No matter what day I write this on, President Donald Trump has probably made some sort of gaffe, whether he’s lied, or thrown a tantrum, insulted an ally, or provoked and condoned violence.
The system of White Supremacy is woven into the very fabric of the United (settler, colonial, capitalist, white supremacist) States of America, and whilst the GOP/Republican Party are seen as the innate bigots, with the Democrats being the #resistance (eye roll).
As Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania said: “The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”
That is to say that both sides of the American political system is concerned with the subjugation of the poor, the migrant, the coloured, the queer, the fat, the disabled. The Democrats’ #resistance is flaccid and lukewarm, because they themselves are invested in the systems which oppress the masses (look no further than their endorsement of the Coup in Venezuela).
We’ve seen it in the travel ban; the revoking of TPS of many Latin and Central American nations; the condemning of “shithole” countries; the calculated, mass voter suppression; the defunding of public schools; the relentless bombing in the Middle East; the funding of coups in sovereign countries; the selling of arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia.
(And that isn’t even an exhaustive list.)
Of course, with every new deliberate act of savagery conducted by US policy — both foreign and domestic — there is outrage from Caribbean leaders, stemming from the harm done to their expat citizens.
I believe this outrage by Caribbean governments is performative.
When actual government policy in the Caribbean is put under any sort of scrutiny, it does not differ much from that of the United States. For example, this is illustrated in the regional (though Trinidad & Tobago, in particular, come to mind) attitude towards Venezuelan migrants.
Caribbean nationals are just as quick to fire up the machine of hateful rhetoric, and they should do well to admit it, instead of coddling a false sense of moral superiority. The West Indies (at the very least, the Anglophone Caribbean I can speak for) is rife with the same ableism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, colourism, and classism as seen in the United States among Republicans and Democrats.
In Grenada, specifically, like the United States, there’s only one electoral platform. There is no effort put into even creating the farce of opposing viewpoints. The two main parties — the only ones with any hope of winning an election — are both Centre-Right in their mandates.
The only position Party A has the initiative to stand for is whichever one opposes Party B, no matter the subject. And the only position Party B has the initiative to stand for is whichever one sells Grenada out to the highest bidder.
(I didn’t name any names, and your conclusions were your own. You can’t sue me.)
My point is, as Grenadians, as Caribbean nationals, it should be a priority, a duty, to ensure that ALL citizens have equality under the law, are able to fully participate in society, and enjoy freedom from persecution. Until then, it doesn’t make sense to be the pot calling the kettle black.
(This is a topic that will be revisited at a later date; I haven’t even gotten started on the topic of Abortion.)
Aspiring Adult 