Reflections on Arrivals Caribbean society in transition

Having a sense of where we came from Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago:

...more than a people defining themselves, there must be a better understanding of who we are and not allow political allegiances to mark out lines of segregation - Dr Kris Rampersad. Interview with Dr Kris Rampersad, Media Cultural and Literary Educator  By Marcia Braveboy in  Caribbean News Now Senior Correspondent PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Indian Arrival Day is being celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago on 30th May. On the eve of the occasion we are summoned once again by our foreparents to contemplate this burning sense of our past that engulfs our thinking with sparkles of thoughts about who we are and where we really came from. This gentle meliorism by a conscious people whose             gaze is set only on progress, must through active aspirations wonder into the deep and beyond the stars to find answers of a sometimes forgotten past, to reconnect the links for future generations.  The flames of 200 years ago by our ancestors and predecessors refuse to go out under a people it still challenges to define their purpose on this journey to a better Trinidad and Tobago. Writer, author, journalist Kris Rampersad says that, more than a people defining themselves, there must be a better understanding of who we are and not allow political allegiances to mark out lines of segregation among our peoples and for the removal of denominational and ethnic inhibitors to national development and to see the dream of a people becoming one come true.  “We as a country and a region are losing so much of understanding ourselves when we define and confine ourselves through all kinds of narrow allegiances, and that is not to downplay the value of identity to all of us.”