieve their hopes and aspirations.”