Where Are Your Heroes Caribbean?

Oct 02, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The talented and brilliant Tradewinds Band made songs so melodious and meaningful I could listen to them all day, the one however that stands out for me is “Where Are Your Heroes Caribbean?”, asking why the great cricketers of the WI were not given the heroic respect they so deserve. With all due respect to the Tradewinds my heroes did different struggles for the Caribbean to uplift the people, I also commend the great cricketers for making us walk with our heads held high, however I cannot blame the Tradewinds for mentioning heroes other than cricketers as a song is about four mins long.

What is happening in the Caribbean, particularly Guyana clearly shows independence was just changing the countries name, anthem and flag, the extraction of the wealth and ownership of wealth generating entities is still controlled by the old and new foreign colonizers and most of the locals still live in squalor poverty. There are people of Caribbean decent who say they were better off during colonial rule, this mentality is supported by the local incompetent and corrupt Parliamentarians across the Caribbean who took over good systems and infrastructure and ran them down due to mismanagement, corruption, and incompetence. Some people were better off during colonial rule since the colonists made investments in them to make them more productive as the colonists made more profits from this investment in their workers, the local leaders didn’t do this investment as they pocketed the money resulting in a decline.

The people who believe they were better off under colonization have a right to their belief but they should know the betterment they enjoyed is not because the colonists were nice people, but because of the struggle of the slave rebels, the unions, the civil rights activists and all who protested for betterment for the locals, some lost their lives, were imprisoned, were beaten among the great penalties they paid, no disrespect for the Tradewinds and other musicians but these are heroes of the Caribbean and songs plus any other memorabilia should be made honouring them.

Today the heroes depicted in the media of Caribbean decent are those who have ascended to high offices abroad, medal winning athletes, billboard making musicians, cricketers and elected parliamentarians, all who proudly with their hand across their chests stand under banners showing “ Stand Against Injustice” among others, yet none of them use their position of influence to speak out on the decimation of farmland and displacement of farmers by foreign bauxite companies in Jamaica, the plundering of gold fields in Haiti by foreign countries who then turn around and call Haiti an s/hole country, the takeover of prime beach properties all across the region by foreigners and the foreign exploitation of anything valuable in Guyana.

The afore mentioned people are excellent achievers who are talented, made the investment and sacrifice, overcame adversity and hurdles to be where they are, I cannot achieve as them so I will gladly pay to see them perform, however at the end of the day they are not heroes but great achievers, heroes would speak out for true justice even if it causes them their positions and careers like Mohammed Ali, the elected parliamentarians who attend international events don’t even bring up troubling issues in the Caribbean caused by foreign exploitation, they just allow themselves to be lectured by superior event speakers and clock watch for when it’s time for the buffet, Guyana’s current VP while in Opposition made a fiery accusation of the Govt. selling out Guyana’s patrimony on the oil contract, now he’s in charge and apparently singing Long Live ExxonMobil.

So the Tradewinds were right all along with the song “Where Are Your Heroes Caribbean?”, as I can’t think of any alive today.

R. David

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