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The response to the Tain and Linden protests speaks volumes of this regime’s racial ideology

Jul 22, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
The great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, once said; “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. On Thursday night a gunman entered a movie theatre in Colorado and killed 12 innocent patrons.
Within an hour the President of the United States of America issued a statement condemning the killing and offered his condolences to the families of the deceased. Less than 12 hours later the US President cut short his reelection campaign and addressed the American nation.
On Wednesday here in Guyana, three young men Shemroy Boyea, Ron Sommerset and Ivan Lewis were killed by ranks of the Guyana police force while participating in a peaceful demonstration in the mining town of Linden.
Within hours of the shooting the President of Guyana issued a statement placing blame for the killing at the feet of his political opponents the AFC and the APNU. The three young men that were killed and the scores that were wounded were all African Guyanese.
The news of the killings rocked the African population of Guyana and emotions and tempers are still very raw. It is now three days after the killing and Mr. Donald Ramotar has not seen the merit in addressing the nation.
Time and again this president has taken his responsibility as leader of this nation lightly and it is clear to me that he does not understand that he is not the President of the PPPC or President of those that voted for him at the last election; he is President of all of Guyana. Time and again this Chief Executive has blown opportunities to talk to this nation and to help heal our wounds and bring us together as a people.
On December 6th 2011 when ranks of the Guyana Police Force opened fire on peaceful APNU demonstrators and supporters (most of whom were Afro-Guyanese) in Georgetown, there was no governmental response and again the President was silent.
Chapter three of the Constitution of Guyana speaks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. Yet it is becoming abundantly clear that in this Republic, some lives are valued more than others and some offered protections that are denied others.
One only has to juxtapose the struggles and demonstration by the people of Albion in June 2005, Tain in November 2007, with those of the people of Linden to see that there is a double standard in the methodology of police internal security doctrine and the use of force when dealing with crowd control.
The government response to the people of Tain and the ignoring of the people of Linden is also instructive and speaks volumes of the racial ideology of the current regime.
It is sad that after 46 years of Independence we cannot have an honest and open national discussion on race in Guyana. After 46 years we are still demonizing and stereotyping each other. The Linden Martyrs, like the Enmore Martyrs blood were shed because in both instances the policy of the government of the day allowed the national police to exercise poor judgment against protestor who just wanted to be heard.
The people of Guyana deserve and should demand better from this President and this government. Supporters of the PPPC should not feel comfortable because of geography and in some cases ethnicity. For injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; our lives as Guyanese citizens begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Yesterday it was Linden tomorrow it could be you.
The time has come for us to have a frank and honest discussion on race in Guyana. The time has come for us to demand better governance and leadership. We must quickly learn to live together as brothers and sisters or ultimately perish as fools. I pray that the blood of the Linden Martyrs will not have been shed in vain.
Mark Archer

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