smi, BSc International Relations, journalist, wordspinner, Trinidadian, Londoner, New Yorker, limer, music-obsessed, drastic sarcastic, Soca Warrior, work in progress.
Papa Doc first came to power in 1957, when he is said to have won free and fair elections.
A popular figure at first, he became increasingly authoritarian and eccentric, keeping control of the country thanks to the sinister Tontons Macoutes who acted with impunity to silence any opposition.
In 1964 Papa Doc had himself declared president for life.
Papa Doc first came to power in 1957, when he is said to have won elections.
A popular figure at first, he became increasingly authoritarian, keeping control of the country thanks to the Tontons Macoutes who acted with impunity to silence any opposition. In 1964 Papa Doc had himself declared president for life.
I look on in silence as a rising tide of ignorance threatens to engulf the island people. The promise and potential of an Athens of the New World is being blindly devoured by petty tribal rivalries and insecurities of skin and hair, ancestry and religion.
That bright illuminating spark of true Caribbean culture, its hybrid brilliance aglow before Independence, is put out, sold out to a cult of greed and power at any cost.
A cancer of corruption corrodes the body politic, a corruption of spirit, a primitive, barbaric immorality of soul. The beautiful island TAPESTRY is being torn to shreds. A monument to enormous gaudy crassness replaces it, casting a dark, dangerous and murderous shadow.
I look aside in shame. I feed the birds. I water the plants. I engage the company of the dogs and the cat with love, respect and wonderment.
In the depiction of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary which foretold the birth of Jesus, the New King James Bible’s version of Luke reads, “And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.'”
In the patois version, it becomes, “Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, ‘Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu aal di taim.'”
Lloyd Millen, pastor of the Cumberland Community Church in Portmore, said his congregants have been “animated and so excited” when they hear him preach from the Gospel of Luke in their spoken language.
“People feel liberated to hear the Bible this way. They say they are able to visualize it better,” Millen said.
