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It is Gail Teixeira not Eric Phillips who is promoting race divisions

Mar 30, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Please permit me to comment on a letter by Ms. Gail Texiera captioned “Gail Teixeira wants Eric Phillips removed from this position” published in Kaieteur News on March 29.
Ms.Texiera stated that she felt compelled to respond to Dr. Phillips’ letter because she somehow saw a “naked insult directed at Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples”.   I read Dr. Phillips’ letter, and I noted that his very first sentence congratulated this new Government for “accelerating the land titling program for Indigenous Guyanese”.  This in my mind is hardly an insult to anyone, and as I continued reading his letter, I have not seen a single indication that could be interpreted as an insult to anyone including Guyana’s Indigenous peoples. It seems that for some inexplicable reason, Gail believes that giving land titles to the Indigenous community is an insult.
Dr. Phillips suggested that if it is acceptable for a certain amount of lands to be allocated to Guyana’s Indigenous People, and if Africans can be shown to have arrived in Guyana before some of the Indigenous tribes, then it follows that certain amounts of lands should be allocated to the descendants of those early Africans.   That seems to be a reasonable suggestion.  Gail, in her wisdom may have interpreted that position as an insult to the indigenous peoples, or she may just be using this as an opportunity to continue her party’s disgusting attempt to promote mistrust between the various cultures in this country.
In her 1087 word letter, Gail never attempted to address any of the concerns raised by Eric.   She did not address his concern that Africans have been marginalized by the PPP for the past two decades and today, African Guyanese have less than 5% of the country’s economy.  She did not address Eric’s assertion that under the PPP, 80% of the mining concessions have been given to 30 families/individuals. Furthermore, Gail forgot to remember that during the PPP’s reign, every single radio and television stations were dedicated to Indian-related programming at the SAME TIME. .. so that there have been times when our entire air wave was dedicated to a single ethnic group.  She somehow did not see anything insulting to the other 50% of the people in this country during that period.
Most of us would like to see this country move away from the policies that have kept us underdeveloped for so long.  It can be argued that the root cause of some of our bad policies implemented during the past two decades is the unequal treatment of the various ethnic groups.  Today, it is well known that most Guyanese Africans are economically disadvantaged when compared to Guyanese of Indian origin.  If we are to develop this country, then we must find ways to help empower and enrich some of those who are currently disadvantaged.  The United States, for example has implemented affirmative action policies that have helped minorities – including Guyanese of every race – to have access to job/economic and recreational opportunities that were traditionally available only to whites in that country. Those policies have been credited for many US-based Guyanese having access to jobs and other opportunities that would not have otherwise been available to them. This is what we should be looking at in Guyana.  This is what Dr. Eric Phillips continues to fight for, and this is what every Guyanese politician, including Gail Texiera should be promoting.
By suggesting that some state lands be allocated to descendants of pre-slave Africans, Dr. Phillips is not taking away from the Indigenous Peoples – he is attempting to give more by adding another subset to that group.  This in no way is a detriment to any member of the Indigenous community, and is no reason for anyone to call for Dr. Phillips’s removal as chair of the Guyana Reparations Committee.  It is unfortunate, but not surprising that Gail should seize upon this to promote division in our society.
Max Mohamed

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