With great attention I listened to you as guest, along with Mr. Eldrige van Putten this Thursday morning, July 1, 2010, on Talking Point hosted by Mr. Billy D. HAMLET.
And while, perhaps in your mind, you might have sounded kind of 'smart', you were still not yet 'smart' enough to impress, nor fool any conscious St. Martiner.
The many calls that came in and did not manage to come from real and proud St. Martiners are testament to that failure of yours.
So, quite to the extreme contrary, your inflated 'smartness' simply got the best of you and exposed your real 'agenda'.
In other words, despite your nice, but very transparent 'sales-man pitch' about your 'love' for St. Martin, as many expected, you waited until the end of the program to throw in, what you thought would be a 'smart-monkey-wrench' for we simple souls, St. Martiners.
Clearly, starting off the program with all your 'bla-bla-bla-I-love- St.-Martin-oh-sooooo-much' was simply intended to 'mask' your real intention, your biggest dream and the real message to the listeners you came to deliver.
I, Lloyd PAUL, born in Dominica and sent as 'gift' from 'heaven' has come to remove the 'Caucasian-colonial-yoke' off your shoulders as and now I am poised to become new colonial 'Massah'.
Glory Hallelujah, Amen !
However, before you even get started and get carried away brother man, let me say right 'off the bat', what is one of the 'evils' plaguing the 'Friendly-island'.
It is that there are 'those', who feel they have some kind of 'International Human Right' or 'divine calling' to walk ahead of the St. Martin natives and to boldly assume the role of host, condescendingly 'talking down' to the natives of this island as if they were the guests.
To that extent some of these 'come heres' use a very effective tactic.
Marry into a traditional native-St. Martin family and make children.
That now gives them the feeling of being host like us.
Consequently, some of these neo-colonial masters disguised as our 'Caribbean brothers and sisters' feel empowered to 'crash ' St. Martin family's 'emergency- sessions' and to super-impose themselves on us.
In the process, they forget that despite how much taxes they pay here (which they better do) and how much they 'love' St. Martin (which they better do) and how much they contribute to St. Martin, (which they better do), that they are still the 'guest'.
It is time that these 'power-hungry' guests realize that, while they definitely have a role to play, such certainly is NOT to intervene in a most sensitive process, in which we St. Martiners are very busy reclaiming our rights as hosts, without outside interference and/or intervention.
If these naturalized immigrants, who married St. Martiners REALLY did that out of love and respect, they would not go before their other half publicly on sensitive issues of 'survival' for St. Martiners as a people.
They would know their place and have basic manners.
Nothing wrong with having your own views on these very delicate issues and expressing them privately.
But at this very crucial time in our vulnerable existence, please respect our emancipation and our rights to self determination as a people and simply wait on your turn.
If despite all of this, you still feel some 'urgent calling' to give your opinion, please, please speak to us on these matters via your St. Martin spouses and do not engage in any direct and argument on the matter in public with us.
that is un-acceptable behavior.
WE , St. Martiners, can do so, not you !
And even your native St. Martin spouse refuses to publicly express herself, that is her prerogative; it does not give you the right to forget your place.
One of your former leaders and a friend of mine, the late Rosie DOUGLAS once had a good friend of his of the Labor Party from Great Britain on the stage with him hugging him on the stage during a political campaign in Dominica.
While hugging this White, British politician on the stage Rosie told his Dominican audience the following (para-phrasing here).
My people, this man is a very good friend of mine and I love him dearly, but I tell you as Dominican never to trust him completely......
In ending Mr. 'Wise Man'.
Pertaining to your final statement during the interview in which you informed us of your political ambitions, we care to respond as follows.
We respect that right and do not necessarily contest it whatsoever.
However, we have a serious issue with those people who proclaim their 'love' for this island and who join the 'Love St. Maarten' Foundation, in fact as a convenient and opportune 'stepping stone' for their real political agenda, which appears to be to take over this island as 'neo-colonialists', even if they look exactly like us.
The 'good news' however is, that better than we ourselves would have ever been able to accomplish, you manage to open the eyes of thousands a St. Martiners as to those among us disguised as 'lovers' of St. Martin.
Success with your political career, which we will be closely monitoring.
Leopold JAMES,
Proud, native-indigenous St. Martiner without apologies and promoter of St. Martiners first on ST. martin, all others after......