PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams has condemned what she referred to as “racial antics” in the country’s highest legislative body – Parliament.\r\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n
Wescot-Williams said in a press release issued over the weekend that she cringes each time Members of Parliament (MP) “express the kind of exclusionary language we are hearing from these MPs more and more. Exclusionary language being the language of ‘they against we,’ while these MPs never clearly define who are the ‘we’ and who are the ‘they.’ In fact anytime they try this, these Members of Parliament wiggle themselves more and more into the proverbial quicksand,” she said.\r\n
While she did not give any specifics, during a recent plenary session of Parliament, United People’s (UP) party MP Johan “Janchi” Leonard pulled what he referred to as the race card while commenting on the failure of judicial authorities to release an elderly man who has been detained after being charged with money laundering and dealing in weapons. During his remarks Leonard took a jab at the ethnicity of the judicial authorities in the country.\r\n
Wescot-Williams: “Some MPs have become even more daring and are placing their categorisation not only in ethnic terms, but now in racial terms. To do this in a community, whose ancestry, of which some of the same MPs boast, consists of every colour and hue in the books, is not only false, it is outright dangerous. Dangerous, because some of the very same Members of Parliament, then openly wonder how members of our society can be so callous in their references to fellow St. Martiners and fellow citizens.”\r\n
The DP leader said MPs can either respect the constitution or not. “And if in the highest elected office we don’t respect our constitution, then crappo smoke (your –Ed.) pipe.”\r\n
“The respective political leaders, I guess will hide behind the freedom of the individual to express his/her opinion, but that is unacceptable. Because of the effect these rants have on our community, political leaders must come out and condemn the unfounded racial rambling and ethnic rhetoric of their party's representatives, unless it is condoned by the very same leaders. I furthermore cringe, because we don’t seem to take heed of how innocent rambling of leaders in different parts of the world, have cause communities or groups to go after each other with fatal consequences. We must speak out against or be considered silent supporters of this dangerous rhetoric.”\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Source: Daily Herald \n\t\t\t\tDP condemns ‘racial antics’ in Parliament"
