‘Black’ man or ‘blank’ man? Rowley slams Kamla’s ‘race-baiting’

JULIEN NEAVES

THE PRIME Minister has slammed as “race baiting” a comment made by United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

He was referring to a statement she made on Thursday night during the UNC virtual campaign when she apparently described him as the “black man on the other side.”

Dr Rowley responded to the comment in a Facebook post at about 1.30 am onFriday.
He wrote: “Finally!!! Caught in her frequent disgusting race baiting she is reduced to repeating inane rubbish to try and lie her way out. Anyone surprised?”

In his post he also referred to an incident in September 2018 when Persad-Bissessar described him as an “Oreo” while on a UNC platform.
“She didn’t call me an Oreo. What she said was ‘Ohio’! or ‘Oh Hello.’”

The Government had condemned that statement as racist. Persad-Bisssessar contended it was not racist but may have been insensitive.
But there is a question mark over the latest incident as towhether Persad-Bissessar called Rowley a “black man” or a “blank man.” During her speech she described Rowley with a number of words and asked those watching to “fill in the blanks,” called him “blank,” said he had not done a “blank-ing” thing in the past five years, and urged voters to “blank” the PNM come the August 10 general election.
Rowley’s post included one video with the “black man”/ “blank man” comment and a second with her using the phrases that included “blank.”