A Barbadian reflects on early Guyana

Apr 29, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
When I arrived in Guyana to reside in the mid-60s, the atmosphere was charged with the politics of racial confusion. I had come from Barbados where racism was a bit more subtle than this place. When compared to what I experienced in Guyana I surmised that we in Barbados had come a long way although we still had a far way to go.
Guyana’s racial animosity it seemed to me was being fueled by hidden hands. All I could see through my young untainted eyes were two sets of people with different cultural backgrounds, both rich and diverse in their own right, suspicious of each other for some unknown reason.
I have since made it my business to investigate how two ethnic groups who were a united force winning a free and fair election in 1953 had subsequently ended up like this.
In Guyana’s case what I observed as a youth, fresh from Barbados, was a battle of ideas within its 83,000 sq. mile borders resulting in deep scars inflected on two otherwise loving ethnic groups. What is even more sinister is that the masses who looked up to and admired their leader’s academic brilliance were fed unfettered propaganda and made to develop opinions that were severely flawed and self-destructive.
I arrived a few months before the common entrance examination was scheduled and was examined in Guyana. I was allotted a space at Cummings Lodge Secondary School, situated smack in the middle of a predominantly Indian village, Industry. Traversing to and from school through Industry and the adjoining village of Ogle felt like navigating a mine field. I had in my naivety chosen to abandon the train ride to and from school and utilize the fare otherwise buying snacks, thereby walking to and from school throughout the term. I quickly recognized my folly and opted for the train to take me through the Indian villages of Ogle and Industry to and fro my home village, Plaisance.
I was a mixed foreigner living in a Black village, Plaisance and coming from Barbados, my grandfather being a white man, I was immediately and incorrectly branded a “dougla” in Guyana…and found myself in no man’s land. It took me almost a lifetime and lots of research to finally determine the root of this race thing.
Over the years, I have questioned many Guyanese of African and Indian decent both young and old, academic achievers and illiterate alike. I keep getting the same answer from each group to this one particular question: Why do you dislike the Indian and why do you dislike the African? The African would advance many versions as to why you can’t or shouldn’t “trust” the Indian while the Indian would answer also with the same version.
What is even more damning in this time is that the political entities of the day, although knowing the truth, do not have the political will to set the record straight and bring an end to this poison instead of allowing future generations to listen and absorb the misguided opinions spewed out by their elders who in some cases don’t even understand what transpired to bring about this mayhem.
Come to the realization that as you know the truth it will set you free…free from the bondage of hatred and racism. I applauded both the current government and the republic’s opposition in promoting verbally, their desire to see a nationalist spirit with all races moving forward in unity. This however, will never become a reality if each party continues to preach one thing publicly and behind the scenes use this divisive element called racial animosity to cement, galvanize and motivate their base. Maybe a united nation of Guyana need a “truth and reconciliation” commission to heal these wounds , promote forgiveness and move forward as one.
Emmerson Inniss

St. Michael, Barbados

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A Barbadian reflects on early Guyana

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