Blog

Dr. Hakim Williams, a tenured Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies and the Director of the Peace and Justice Studies at Gettysburg College, USA, has never forgotten his Laventille roots. In fact, his stories about his life in Laventille are always referenced in his studies and the reason he returns home to conduct workshops. ‘Yuh cyah run from yuh navel string’, he says.

I will forever be the boy from ‘behin’ de bridge, because is right dey meh navel string bury’. No matter where in the world I go, I tell people about the hills that gave me my dreams, Laventille. I used to be ashamed to say that I lived there. I used to be ashamed to say that I slept on one bed with my granny, mom, and my little brother. At the age of 18, when I left Trinidad to attend college in the US, I said that I would never return. But yuh cyar run from yuh navel string!

I was the first born, considered by many as an emotionally precocious kid. I was often left to my own whims and I was at ease creating my own games. I cut my educator’s teeth so to speak by chalking granny’s stairs pretending they were children that I was teaching. At first, my granny, Nora Lucy Simmons, supported the family with her pension. My mother left for the US when I was 9 years old and my brother was less than 2 years old. She went in pursuit of a better life for us. So, at the age of 9, I became ‘the man of the house’. I helped Granny oversee the money that Mom sent each month to ensure that it lasted.

Granny had terrible asthma, and often I had to run to Independence Square late at night to buy her pills when she had an acute asthma attack. The streets seemed so menacing back then, but I had no time to stop and think, why a child had to do these tasks.

I didn’t have time to wonder where was my dad, who made occasional promises but never fulfilled any of them. I was mostly afraid that I would return home one night with the pills to find my Granny dead. Such was my life: one punctuated by great uncertainty and fear.

When I sat Common Entrance, I passed for my 4^th choice, Tranquillity Secondary. After just two weeks there, I transferred to Woodbrook Secondary, where I finished Form One. At the end of that year, I sat a test for QRC, got accepted and started Form 2 there. Granny, however, didn’t live long enough to see my dreams come through. She passed when I was 13 years old. Mom was still toiling in the US, and it would take a total of 10 years for us all to be officially reunited.

After 6^th form, I went to Morehouse College to study Psychology and then transferred to St. Francis College (SFC) in Brooklyn after one semester. Life in NYC however wasn’t always smooth; sleeping on a mattress on a floor in a 3 bedroom apartment that we shared with a drug addict. We all huddled during a financially precarious time for the family. Each week, we faced the prospect of being homeless, but granny’s spirit never let us down. During the week, mom worked in Connecticut and I took care of my brothers, while attending college full time and working two part time jobs. I finished my Bachelor’s degree with honours, then I completed two Master’s degrees and my Doctorate in international and comparative education and peace education at Teachers College, Columbia University. It took four tries to gain admission to the doctoral programme; I was disappointed yes, but I had big dreams and I knew one way or the other, the

ancestors would show me the way. I learnt that when a door closes on you, ‘climb tru a window!’

-The ancestors gifted me with strong women as mentors

As I reflect on my journey thus far, I give thanks for the challenges along the way. I do wish that there were more black male models when I was growing up, but the ancestors gifted me with some strong women as mentors and heroes. I have decided to be that kind of man for youth, to help break the cycle.

–The fierce Laventille spirit is still guiding me

I return to Trinidad almost every year to conduct workshops in Laventille and environs. When I hear a parent say “Dr. Hakim, I use the techniques you teach us in my home with my family and I want to teach others”, is my biggest accomplishment. That right there is my life’s work: to empower people, from Laventille and similar areas who have been told that they don’t matter, to stand up and make a difference in this world. I am far from finished. Granny is long gone, but her fierce Laventille spirit is still guiding me. And to her, I bow!  Ase!

In addition to his main duties at Gettysburg College, Dr Williams teaches part time at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. He returns to Trinidad to conduct workshops with parents in Laventille and environs.

(Originally published April 2020)