AS he ebbs toward the end of his political career, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley would bear the image of not using public office to help the lowest in society.
That is the reason why Laventille West – the nerve centre of Rowley’s People’s National Movement – rose up against incumbent representative and government insider Fitzgerald Hinds.
The urban working class has become a tinderbox because of worsening hardship under Rowley’s national rule.
The urban elites, on the other hand, are creaming off historic profits from banking, insurance, food and pharmaceutical imports, the fast food sector, and various other industries.
American civil rights leader Malcolm X said that “house Negroes” bore the image of and secured the interests of their masters.
“His master’s pain was his pain, and it hurt him more for his master to be sick than for him to be sick,” he said.
Psychiatrist and philosopher Franz Fanon wrote on this and related issues in his seminal “Black Skin, White Mask” and “The Wretched of the Earth.”
Fanon commented on the moral and intellectual failures of nations that emerged from colonialism.
Several years ago, TnT Mirror journalist Keith Shepherd termed Rowley “a Black Syrian,” a depiction of his affinity to the tiny entrepreneurial class.
During cross-examination at the Uff Commission of Enquiry a decade and a half ago, an attorney told Rowley he was “the point man for the Syrian-Lebanese community.”
House slaves were those who worked in their respective masters’ homes and with their families, which entailed household functions instead of back-breaking laborious duties.
Some house slaves carried an air of privilege and rank and were branded as “Uncle Tom.”
In labelling Rowley a “house slave,” Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine classified the Prime Minister as someone “who ignores the real dreams and aspirations of those he left behind in the field in Tobago.”
Augustine was chastising Rowley over provisions in legislation for Tobago’s autonomy, which he considers inadequate.
In a land in which such remarks spark an emotional debate, the THA boss has inevitably faced criticism, including from those who should understand the context of his statement.
But this is not the first time Rowley has faced such ringing denouncement.
He has been categorised as an Oreo, the stereotype of a Black person who adopts the outlook of White upper-class people.
These terms are subjective, but they would undoubtedly be a crucial aspect of Rowley’s legacy when his political days come to an end.
Historians and analysts would scrutinise whether he used his high public office to lift the condition of society’s underclass or whether he was partisan to the rich and powerful.
They would examine whether he created opportunities for the small man, helped farmers and small business operators, and developed non-energy sectors and boosted the middle class.
They would study who fared well under his leadership and who lost their jobs, were forced to migrate, were victims of crimes, and were unable to feed their families.
With respect to Augustine’s remark, independent minds would evaluate whether Rowley offered the best deal for the island of his birth and upbringing.
Rowley and his groupies may fume at the harsh depiction but the Prime Minister cannot escape the ordinary people’s verdict on his tenure as national leader.
Whether he likes it or not, that would be his legacy.
