The cultural energy of Point Fortin

Culture Matters

DARA E HEALY

We see on the news each day

Human lives are blown away

Mothers and fathers crying

Bearing their dead and dying

How many more I hear them say

Death is the highest price

Death is the total sacrifice

Brothers rather commit suicide

Than continue with apartheid...

– Mighty Duke, How Many More Must Die

POINT FORTIN calypsonian Kelvin Pope, known in calypso circles as the Mighty Duke, was well respected for his activism through music. The song How Many More Must Die was his contribution to the global outcry against the racist regime of apartheid in South Africa.

Other artists from Point Fortin used their creativity to impact society and transform the cultural landscape with their own style of music. SuperBlue, Weston “Cro Cro” Rawlins, Fay-Anne Lyons, Neil “Iwer” George – these are just some of the powerhouse names in the world of culture to have emerged from this place usually associated with oil.

Point Fortin is said to be an amalgamation of three estates dedicated to the production of cocoa and coffee – “La Fortunee, situated due west; Clifton Hill, to the east; and Adventure, centred between the two. All three were bounded on the north by the sea, and each of them was only partly cultivated ...” However, all of that changed about 111 years ago, when in 1907, the Trinidad Oilfields Ltd “spudded its first well on the La Fortunee Estate.”

Over the decades, our vast oil reserves were managed by companies with names like The Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company and United British Oilfields. In 1969, the National Petroleum Company was established. Later, the TT Oil Company (Trintoc) and the TT Petroleum Company evolved to the Petrotrin that we know today.

Point Fortin acquired borough status in 1980; it has 12 sub divisions – Point Fortin proper, Techier Village, Clifton Hill, Gonzales, Cochrane, Newlands, Point Ligoure, Egypt Village, Hollywood, New Village, Fanny Village and Cap-de-Ville.

The names of the places tell their own story of our varied history, in particular the influence of African and French cultures. For instance, it is said that the word Point was actually spelled with an “e” and the Fortin was pronounced “fortay” in the French way, but the British administration dropped these spellings and pronunciations to have a more English feel.

The oil that helped the small town to prosper eventually came to be at the forefront of discontent amongst workers. Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler was a central figure in the fight for better conditions for workers in the oil industry. He was incarcerated for his role in the 1937 riots, but he went into politics after the Second World War ended in 1945.

Reports show that by 1947, tensions had heightened again. Eventually there were riots in Fyzabad and Point Fortin, with Butler and his supporters storming the Red House in Port of Spain. Carnival that year was almost banned.

Commentator Tony Fraser has written that the riots and strikes “led to the most far-reaching set of social, industrial, political consequences in 20th century T&T and indeed other parts of the West Indies.”

Point Fortin’s local and regional reputation as a place of resistance, innovation and national fervour extends of course to its artistic community. In addition to the calypsonians and soca artistes mentioned earlier, I discovered a sculptor of national heroes called Samuel “Boy” Waldron, or Uncle Boy, now deceased. His works included representations of everyone from parang queen Daisy Voisin to Hasely Crawford and Brian Lara.

Sadly, in a lament very similar to that of chief justice Bernard’s, Waldron is quoted as saying that people no longer remembered that he had made “the statues of the panman at the junction of Coffee and Cipero Streets, San Fernando, Marcus Garvey at Harris Promenade, or the Butlers in Fyzabad.”

Today, the Point Fortin Performing Arts Association has been established, and hundreds celebrate achieving Borough Day status with Carnival masquerades, pan and J’Ouvert.

Yet, the history and culture of Point Fortin continue to force us to deal with those consequences mentioned by Fraser. Are enough resources being put into cultural endeavours for communities like Point Fortin? Will we increasingly see culture as a viable form of diversification and empowerment?

Although Mighty Duke’s song Teach the Children spoke of African pride, his words certainly provide an answer to some of the solutions we seek – “Teach the children the truth which they hide/ so that their forefathers/ They see with honour respect and pride ... Teach them!”

Dara E Healy is a performance artist, communications specialist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN