United States Ambassador to T&T Joseph Mondello has expressed his disappointment over the fact that citizens in his home country are still being forced to fight against inequalities.
Mondello made the comment as he looked on at scores of people who demonstrated outside the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain yesterday, in solidarity with those in the US and other parts of the world over the recent police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I do understand the torment people are under because of this racial inequality and it has got to be corrected,” Mondello said.
He said he understands the aggravation of citizens across the United States and even here in T&T over the matter.
Mondello said he remembers a time when people respected one another regardless of who they were and where they came from.
Asked by Guardian Media whether he felt racial tensions had increased over the years, Mondello said no. However, he said he believes the demonstrations that have swept across the United States since Floyd’s death, as well as the acts of solidarity in other countries such as T&T, will help root out the problem. He said his hope is that people will live together and choose to stand in solidarity.
Mondello walked through the group of T&T demonstrators who began gathering at around 1 pm and greeted them, thanking them for their commitment to ensuring that their action did not discount T&T’s Public Health Regulations such as social distancing.
“I have to say that I am very impressed with the way they have handled this because they have stayed with the social distancing,” Mondello stated.
“Also, the people are being very friendly and there has been no violence because I don’t believe in violence.”
The Ambassador’s comments came less than an hour after a group of almost 15 people increased to dozens more. This prompted the police to swoop in to engage in crowd control due to the COVID-19 measure still in place restricting gathering of more than 10 people.
