Racial divide and the poor example of leaders

A historical antipathy has always existed between the two major ethnic groups, African and Indian, in the society. With emancipation freed blacks regarded incoming indentured Indians from India with suspicion, out of a perception that as substitute workers they negatively affected their bargaining power with their former masters. And over time, this initial historical distancing became reinforced by divergences in culture, profession, demographics, inter alia.

The ensuing politics would exacerbate the problem by feeding on this division, with our history marked by the formation of ethnic-based entities/political parties, such as the DLP/ UNC which is Indian based, and the long-standing PNM, African based, and this pattern has underpinned the electoral process into the present.

The continuing failure of attempts to bridge this racial divide, as with the COP, indicates how strongly entrenched is racial affiliation in the politics and that sense of “we” against “them” is ever present, manifesting itself whenever the occasion warrants it.

Thankfully, to our credit as a people, such division has never degenerated to a point as to be alarming as in other countries, as the now intensifying black/ white dichotomy in the US, or the ethnic-based violence among some tribes in Africa, or the perennial Shia/Sunni conflict in the Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia, inter alia.

In fact, there is much cross-cultural exchange in this country between the two major groups in the food, the music and the general social interaction.

Granted this, however, there cannot be any naivete about the potential for racial conflagration if our accustomed moderation eludes us, as in the Parliament recently. And it is in the politics where this otherwise sedate division between the two groups is exploited by both sides.

The call for constitutional reform by the old Bas will never be heeded because any constitutional framework which neutralises the appeal to this racial division is a no-no for politicians on both sides, for there is little to appeal to beyond racial affiliation, and this is manifested in the politics in all forms, as in attention to particular demographies, or in the award of contracts or in political appointments, depending on which race-based party is in power.

And there is a vicious cycle here, for on both sides of the divide the expectation of reward for political support is a given, and the fallout from this is that the idea of the national good, of principle, of the right against the wrong, is of null and no effect, and so too with our leaders who see no need to be accountable.

Will this ever change? I think not, for politics here, as elsewhere, is about manipulation for self-aggrandisement with little care for the common good or, as in this instance, for national unity between the two major races. In this respect, the most we can hope for is that the people do not follow the poor example set by our leaders in Parliament recently.

DR ERROL BENJAMIN via email