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My name is Westmin James and I am the litigation specialist of a human rights and social justice body.
I’m a member of the UWI Rights Advocacy Project. I also lecture at UWI, Cave Hill. As well as being an attorney-at-law in Trinidad and Belize.
My parents named me Westmin after my grandfather, from St Vincent & the Grenadines, [who] moved to Trinidad. Each of my parents have four other children beside me. I’m the oldest and first.
I’d love to have a child. A partner would be great, too, but the biggest thing for me, being the oldest, having to take care of children all my life, a child would be great for me. As a single man in the Caribbean, though, I couldn’t adopt.
I grew up mainly in Dundonald Hill, Long Circular. The poor community up on the hill. There’s a townhouse complex, the one middle-class enclave in the ghetto, up there; but, of course, I was not in it! I was born in Morvant-Laventille. I moved to Barbados two years ago and consider myself to be domiciled in both places.
I went to Mucurapo Boys’ RC and did A-Levels at Tranquility Government. I got into UWI to do law. I obtained a first class degree there. I did one year of Hugh Wooding, took a year off and did a master’s at Cambridge, then finished on the principal’s honour roll at Hugh Wooding.
It’s not so unusual to come from humble beginnings and become a lawyer. There’re quite a few. Once you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything.
I have eclectic tastes in music and listen to everything. If I have to name a favourite artiste, Celine Dion or Whitney Houston would be it. In terms of Trinidad, David Rudder and Machel Montano.
I’ve played mas for the past two years. But I’ve always shied away from J’Ouvert. I’m committed to try it one year but I’m really not one to have my body covered with mud.
I like the beauty, serenity and the safety factor of Barbados. To some extent, you can still leave your door open. Of course I miss the activities of Trinidad. No matter what time of day or night, there’s always some place you can go, something you can do. I miss the people, too!
In Barbados, my favourite restaurant is Cin Cin. There’s a gorgeous view of the water from the dining room. In Trinidad, I love Hakka. I love the fusion of Indian and Chinese, and it’s quite reasonably priced. I go to Cin Cin for the lunch special, three courses for Bds$70. Which is excellent.
I’ve been to the Oistins Friday night fish fry too many times. Because you’re Trinidadian living in Barbados, everybody comes to stay with you. And Oistins is one of the places that we have to go to.
I go to the movies often in Barbados because there’s so little to do. I like going to the drive-in. I never went to one in Trinidad. When we had them.
Being part of URAP, we seek to promote human rights and social justice within the Caribbean, through litigation and academia. The co-ordinators are Tracy Robinson and Dr Arif Bulkan. Janeille Matthews at the Mona campus is the other litigation specialst.
We are awaiting judgment in recently completed litigation in Belize in which we challenged the constitutionality of the “Buggery Law.” Since the case, the Cabinet there has endorsed a new gender policy and has draft legislation amending the alleged offending section to be in compliance with what we had argued in the case. Litigation is sometimes necessary to force governments to do what they should.
The best thing about human rights litigation is making a difference. People who decide they want to do law think about helping people. This is one tangible way you can. The bad thing is it’s not profitable—most of it is pro bono or very little fees—but it pays in terms of satisfaction
A Trini is a multicultural individual who could laugh at himself. And celebrate all cultures, religions and festivities.
Trinidad and Tobago will always be home to me. We have to protect our children, face our challenges and make the society what it should be.