RC Archbishop wants both ships, steelpan on coat of arms

RC Archbishop of Port of Spain Jason Gordon says if it were up to him, he would move Christopher Columbus's three ships to the sea in Trinidad and Tobago's coat of arms, rather than removing them. He added that the steelpan, which is set to replace the ships on the emblem, is a good symbol of TT, but urged the public to understand: "We can't change our history."

The Prime Minister recently announced the national instrument would replace the three ships – said to be the Santa Maria, Pinta and the Nina – over a six-month period.

He said the Government had enough votes in Parliament to make the change and intended to deal with the issue soon after the opening of the new parliamentary session.

The public has been generally divided on the decision.

Speaking to the media after the 238th Festival of Santa Rosa at the Santa Rosa RC Church in Arima on Sunday morning, Gordon said he had an opinion on the decision because he was "a citizen of TT who has studied history."

The festival is a collaboration with the Santa Rosa First Peoples community.

"Our history is our history, and if those three ships never arrived here, we wouldn't be the nation that we are today.

"Revisionist history is going back and trying to make the history different from what it actually was...We don't have to like it, we don't have to believe that he (Columbus) was a good man, we don't even have to believe that he had noble cause or intent. But the fact is, that is an integral part of our history."

On the addition of the steelpan, he said the instrument is "unique to us as a people" and is a symbol of who TT's people are.

"Out of a dustbin, a musical instrument was born in the 21st century, and that is us. We were discarded, we were not thought of as important, but a musical instrument was born, and a musical instrument that is played all over the world and can play every type of music – that's us.

"Hybridity is really what we bring to the stage...We were hybrid long before Columbus arrived."

He said while the conversation surrounding the change was important, what truly mattered was what came next.

"Left to me, I would put the ships in the ocean (to the bottom of the emblem) and that's where they should be – at sea. And then, yes, if you want to put the steelpan there, because that is a symbol."

He said the steelpan represented all TT nationals ,regardless of race.

But he concluded that what he considered the "most difficult and vexing problem" was the practicality of the change. He questioned how much it would cost, given that many local documents bear the emblem.

He said there were poor people starving in TT, schools that need fixing, among other things, and wondered if the country could afford this.

However, Dr Rowley has since said existing documentation and other objects bearing the current emblem will be used up, and the new one will be gradually phased in.

"Therefore, there is to be a period where both the old and the new will exist until the new prevails," Rowley had said.

Also asked about the change, chief of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Ricardo Bharath Hernandez said he had "no problem" with the steelpan replacing the ships.

"Because we are moving away from the colonial dominance and the cloak of colonialism."

However, he urged, similarly to those who wanted the removal of Columbus's statue from Port of Spain, that in addition to removing those symbols, people must still be educated about what Columbus did to the people of this country.

"Removing a piece of concrete without education (after) makes no sense."

At the beginning of Gordon's sermon, he referred to the ships as "troublesome," adding that the First Peoples were here long before the ships arrived.

He also renewed the apology made by late Archbishop Anthony Pantin for any wrongs the church had done to the First Peoples.

"Today, as we approach another great jubilee, I stand and I ask for forgiveness for the ways in which we, as a church, we, as an institution, have not loved, respected and cherished the rich heritage that you and your people have brought to this land."

He added, "A people can't move forward unless there is reconciliation...unless forgiveness is asked and given."

On the apology, Bharath Hernandez said it "speaks to healing" and lays a strong platform for moving forward.

"When someone at that level of the church recognises the wrong that the church has done and apologises, it can only, I think, augur well for good relations with the church and finding ways to make the First Peoples' place more prominent, as it should be in this land."