African Guyanese communities in crisis…Hughes confronts ‘uncomfortable truths’ in Bagotville address

Apr 07, 2014 News

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By Kiana Wilburg

“The reality is that the perceived face of crime and violence in our communities is black, young and invariably male. The only thing worse than black on black violence and crime is the silence which allows it to continue…we have ducked, dodged, avoided and refused to address this truth.”
This was the disturbing assessment of Attorney–at-Law Nigel Hughes during an address last Sunday at the Bagotville Community Centre, West Bank Demerara, on the state of African Guyanese.

Stating that the African Guyanese home is “in crisis,” Hughes said that it is important for one to have a comprehensive and honest look at the root causes of violence in the African Guyanese Communities. He said that African Guyanese must begin to examine the state of their communities and how much the state of their families has led or contributed to the violence within the community.
Hughes went on to pose a thought provoking question—what is the face of violence and crime in African Guyanese communities?
“The reality is that the perceived face of crime and violence in our communities is black, young and invariably male. The only thing worse than black on black violence and crime is the silence which allows it to continue…we have ducked, dodged, avoided and refused to address this truth.”
“The reality is that the identities of the policemen who shot and killed the Linden three, the policemen who shot and killed the Agricola youth, the policemen who shot and killed the young man outside of the fish shop, the persons accused of the Bartica, Lusignan and Lindo Creek murders…were probably black males.”
“Isn’t interesting, that in Guyana, the persons who are hired to kill African Guyanese are invariably African Guyanese but the money which hires them rarely ever is? We have a sub-culture of young black men pretending to be men by killing each other. We have to accept that this problem is a black problem and we are the primary persons responsible for addressing this problem…but we also have to acknowledge that …it is a national problem which requires the allocation of national resources to address.”
According to Hughes, it is the tendency of the African Guyanese not to address their problems as African Guyanese problems and therefore asked for it to be incorporated into the national agenda for fear of being labeled a racist. It was upon this backdrop that Hughes said, “A nation is only as strong as the sum total of its constituent parts and if things are not right in a part of the nation then the things cannot be right in the state.”
This he said applies to every community in the country.

Hughes then turned his attention to the consequences of violence in African communities. As he expounded on poor socialization and social skills, he also addressed poor education. “The performance of the African student in primary and secondary school has been steadily declining. Last year Guyana won five of the eight awards for top performances in the Caribbean and not one of them was an African Guyanese… 2013 was not an exception.”
The Alliance For Change member then showed how the police force is invariably a byproduct of the state of the community. “Why are we surprised when the police enter our communities and unleash the most vicious forms of violence on the community…The obvious question is where do the policemen and policewomen come from? They come from the same communities which have faced the difficulties I refereed to, communities who have witnessed the most violent abuse of power by officers of the Guyana Police Force without ever being called to account… It is from these communities that we select our young policemen, put them in a uniform and then by some magic, expect them to behave differently from their predecessors.”
Where do we start and what do we do? We first start by admitting that we are in a crisis. This opens the door for us to examine the issue and articulate solutions among the NGO community and political organizations.”
Hughes then gave several solutions which he has adopted from Tom Burrell, the award winning African American, and Marketing communications pioneer.
“Firstly, our silence must be broken, inaction must be reversed and the value of every black life must be reinforced. Let us resolve to be just as loud and angry about death related to black on black violence as we are about young black persons being killed by the hands of the state or another race.”
“We must design programmes which not only address these problems, but provide solutions. We must demand that government institute the programmes which we have designed. We must change the criminal justice system so it must also place emphasis on keeping our young people out of places of incarceration. We have to change the way we spend our money. Additionally, we also have to change the way the police force operates…We must get rid of the culture of dissing and disrespect which leads to so many unnecessary deaths.”
Other speakers included A Partnership for National Unity’s Financial Spokesman, Carl Greenidge, University Lecturer and Local Government Expert, Vincent Alexander, and University Lecturer and political activist Dr. David Hinds.
In closing the symposium, Dr. Hinds said: “Some people are asking why we are meeting as African Guyanese. We are not committing an offence by meeting. In fact we are correcting an offence—the offence of self-neglect. We are not fighting against government. We are fighting for ourselves. We are fighting to lift ourselves as communities. We are fighting to correct our problems. We are fighting against fear; the fear that comes from the perception and reality of powerlessness. So the best way to fight fear is to fight for empowerment.
“We are fighting for ethnic and racial equality; for equal opportunities in all spheres of life in Guyana. We are fighting to level the field so that African Guyanese children can get an equal chance to succeed and African Guyanese in general can benefit from our collective resources. We are fighting against all forms of domination-ethnic, racial, gender and class. For domination or the quest for domination is at the heart of inequality.”
The University Lecturer asked his audience to now go back to their communities and organize to implement the proposals provided at the event.
“If we can succeed in revitalizing the African Guyanese community, then Guyana and the Caribbean would benefit.”

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