Sokah2Soca

Cartoon image © Buckeye OnPACE.

Who is 'Granny Quilla'? Well, that is the sobriquet used by the teenage girl (14 years old) who posted her feelings of hate and racism on Facebook and YouTube condemning the actions of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for implementing the current State of Emergency in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Girl's apology:

“I could not sleep last night. I just want to say I am sorry to the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) for insulting her like that. I am sorry for the language, I am sorry for all the racist stuff I said. I do not really care about racist things because I am not racist, I do not really look at it like that but I am just really sorry.”
via http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/

The Attorney General's response:

“What I wish to say to her, as sorry as I might be for her actions and as disappointed and as disgusted people may feel by it, what you must do now is to turn yourself in to the police and let them deal with the matter because it is a most serious matter,” he said.

"We all make mistakes but this is a very grave one…The best thing you can do is go to the police services and let the law take its course, and pray, and know that God will always have mercy and there will always be another door to open in life." 

via http://www.caribbean360.com

I wonder if the threat of legal action by the Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago is the reason for the apology or does she honestly realize that her racist remarks and threats to the life of the Prime Minister were totally reprehensible. Trinidad has enough to deal with and during this state of emergency, it was a very foolish thing to do - especially coming from a teenager! This unfortunate situation is a lesson for all parents who don't monitor their children's activities on the Internet. Maybe some good will come from this black hole this child has cast her family into; just think about it for a moment, 'parental supervision may become buzz words and could now be 'en vogue! Taking into consideration our laid-back attitude this may or may not be the case but one can only hope.

Hmm... Do you think she used a government-sponsored laptop to post the video? Now that may be a cause for concern for the government (just a passing thought). Many people think that it (video posting) was funny and no big deal (especially) since it was just a joke by a child. Well, my friends, I am sure before the AG acted she was a hero for posting her sentiments. Mind you, these are the sentiments that many citizens of Trinidad and Tobago emulate at this time - she was their heroine and I am sure she felt like a champion of the people. Her star shone brightly for a while but dimmed quickly after the AG acted.

Well to say that Humpty Dumpty fell off that wall very quickly is an understatement; and it is especially surprising to me to read the commentaries on the newspaper blog posts that are now in favor of the actions of the Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan. People are now lauding the words uttered by the Prime Minister who basically said the young lady needs help. The 14-year-old may be sympathetic now however, the AG is not as sympathetic and he should not be! Sometimes, because of our lack of foresight, we have to learn the hard way. As far as I am concerned the lesson to be learned here is that every tub has to learn to sit on its' own bottom | She has to face the consequences of her actions! Hopefully she, and others like her would learn a valuable lesson from her misdirected exuberance.