Thursday, April 28, 2016

"These nuisances and pests . . ." -- a Trinidadian Talk show host on Power 102 FM goes way too far in cutting off a Jamaican caller

Just now I ran across an Antigua Observer article (taken from Jamaica's Gleaner) [Gleaner link here has security issues] on how a Talk show host on Power 102 FM in Trinidad cut off a Jamaican caller, then said:
 “I expect the immigration officers at PIARCO (Piarco International Airport), and elsewhere, to be even more stringent wid how much of these nuisances and pests, and threateners and criminal elements, they allow to come on our shore”.

He further said: “They have a strong influence on the crime in the community, the police know it, so callers who might … you in the university lecturing, that caller when he leave, he might go home to his house in Westmoorings or wherever, that other Jamaican caller is calling his criminal friends in Jamaica to monitor me and attempting to intimidate me, he may be safe based on what he does.”
This goes way too far, it is patent bigotry and prejudice against Jamaicans as a class.

It needs to be walked back with a very serious and sincere apology, and some serious rethinking needs to happen about how people are being viewed and treated across the Caribbean. END