In 1966, in Sept 27 interview , the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was questioned by CBS’ Mike Wallace about the “increasingly vocal minority.” They wanted to know what his views on a wave a violence which were occuring in America were as a devoted advocate of nonviolent protests. He replied, “And I contend that the cry of ‘black power’ is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro,” King further stated. “I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.”
In Dominica today, the people are fighting for something different, that is to save their country and their democracy from a tyrannical regime led by dictator Roosevelt Skerrit, and just like blacks who were fighting for their civil rights and justice were not being heard by White America, Dominicans are not being heard by the tyrant nor the institutions under his influence of the dictator.
It has been over a decade Dominicans are demanding electoral reform to facilitate free and fair elections since the present system is severely rigged in favor of the incumbent dictatorship, there have gone through every legal process there is, they have not been heard.
Instead they are being met with Regime policemen serving as Roosevelt’s private army unleashing brutality against the people every time to show up to seek redress from the powers that be for their grievances. They see their leaders persecuted, arrest on trumped up charges, they see barriers everywhere they go. They deck is clearly stacked against them.
They try peaceful protest for months, still no one is hearing them, instead they are being labeled as thugs and hooligans, where else can they go? What else can they do? How can they be heard? It was JF Kennedy another advocate of nonviolent protest who reminded us that “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Will the powers that be in Dominica take heed for the sake of the country their took oaths to serve? Or will they continue to do the bidding of the dictator?
Today the people of Marigot could not take the abuse and disrespect any more they decided to speak a different language, were they heard? We are in the midst of a very, very, volatile election season, one where the dictator and his facilitators decided that there will be no electoral regime since it will affect how the dictator steals the election. The people are not very happy, they are awaiting a court’s decision which will determine whether Dominica erupts or remain calm. We call of those powers that be, please do not provoke the people of Dominica any further, they have had enough, their patience ran out. Do not CAUSE the country to go into chaos to ensure that the dictator remains in power, listen to the peaceful language of the people, and ACT on it for the sake of peace and tranquility on the Island.