T&T: SBs ought to turn the other cheek

The Crowne Plaza manager who last week squared off with Baptists in the lobby of the hotel, has been sent on leave pending an investigation.

Issa Nicholas, chairman of the Nicholas Group which owns Crowne Plaza, confirmed that Klas Charles Harris, the director of Sales and Marketing had been sent home and like Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Nicholas also called on the parties involved to put the incident behind them and move on.
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Baptists are crying discrimination and claiming $5 million in compensation for an incident last Friday in which they were asked to leave the hotel. The Solid Waste Management Company indicated that they booked the hotel's Festival Ballroom for a conference, saying that the letter which they sent indicated that its booking was for 80 persons for a spiritual Baptist leadership conference.

A contract produced by Crowne Plaza's Klas Charles Harris to TV6, the manager who had asked the Baptists to leave, confirmed the booking for 80, but nowhere on the contract was there any indication that the event was in the name of Spiritual Baptists.

Nicholas told TV6 News that the policy of the hotel is that nobody is allowed to come into the hotel unless there is a contract between the hotel and whoever the group might be. He described the incident as unfortunate. He denied that the hotel is being pressured to take action against the manager, saying that it will act on principle.

He said: "I have a lot of respect for Shouter Baptists... things happen sometimes...and that's unfortunate...but I hope we can move on."

The Baptist community is said to be split on the issue of taking legal action against the hotel.

This is absurd; it is the litigious politics of victimology at best, and anti-Christian, at worst. I say that as a Spiritual Baptist. The manager could have and should have handled matters differently, no doubt. There is a little matter of requesting ID and proof of contract before allowing previously-arranged access to premises. In the event of the contract not being provided, he could have inquired concerning the identity of the one who arranged the conference and those who were signatories to the contract. He could have allowed entry to the premises with the caveat that, since the contract didn't expressly state "Spiritual Baptists," should another party arrive they would be asked to leave. All he needed was a bit of common sense. However, it is the way in the Caribbean for people will positions in which they think they have some little bit of power to exercise that power high-handedly, without concern for the person they're dealing with. Nevertheless, I think SBs should turn the other cheek on this one.

Here's an excerpt from a commentary on the issue, wonderfully titled, The Whine of Astonishment.

The Baptists were therefore not unreasonable in expressing incredulity at the action of hotel management, although in the glow of triumph over discrimination against the faith, some leaders went completely overboard, demanding tangible redress from Crowne Plaza; suggested compensation ranging from $5 million in cold cash to the construction of a school on lands at Maloney.

As a Baptist myself, these claims sounded as astounding as the circumstances that gave rise to them, since teachings of the faith do not promulgate whining over reversals of fortune-no matter how astonishing they may be-or "an eye for an eye" policy but dwells heavily on forgiveness and reconciliatory approaches to the handling of such problems.

There are, of course, some Baptist leaders who concur with Prime Minister Patrick Manning's call to the flock to put the incident behind them.
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But even before his attempt to have the Baptists get a tighter grip on to the balance wheel, United National Congress (UNC) chairman Wade Mark, speaking in place of his political leader Basdeo Panday, described the incident as "scandalous, shabby, primitive and outrageous" and appealed directly to Mr Manning to outlaw such discrimination by implementing the Equal Opportunities Act.

At the same event, a Baptist Liberation Day observance at Port of Spain's City Hall, Culture and Community Development Minister, Joan Yuille-Williams singled out the Crowne Plaza sales manager for special mention, reportedly calling him "one of the most ignorant people in Trinidad and Tobago", saying she concluded this after listening to his explanation, although she had not yet read a written report he submitted.

Far away in Point Fortin, at celebrations marking the same occasion, Baptist Archbishop and treasurer of the Inter Religions Organisation, Amilius Murrain, was agreeing in principle with Archbishop Monica Randoo who, on the day previous, had set the compensation demand at $5 million. Archbishop Murrain confirmed his colleagues were speaking with attorneys and said the figure wasn't final, as some members had been severely embarrassed and interviews with them not yet completed.

Somehow, these diametrically opposed positions in the same pursuit sounded like they had been cleanly lifted from Earl Lovelace's novel The Wine of Astonishment, a work rooted in the very struggle of Baptists to gain official State recognition, in which the two main characters, Bolo and Bee, demonstrate a similar gorge of disparity in their approaches to addressing discrimination.
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And so it is in the present imbroglio, with one group seeking ways to heal the situation while another seems intent on milking it, embracing the dubious metropolitan principle of making a grab for the things that are Caesar's, even as they convene to render praise unto God.

Interestingly, neither group has publicly admitted praying for guidance on the matter that, we may presume, was originally being pursued on behalf of the quintessential spiritual leader and, on the evidence, that omission could hardly be on account of any among them being left speechless.

Looks like some SBs are taking lessons from "shakedown artist" Jesse Jackson.