RC Archbishop of Port of Spain Jason Gordon says if it were up to him, he would move Christopher Columbus's three ships to the sea in Trinidad and Tobago's coat of arms, rather than removing them. He added that the steelpan, which is set to replace the ships on the emblem, is a good symbol of TT, but urged the public to understand: "We can't change our history."
The Prime Minister recently announced the national instrument would replace the three ships – said to be the Santa Maria, Pinta and the Nina – over a six-month period.
He said the Government had enough votes in Parliament to make the change and intended to deal with the issue soon after the opening of the new parliamentary session.
The public has been generally divided on the decision.
Speaking to the media after the 238th Festival of Santa Rosa at the Santa Rosa RC Church in Arima on Sunday morning, Gordon said he had an opinion on the decision because he was "a citizen of TT who has studied history."
The festival is a collaboration with the Santa Rosa First Peoples community.
[caption id="attachment_1104760" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Archbishop Jason Charles Gordon gives the homily before the Festival of Santa Rosa procession, at the Santa Rosa RC Church, Woodford Street, Arima on Sunday. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
"Our history is our history, and if those three ships never arrived here, we wouldn't be the nation that we are today.
"Revisionist history is going back and trying to make the history different from what it actually was...We don't have to like it, we don't have to believe that he (Columbus) was a good man, we don't even have to believe that he had noble cause or intent. But the fact is, that is an integral part of our history."
On the addition of the steelpan, he said the instrument is "unique to us as a people" and is a symbol of who TT's people are.
"Out of a dustbin, a musical instrument was born in the 21st century, and that is us. We were discarded, we were not thought of as important, but a musical instrument was born, and a musical instrument that is played all over the world and can play every type of music – that's us.
"Hybridity is really what we bring to the stage...We were hybrid long before Columbus arrived."
He said while the conversation surrounding the change was important, what truly mattered was what came next.
"Left to me, I would put the ships in the ocean (to the bottom of the emblem) and that's where they should be – at sea. And then, yes, if you want to put the steelpan there, because that is a symbol."
He said the steelpan represented all TT nationals ,regardless of race.
[caption id="attachment_1104761" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Young women of the First Peoples Community at the church service for the Festival of Santa Rosa, at the Santa Rosa RC Church, Woodford Street, Arima on Sunday. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
But he concluded that what he considered the "most difficult and vexing problem" was the practicality of the change. He questioned how much it w
