Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has defended Laventille West MP Kareem Marcelle after he accused the United National Congress-led Government of using the PNM label as a racial slur and being hostile towards Afro-Trinidadians.Speaking with reporters outside Parliament in Port of Spain yesterday, Beckles said Marcelle’s comments were misinterpreted and that he was conveying the feeling on the ground in his constituency that the Government does not care about them.
‘Conveying the feeling on the ground’: Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles arrives for yesterday’s sitting of Parliament at the Red House, Port of Spain. —Photo: ISHMAEL SALANDY
“Let me make it clear—we celebrate 70 years as a party this year. We have always stood for interracial solidarity, and that has always been the mantra of the PNM. I spoke with (Marcelle) before, and I know he was going to make some statements...but in particular as it relates to his constituents, I know there are some very strong feelings as to what has happened during the election as it relates to the UNC and how the people of those areas feel as it relates to the UNC, and promises and exactly what has transpired.“So I am maintaining that this has always been the mantra of the party, and it will be the mantra of the party...I mean we do have concerns and we are very clear in our mind that a lot of what the UNC promised, the UNC did not deliver, and that has impacted not just on PNM constituencies but, in truth and in fact, all constituencies,” she said.Beckles added, “But I know he was addressing a particular feeling in his constituency of Laventille West, a particular feeling in terms of how that area, (which includes persons) who have lost their jobs via CEPEP, URP, Reforestation—and they are of the view that the Government does not care about them.”Speaking at a PNM public meeting at the Laventille Community Centre on Thursday night, Marcelle said people in the UNC-led Government were using the PNM label as a racial slur, and accused them of being hostile toward Afro-Trinidadians.Marcelle said, “They don’t like we, and they will never like we. But I want them to know that we don’t like them and we will never like them. The former prime minister, the honourable Stuart Young, just asked what is a PNM person to the UNC?“Well, let me tell you, me ain’t afraid to say it. Whenever they say ‘PNM people’ on social media, to me, it is the new N-word. They hate African people. They hate black people. They hate people from Beetham, Sea Lots, Maloney, the Trainline, Arima, Carenage...they hate we. A bunch of racist clowns in this country.“And if you feel the PNM is sleeping, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that your pollsters telling you that you could call an election and win the election, then come on, we are praying, are waiting...The PNM people are ready for elections to elect Pennelope Beckles-Robinson as the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.”The statement drew loud reactions from supporters gathered at the meeting.Marcelle stands by statementsMarcelle defended his statements yesterday, insisting he never intended them to be divisive.Speaking with reporters outside the Red House, Marcelle maintained his remarks were not intended to create division, and he never referred to any race of people but rather the current iteration of the UNC Government.“I stand by my statements. My statements were 100% that this UNC administration, by their actions and by their words, have perpetuated a level of viciousness, of hate, of discriminatory conduct, against the people of my constituency and of the people of what they have termed PNM constituencies.“We have seen a minister of this Kamla-led administration referring to PNM supporters in a candlelight vigil last week in San Juan, and calling them vagrants...rats in white jerseys. Where was the outrage?“We have seen a minister less than 18 months ago, the PNM and this country experienced a tragedy where the former minister in the Ministry of Education and the former MP for Malabar/Mausica area perished in a fire with her children...and today we have sitting in that honourable House called the Parliament, a minister who watched my colleague Camille Robinson-Regis, crying in front of her home, and you can recall what the now-minister said about my colleague? I can’t even repeat it here,” he said.Marcelle continued: “We have had the Prime Minister and ministers in her administration watching when there is tragedy in T&T and saying it is happening in PNM constituencies. They have trivialised the killing of a young girl, nine years old, (J’Layna Armstrong, who was fatally shot in April in Belmont) and talk about PNM constituencies. So my response was directly to that.“So say one, PNM people, Laventille people, based on this Government’s conduct in the past 14 months, they do not like us. The UNC will never like us. And I am certain the people of Laventille West will never like the UNC either, and I stand by that.”He said misinterpretations of his statements were being made online, and emphasised that anyone with common sense would know that he was referring to the UNC Government.“Anyone with any level of common sense in T&T would know that the they I referred to is the UNC Government. Not even UNC supporters, the UNC Government. This version,” Marcelle said.
