Bassy - Love Vine
November 9, 2007

How dare yuh slap de king

Ah just want to pick up from way de papers left off last week wid the slap dat Ipa allegedly got from ah police. Now ah writing on one foot, unfortunately ah don’t have de other foot to stand on because ah can’t get de policeman side ah de story. Paul’s Lot better pronounced as Parl Lat a.k.a. “De Slum” is ah ruff joint, and dis is nutting new. Lord Hawke, Kaiso King in de 1960’s, now deceased, would have explained all ah dis in one ah his greatest Kasio’s “Right in de Slum”. He presented ah case foh Parl Lat by highlighting all de great men dat came from dat area, including George Mc Intosh and his family ah top class musicians, Winston Soso and ah long list ah outstanding citizens.{{more}}

De Parl Lat dat I knew as ah youth going by Gerald Providence shop foh de best milk shake, was ah family based community and was no pyah-pyah families either: de Hinds; de Josephs, Chippy and Sister Joseph, Dug-he nose people; Ma Laidlow and her boys, de Lewis’ ex-Police Insp Bertram Lewis parents, Sheriff no doubt was in dat family. Den dey’s Miss Norma and de Ash family, de Creese family, de Bouchers; de Jeffers, de Lotmores, dey had ah pretty girl name Sybil who was in class wid me; de Waldrons, de Mc Intosh, de Constance, de Herberts, de famous “Paddy” Padmore, Sis Cornwall and more of course. Those were de peaceful and respectable citizens. But of course yuh had de bad eggs dat provided de negative side, ley we leave out Gatty and dem foh now. But in those days Parl Lat was ah safe place to lime. De original people from Parl Lat don’t mek trouble, and Parl lattans will tell yuh dat all de trouble makers is my-grants from other areas of SVG.

Ipa is ah born Parl Lat man and his father, interestingly ah policeman, brought his children up strick, recently one ah de boys was in possession of ah tidy sum ah money and was charged, but outside ah dat de Constance family is ah model and Ipa is King.

In recent times ah lot ah crime was committed in Parl Lat till de Police had to set up ah mobile unit in de area. Policing de area is ah 24-7 thing, is not easy. De lickle bits and pieces ah got is dat even Commissioner Miller himself has been visiting de area and talking wid de boys on de block. Already de men were beginning to feel dey could trust Miller and were warming up to him. I am told dat de lads cooperating, so much so, dat when de police went to do dey search, nobody resisted, not even Ipa who should ah tek objections, cause everybody will tell yuh dat Ipa is clean, ah role model on de block. De closest Ipa will get to breaking de law is when he sing true ting pon “de prime minister”! And not even de Prime Minister does tek on Ipa, no wonder he appears to wash his hands from de policeman in dis incident.

If ever there was an untimely slap was de one dat Ipa allegedly got, it is like ah his-torrid-call wrong. De Police needs to be told dat force and might will not help in de process of rebuilding ah community, ah lot more is accomplished when sons and daughters ah dat community who would have moved up de ladder whether in academics, sports and culture as in Ipa’s case, and chose to remain in de community to give back by setting standards and be role models. Ah year ago Ipa won de Calypso King title in our national festival; de man conducts himself wid royalty every way he goes, he’s part ah we history and so is dat slap! Yuh think ah Policeman in T’n’T will even think of slapping de Mighty Sparrow, Rose or Chalkdust and den tell dem “sing bout dat”? And ah notice not ah word from de Kaiso Association here in SVG. What is even worse about dis incident, is dat Ipa’s lickle son was right there witnessing all ah dat humiliation, yuh think it easy to watch yuh father, yuh hero, helplessly bullied in front yuh very eyes? And what about Ipa’s own feelings, going thru all ah dis in front ah his son? Shame on yuh officer.

No doubt Mr Miller will have to start all over again, but don’t give up sir.

PAN-DEY SHOULD DECLARE TNT UN-GUV-AN-ABLE

Polly-to-shun is de same all over, dey full ah education but not all ah dem very smart. Just look at de T’n’T elections, it now seems dat de opposition had it all to win but some how Manning and de PNM wid forty-five percent ah de votes and 26 seats, and legally walked away wid de Prize. De opposition split demselves into two groups, one corner had Jack Warner, Pan dey and Bob-ah-lull in de other corner, de preoccupied demselves in trying to establish who has de right to de Prize, interestingly together dey got fifty-four percent ah de votes and 15 seats. Reminds me ah de Aesop Fable way de Lion and de Bear had ah young fawn to eat; right away greed step in and de started to fight each claiming de Prize. De fight lasted foh quite ah while, neither want to give up and share dis Prize, till dey got so tired dat both ah dem fell on de ground, couldn’t lift ah straw much more stop ah thief. At dat moment ah Fox passed by and calmy took up de Prized fawn and walked away, untouched. Lie Za suggesting dat de opposition UNC should declare de country un-guv-an-able, like de ULP did in 1998 in SVG when dey got more votes dan de NDP but less seats and loss de elections. And wid dat lickle bit, ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.