By Johnny Coomansingh
As a student reading for the Associate of the College of Preceptors (ACP), a diploma in education, I listened to the lecturer spell out that there are three R’s that all students must know. These were: ‘Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.’ I guess the originator of the phrase dropped the first letters in the last two rudiments. He added that education ‘makes an individual fit to live and fit to live with.’ I wondered. This declaration to me was a very loaded statement. What does reading, writing, and arithmetic contribute to creating such an astute individual? There is much more than just the three R’s. Regardless of what I thought, today, with all the super-educated people who know so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic, we now have the four R’s: Religion, Racism, Real Estate, and Rum. These four elements affect all relationships, good or bad.
In 1844 it was Karl Marx who described religion as the opiate of the masses. David R. Papke in his article ‘Karl Marx on Religion’ published January 20, 2015 in the Marquette University Law School had this reflection about Marx’s statement:
“Religious people sometimes express disdain for Karl Marx and his philosophies because he supposedly characterised religion as “the opiate of the masses.” It turns out that this isn’t exactly what Marx said. Furthermore, he wasn’t necessarily negative about religion and its role in social life…Marx uses the German word “Volk,” which usually translates as “the people” rather than “the masses” as his detractors choose to claim.
Then, too, it’s important to remember that opium and opium derivatives were for the most part legal during the period in which Marx wrote and that they were thought of largely as medicinal. Any suggestion that Marx was equating religion to an illegal, addictive narcotic is therefore off-target. Marx’s actual words regarding religion deserve reflection. My best translation of those words is as follows: “Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions.”
On the other hand, Kate Blackwood in her article: ‘Religion: less ‘opiate,’ more suppressant, study finds’ published October 19, 2020, in the Cornell Chronicle revealed:
“Religion still has a strong influence, according to sociologist Landon Schnabel, but in a new way particular to the contemporary United States. Rather than making people less political, religion shapes people’s political ideas, suppressing important group differences and progressive political positions…Schnabel found patterns consistent with Marx’s claim that religion provides psychological compensation, but in contrast with Marx’s assertions…this applied more to groups with less social status rather than to groups with less wealth.
People in socially disadvantaged groups – including women, racial minorities and low-income people, many of whom are quite politically engaged – seek religion in higher numbers than white, well-to-do men, Schnabel said. Schnabel inferred that “structurally disadvantaged groups are drawn to this sense that there’s something more out there than this world where they face disproportionate hardship and marginalisation.”
In light of such reading/reviewing such religious research, I remembered speaking to a pastor who had just completed a six-week crusade to win people to Christ. He said that he baptised 29 souls, but none had a job (working). It seemed to me that the poor was willing to accept Jesus and most times would remain poor in the church until they sometimes fell away from the fold.
Then there are literal battles, even wars among religions. Religion has created many divisions. Members from one church will not go into the hall of another church, not even for funerary rites. They would prefer to stand outside. Some would argue with each other about who is saved and who is lost, who is reading the Bible ‘back to front,’ who is serving the devil, who is right and who is wrong; all of this leading up to strained and abrasive relationships in the community and sometimes even in the home. The argument with the Pentecostals not wanting the use of the term ‘Hallelujah’ in a carnival band is on record as such an instance in the guarding of religious mentifacts. There are a few lines from a poem ‘The Everywhere Church’ that I wrote:
O there’s a church under a house just down the street
Where all are invited to happily meet and greet
But the rich and wealthy occupy a special place
And some members are sidelined because of their race.
O there’s a church where we would like to stay
A church where love is the guide…His words to obey
Such a wonderful church may never ever exist
If some people their evil acts and speech continue to persist.
On Facebook (FB) today I saw some Islamic believers helping out a downed United States Airforce pilot in Kuwait. What I saw there was a moment of hope for humankind. I commented on the FB post that “The solution to religion is love and compassion.” What I know is that religion will not solve our problems, nor will racism.
Without any doubt, racism presents itself in every sector of society. I guess racism does not occur in Nepal. One of my geography students presented his paper on ‘Gross National Happiness,’ found only in Nepal. His research left me in amazement that there is such a place on Earth. The white little girls in first grade (elementary school) in the heart of Kansas did not want my little niece to sit with them. They told her that their mommy said that they should not sit with ‘Indians.’ I have had my share of racism in the United States. Many would think that racial discrimination is not present in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), the so-called rainbow country.
We Trinis constantly give voice to the line ‘Trinidad is nice. Trinidad is a paradise’ but an underlying current of racism runs through the system that refuses to die! Racism seems to be part of our DNA. As they say, I am not putting my mouth in ‘boli’ (calabash) to say this; the facts are the facts! Let us be clear, there is so much racial discrimination in T&T that it will take generations to outbreed the miasma. And you know what? There are people who cannot resist harassing others on Facebook with their racial diatribes. I would like to reiterate what I said in my article ‘No complaints, only observations,’ published October 08, 2025, Caribbean News Global (CNG):
“Despite the fact that the people of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) came to these shores on sea-going vessels, it would seem that such a commonality did not make much of a difference… Calypsonian, Dr Leroy Calliste (Black Stalin) metaphorically hinted in his 1979 calypso ‘Caribbean Man’ that “…dat we all make the same trip on the same ship.” And despite the fact that enshrined in the national anthem of T&T are the words: “Here every creed and race find an equal place,” it is apparent that some of us dwelling in T&T cannot yet fathom the import of this noble statement.
Annmarie Bissessar, in her article, ‘Addressing ethnic imbalances in the public services of plural societies: The case of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago’ published in the International Journal of Public Sector Management (2002), mentioned that “…electoral outcomes have reflected ethnic cleavages.” To talk about, discuss, or describe the racial problems extant on the landscape of T&T is like opening Pandora’s Box. The country’s racial undertones present in churches, schools, workplaces, political parties and even in carnival bands have been festering since time immemorial. In terms of racism, I guess that the people of T&T will adjust to each other maybe in the next junnum (10,000 years).”
At the culmination of that 10,000 years, we would be all in agreement going where no man has gone before, exploring space. ‘Star Trek’ opens with “Space the final frontier.” Indeed! We fight for space to create place. Real estate (land) constitutes one of the primary factors towards economic development. And there is always a fight to own land. Land is probably the most valuable of all resources. There are individuals who squat on other people’s property in T&T and will not move. There are others who try to outwit and outwill their own parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends to gain deeds for land. Tell me more about the Native Americans who were chased off their land by European intruders.
Crime Watch host, Ian Alleyne has time and again raised the issue that there is always something terrible concerning ‘land matters’ in T&T. On the local scale, there are people who are constantly fighting for land. Many of these fights end in bloodshed and sometimes death. Some squatter lords demand money for government land. In terms of the constant battle for resources, especially petroleum, natural gas, gold, and rare minerals, we must, at this point in time, acknowledge what is occurring internationally. A blind man could see that everywhere is war. Bob Marley was possibly prophetic when he sang ‘War’ in 1976:
“Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war
Me say war.
That until there are no longer
First-class and second-class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war.
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south.”
Last but not at all least, we have rum. Rum here is used figuratively to represent all things legal and illegal that interfere with the smooth running of sensory-motor pathways in the human body. The Bible states: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). I am not in any position to tell anyone not to drink alcoholic beverages or imbibe illicit drugs. Nevertheless, I will be guided by this text of scripture which says that wine mocks you, strong drink is raging and that there are individuals who can be deceived with such libations. And mind you, if you become deceived (drunk/plastered), it would mean that you lack wisdom.
I have witnessed the so-called behaviour and responses of drunken people. A former boss of mine who probably crashed into a light pole told me that the ‘damned light poles keep moving to the center of the road.’ Adesh Samaroo in 2003 presented the Chutney song, ‘Rum till I die.’ The refrain rang with the words: “Rum till I die. Is rum till I die. She tell mih she doh love mih and that’s the reason why.” I am positive that during the rendition of the feisty song, rum flowed like water in the crowd (CNG 05/22/2024). Just imagine the former Minister of Finance of T&T argued in parliament that the consumption of alcohol increases endorphins. What he didn’t mention was the horror of domestic violence in T&T and the relationships that perished because of drunkenness.
In future, I must look at the restlessness and rebelliousness in the T&T society as two more R’s in the set. It will be remiss of me if I don’t record the reasons why a State of Emergency was renewed on Tuesday (March 03, 2026) in T&T.
