Crash course on the word "coolie" since the timeline has misinformation.

"Coolie" comes from the Tamil word 'kuli' which means wages or hire. In the 16th century it was used by Europeans to describe the men from India who worked for them - someone who was paid to do menial work

When there was an influx of Indians in the Caribbean, imperialists used the "coolie" label to describe all Indians, from various castes and occupational backgrounds.

Many had a problem with this since 'coolie' was not reflective of their job position (menial labourer)

Those who were not 'coolies' felt mislabeled and degraded.

On the plantation the word 'coolie' reminded them of being lower class in the hierarchy (which was based on race)

'Coolie' in Trinidad became so much of an ethnic slur that in 1956 Dr. Eric William's called for us to banish the c-word as well as the n-word from our vocabulary.
This was part of the anti-colonial mission.
These words inflicted hate and divide.

What I have realized, is many (not all) Indo-Guyanese people and scholars have reclaimed the word 'coolie'. People say it with pride.

However, I don't see that happening in Trinidad (atleast on a wide scale) based on our history.

Interesting side note:

During indentureship both "coolie" and "hindoo" (hindu) were used interchangeably to describe all Indians (even non-hindus) before the 1930s.

Hinduism wasn't standardized yet and Hindoo was considered a racial not religious term