It turns out that what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

I had every intention of moving on from the subject of J’ouvert Rum and the appropriation of T&T culture with this week’s post. In fact, I was in the process of preparing something about one of my favourite local subjects and a perpetual thorn in my side: the local education system. Then Michael B. Jordan, co-owner of the venture released a statement acknowledging the feedback received and announcing that the renaming/rebranding exercise is already underway.

So, first things first, props to MBJ for his willingness to listen and learn from the people who have expressed that his actions have caused harm (however inadvertently) and for taking corrective action. A huge personal thanks to him too, for allowing me to go on thoroughly enjoying the character of Killmonger (who we all know made some points, even if he took things a bit too far) without the burden of conflicting feelings. It’s not easy to make such a misstep in the public arena and then resist the all-too-human urge to bristle at the backlash in favour of admitting wrongdoing and committing to do better. So he deserves praise for this move and I look forward to seeing the new direction.

That said, as others have pointed out, there’s no real victory for T&T in decisions about the name of a foreign rum brand. As I highlighted in my previous post on the subject, the rum was never the point. The real matter at hand is our continued failure to protect and uplift our cultural heritage.

On that topic, I’d like to take a closer look at a very interesting turn the local discussion took while T&T was still waiting to see how things were going to turn out. Specifically, the attempt to derail the conversation with various whataboutisms and tone policing. Ironically, the original topic of today’s post has some relevance here.

Let’s start with the “Carnival does appropriate too”, crew. Once again, there are people who are infinitely more qualified than I to discuss the roots of our Carnival culture (Attillah Springer shared a helpful source here for anyone interested in learning more). What should be common knowledge by now, though, is that it is rooted in a spirit of inclusivity and representation of ALL aspects of Trinbagonian culture, which includes our Amerindian communities. The “Fancy Indian” portrayal and its attendant rituals in traditional mas is therefore a representation paying homage to a portion of our national community. Not an appropriation of same. More details on this can be found in the Traditional Mas Archive.

Now, if the issue is pretty mas costumes, which sometimes feature headpieces reminiscent of Amerindian war bonnets without reference to its cultural significance, then yes. It’s past time for us all to be open to discussing whether certain iterations of pretty mas, in their attempt to commercialise Carnival, may have lost sight of their cultural roots in favour of pursuing profitability and marketability. You know… kind of like how a rum brand might use the name of a national festival rooted in resistance and spirituality to promote a disconnected party aesthetic.

Next up, the “Alluyh vex about ah rum, but allyuh eh studying who owns the pitch lake, tho” stringband. The implication here seems to be that it’s owned by China. Now, a quick Google search shows that the pitch lake is owned by a wholly-owned State enterprise which signed a deal to provide pitch to China some years ago. It also turns up references to a particular Facebook post by a particular infamous person claiming that it was sold to China after Petrotrin was closed down.

I could dig deeper into that (and honestly, I’m curious because that State enterprise’s website is currently being blocked by Google). Or I could point out the obvious fact that even if it so happens that we don’t own our own pitch lake, the need to demand accountability for that has no bearing on whether it’s ok for a foreign private company to launch a rum brand based on an aspect of our culture. Guess which I choose to do right now.

On to the “why allyuh so vex” contingent. In my journey through various lengthy pseudo-intellectual threads apparently aimed at displaying indifference to the entire subject while questioning why people “suddenly” care, I noticed a few different iterations of this stance.

There are those who appear to think that because they do not care about a particular cultural element, no one else really does or should.

Others seem to feel that any international recognition of a piece of local culture should be appreciated because, after almost 59 years of independence, nearly 45 years as a republic and countless Trinbagonians achieving excellence in the international arena (not to mention the ones achieving excellence right here), T&T is still waiting to be placed on the map by our former colonial masters.

Still others claim that we’ve been doing nothing with our culture, so we might as well let someone else do something with it, even if it earns this nation’s coffers exactly $0 in exchange for the privilege of putting Americans on to the next island trend.

Finally, some just seem to find we looking backwards and reactionary for beating up, even as our CARICOM neighbours move to protect and preserve their own cultural legacies.

To all of these people, I can only offer my sympathies because, as I intend to explore in a future post, the local education system has failed us all. If you don’t already know that your culture has intrinsic value and your geographically tiny nation has produced some of the world’s most breathtaking talent despite the continued lack of national support until a foreign body declares worthiness, well… it’s not in our textbooks. At least, not in a meaningful way. The good news is that Google remains free and, if you’re willing to learn, several people are consistently sharing their knowledge online. Also for free.

For example, just this week, courtesy of veteran journalist Tony Fraser, I learned the name of Winsford ‘Joker’ DeVine, a legendary Calypso songwriter and pannist who has just passed away. It breaks my heart that I’d never heard of him despite having grown up on so much of his music sung by talented local artists, but I intend to honour his contribution to our heritage by learning as much as I can now.

All of which is to say that if you actually want to know why some Trinbagonians cared so much about the fact that some people in another country decided to snip off a piece of our culture and use it to turn a profit, the answer is obvious: they value our culture. It’d be great if you did too, but no one is forcing you to. One of the many freedoms afforded you as a Trinbagonian is the right to give zero meaningful fucks about your cultural roots while still enjoying the parts that appeal to you.

While you do that, those who do care will continue to use what influence they have (which usually isn’t much given the aforementioned obliviousness and the government’s awareness of same) to protect and steward our culture. My hope is that this particular chapter in the lengthy story of T&T’s cultural awakening will inspire more people who actually do care to lend their support in various ways.

After all, the louder our voices, the more likely we are to be heard.

And the thing about a rising tide is that it lifts all ships. Therefore, the work being undertaken by people who care about the culture will benefit you, too.

You might even learn something after all. And that can only help.