Debate about race should not be criminalized

Jul 27, 2016 Peeping Tom

The Capitol News newscast of July 25, 2016, began with the headline that Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had taken the race game to supporters in New York. This was a clear case – and not the first time either – in which that particular news service has editorialized a news item.
A better headline would have been: “Opposition Leader accuses government of racial victimization.” But to say that the Opposition Leader “takes the race game” to supporters in New York is expressing an opinion even before the details of the story are read.
The government picked up on this and issued its own interpretation of Jagdeo’s comments. The government stated that the opposition leader was engaging in race-baiting, an act that is a criminal offence under the laws of Guyana.
The government of course is playing politics, just like the Opposition Leader. The government is not prohibited from doing that. But a newscast cannot ‘editorialize’ its news content. It just goes to show how far Guyana’s media has to go to become truly professional. We have a long way to go.
Race is a sensitive topic in Guyana, especially if Bharrat Jagdeo is the one speaking about it. The mere mention of the word ‘race’ by the former President is greeted with accusations that he is stirring racial disharmony.
Just after last year’s elections, he was taken to Court for simply accusing the then opposition of racism. The person complaining ended up being charged for exciting racial animosity. Can you believe that? The danger, of course, is that had the High Court not quashed the case, it could have ended up in a situation where anyone who accuses a government of racism can end up facing criminal charges.
The media has to avoid being complicit in these sort of actions. The media, within lawful limits, has to defend the right of persons to comment on race relations.
Every time Jagdeo speaks about race, it is greeted with a storm of protests from the media in Guyana. The media has to be careful that it is not engaging in self-censorship.
The media has to be careful. The media should be defending the right of persons to be critical of what they see as racial victimization. But it seems that every time Jagdeo accuses the government of racial victimization, the media goes paranoid.
Jagdeo is not the first – and he will not be the last – to accuse the present regime of racial victimization or racial witch-hunting. But it seems only Jagdeo attracts such stern and fierce condemnation.
Former President Donald Ramotar has made similar accusations. But he was not accused of race-baiting. Other persons within the PPP have made similar accusations, but they have not attracted the sort of reaction as Jagdeo.
The people of New York have heard it all before. In fact, some of them earlier this year took to protests over the dismissal of five Indo- Guyanese from a diplomatic mission. Their placards accused the present government of the exact thing that Jagdeo is now accusing it of.
Race, of course, is a sensitive issue, and the media needs to handle it with great care. But it must not editorialize nor must it criminalize debate and discussions about race. People should have a right, without generating race hate or fueling racial prejudice or inflaming racial passions, to express an opinion, supported by evidence of what they may see as racial victimization.
We are not going to reduce racial tensions in Guyana by refusing to discuss race, pretending it does not exist, or putting a spin to what the Leader of the Opposition says. We have to confront racism and racial victimization frontally.

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