From romance to reality: Why we deserve the truth about Compte de Lopinot and his “contented slaves” by Claudius FERGUS

From romance to reality: Why we deserve the truth about Comte de Lopinot and his “contented slaves”

Claudius Fergus Tuesday 9 October 2018 

Responding to the National Trust’s declaration to elevate the Lopinot Historical Complex to a heritage site, a Trinidad Guardian article in 2013 commended the villagers for preserving vital elements of the built landscape of early nineteenth century.

Presumably, the “colourful history” to which the writer alluded is the abstract on the signpost that welcomes visitors to the site. To the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project (CRFP), however, the “colour” was the blood of Africans and, perhaps, indigenous peoples as well.

For this reason, the CRFP has been exposing this “history” as farcical, while campaigning for the signpost to be changed. The villagers—most notably, Donna Mora, President of the Lopinot Community Council, and Christa Ariel Alexis, Councillor for the La Florissante-Lopinot area—were horrified by the historic facts and readily gave their support to the CRFP’s “No More Slaves” campaign.

Photo: A controversial signpost at the Comte de Lopinot Historical Complex.

By letter dated 14 September 2018, Paul Leacock, Chairman of Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation, commits unequivocally “to the removal of the currently installed signpost and its subsequent replacement with comprehensive and historically correct information.”

Read the rest of the story here: https://wired868.com/2018/10/09/from-romance-to-reality-why-we-deserve-the-truth-about-compte-de-lopinot-and-his-contented-slaves/