Trinidad

Passing of Celebrated Author Revives Debate Over Postcolonial Views

Naipaul was a lightning rod for criticism, say his critics, particularly by those who read his portrayals of Third World disarray as apologies for colonialism. But others say he was unsparing, both of the arrogance and self-aggrandizement of the colonizers as well as the self-deception and ethical ambiguities of the liberation movements that swept across Africa and the Caribbean in their wake.

Institute of the Black World 21st Century Conference

More than two thousand came from the greater Newark/New York region, Black America and the Pan-African world, drawn by the urgent impulse to connect, network, bond, share and unite in the wake of the most hate-filled, demagogic and divisive presidential campaigns that produced a presidential regime, elected by less than a majority of the popular vote, embedded with racism, white nationalism and Islamophobia.  It was one of the most threatening moments since the arrival of Africans on these hostile American shores.