Emancipation Support Committee avoids 'back and forth' with PM

The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago (ESCTT) has declared its intention to avoid a "political back and forth" with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar regarding the recent Emancipation Day celebrations controversy. The committee stressed its commitment to remaining an apolitical organization dedicated to national unity.

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We really don't want to go into a back and forth between ourselves and the Prime Minister. We don't think it's necessary. What we're trying to avoid is for it to become a political back and forth between one group or another, one party or another. We're not interested.

ESCTT chairman Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada stated during a virtual news conference that the committee believes the Prime Minister's public remarks stemmed from misinformation. Uzoma-Wadada sought to "clear the air" about the events that transpired, emphasizing that the ESCTT does not wish for the issue to devolve into a partisan political debate.

According to Uzoma-Wadada, the ESCTT feels Persad-Bissessar "may have been misled about what happened" at both the Treasury Building and the Queen's Park Savannah event. She described the situation as a "storm in a teacup" that she believes does not undermine the committee's extensive work.

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I think it is a storm in a teacup. Frankly, I don't think it destroys all the work that we've done.

Uzoma-Wadada reiterated that the ESCTT has consistently avoided engaging in disputes on issues detrimental to national development, underscoring why they chose to respond in this manner. The committee's goal is to provide clarity on their interactions with the government during the Emancipation Day festival. While unable to speculate on the Prime Minister's motives, the ESCTT believes some of her responses addressed events that did not actually take place, deeming her reaction "totally inappropriate."

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I do think it was a totally inappropriate response because...what she responded to did not actually happen.

Committee chairman Asha Kambon also addressed the increasing use of racially offensive language in public discourse. Kambon criticized the media's role in allowing such language to become normalized, questioning why it is permitted in public spaces and urging media outlets to safeguard society by censoring offensive terms.

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I want to question how the media is allowing these words to become a part of our public space. The burden is there on the public media to safeguard our society.