Two Seans

Yesterday, on my way to the Museum for the little concert being put on in association with S.E.A.N. (which stands for Stop Elderly Abuse Now), I went to the rally/forum for Sean Luke in Woodford Square, POS. The latter started at two p.m. and the S.E.A.N. concert started at 3 p.m. Since I was doing something at the concert, I was only able to stay an hour at the forum.

A section of the crowd at the Sean Luke rally

I'm not good at estimating crowd numbers, but for the time I was there, there were not that many people. Perhaps two hundred plus. Normally I don't notice race, but upon arrival I could not help but observe that I was the only non-Indian person there. This changed a bit within the hour, but still 97% were East Indian. Nothing at all wrong with that, but ... the sad thing is that people will look at that and dismiss it as "Is only Indian dere ... is a UNC ting." It's not a 'UNC ting'. It was the organisers (the IBN Station) sincerely responding to a call from the family of Sean Luke to have a rally for the cause. Trinidadians need to stop classifying things as UNC or PNM and just realise that it's about people who live on one island (regardless of their race) coming together for whatever-the-reason.

Lots of children had placards at the rally

Similar comments were made at the no smelter/inter-faith walk in Catham/Cap-de-Ville the other day. A man saw me taking photos, thought I was the media, pulled me aside and said "You know what going on here? Is a political ting. Watch what goin' dong wit dem people. Is a UNC ting!" What a waste of energy and what an insult to people's good intentions to constantly tie their genuine efforts for change to political objectives. Even our dear PM announced: 'those people have ulterior motives'.

The National Museum where the S.E.A.N. concert was held

Anyway ... the national anthem opened the rally, followed by prayers from the Hindu, Christian and Muslim faiths. During the first speech (given by a lawyer), I had to leave, as it was already 3 p.m. and I had to be at the museum. I wonder what the rally achieved and how the people who were there felt during it and after it. I know for me, the moment of impact was when (during the final opening prayer) a sudden strong wind started to blow with great intent, swirling leaves around our feet ... as though responding to the call for transformation.

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Elspeth