Why Martin Luther King?

THE EDITOR: Satnarayan Maharaj was a notable TT icon. But at no point in time can his struggle for Hindu achievement mirror the sacrifices of Martin Luther King Jr in seeking equality for Afro American citizens. All TT citizens, including Hindus, were able to vote well before Afros in America could.

I am appalled at the speech by Professor Selwyn Cudjoe, a professor of American history. Why compare Maharaj to King? The only thing Sat had to suffer was not immediately getting something he wanted, on the very day he demanded it. Invariably, he kept working until he prevailed. At no time was his life endangered for just being an East Indian or a Hindu.

How could the long suffering of Afro American children be compared to the children of long past indentured workers? The race hate in America, even today, is quite abominable.Our Hindu children in TT are happy and achieving quite magnificently. Today, in the year 2019, there are no suffering TT Hindus in schools, in business or in play.

And most certainly, Sat died peacefully in a hospital bed and not felled by an assassin's bullets for his beliefs. There are many people who tagged Sat as being allegedly racist. I have never heard that Sat objected to being described as such. He most likely laughed. Martin Luther King, an activist, was never described as such and he was murdered for just being Afro in his homeland.

I am extremely disappointed at this cavalier type comparison made by Prof Cudjoe. All I can ask is, of all people, why Martin Luther King?

LYNETTE JOSEPH

Diego Martin