Guyana continues to be plagued with the race question

Aug 11, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

When Mr Jagdeo highlighted the disturbing fact that “there is an assault on our democracy, an assault on Indo-Guyanese and an assault on PPP/C supporters” in a recent address to a crowd in New York City, he also set off a firestorm, particularly within the APNU/PNC/AFC government. Such a reaction shed light on the callousness and willingness by Government to bury the rights of Guyanese for political gains.
Undoubtedly, Indo-Guyanese have been hammered by racial assaults which intensified after the May 2015 election. This is common knowledge. Mr Jagdeo offered solace when he remarked: “we are going to take back Guyana.” Even in American politics, politicians including Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, John Kerry and Barack Obama have used the exact same words when addressing supporters. Government seems to be bullying Mr Jagdeo.
Mr Jagdeo deserves praise for his courage to stand against inhumanity and I urge others to stand by him. We must remember that we should never turn a blind eye when our fellow humans hurt. And this is exactly my motivation to jump into the fray. Undeniably, Government itself discriminates against Indo-Guyanese and without a doubt it knows of the chronic racial problem overtly plaguing the Indo- Guyanese community. Government even has the hubris to ruthlessly claim that we are imagining things.
Government wants us to believe that racism does not exist. So it creates a firestorm and mounts a cruel attack on Mr Jagdeo, falsely branding him a racist. It even prods its raucous supporters to demand that Mr Jagdeo be punished. Such antics are aimed solely to silence Mr Jagdeo and fool the people of Guyana. Government’s actions have got to be a ruse when we are hurting. In the wake of all this, Government cannot escape earning itself the notorious reputation of being: insensitive, biased and inhumane. Folks like those in Government are largely responsible for the never-ending racism.
Mr Jagdeo remarks fully resonate with me because they are the truth. Guyana is swamped with racists. I have experienced overt racism since I was a youngster and I have been itching to fight against it. Racism upends everything and turns life into hell. There wasn’t a single day that I did not encounter racism. Racism stripped my dignity and left me wounded. I ran into racists everywhere who spontaneously spewed racial slurs.
Then there were the racists who profiled me, mugged me and brutalized me umpteen times. My memory is saturated with cruel encounters of racism. An examination of another story tells the same tale of racism against Indo-Guyanese. Editor, think about the fact that Indo-Guyanese represents roughly less than 20 % of the public sector in spite that we are in the majority.
This speaks volumes on racial discrimination against us. Mr Jagdeo was alluding to exactly all this when he remarked that Indo-Guyanese are going through a rough time. Racism is cruel and inexcusable. The interest of the people must trump the interest of Government. Government must find a way to engage all. Government needs to know that its actions are antithetical to social cohesion which is desperately needed to break five decades of failure in this country. It is a well known fact that Government prefers not to do business with Indo-Guyanese, if Government prefers “loyalists” who are not Indo-Guyanese, then you may ask why it is doing business with Mr. Nagamootoo. The answer is obvious; Mr Nagamootoo is used as a vehicle to draw votes from Indo-Guyanese, while the APNU/PNC continues to abuse us. This is sad and tragic.
Racism is destructive. Racism is ignorance. It strips our dignity, humiliates us, spirals us into depression, heightens our stress levels, lowers our self esteem, and plunges us into alcoholism and suicide. Racism is part of a battery of socially related problems plaguing this country which includes: crime, abuse, domestic violence etc.
They all have one common origin – lack of education. Why hide such a destructive problem? We cannot be left to hurt in silence because Government refuses to acknowledge that this country is infested with racism. We need a caring Government who understands our pain irrespective of what we look like. Government can’t eat its cake and have it too. This is impossible. If Government does not like Mr Jagdeo to address such a situation on racism, then it must do something about it. Moreover, only a dishonest person would draw the singular conclusion that Mr Jagdeo panders to race when in fact he is addressing a chronic and massive problem which is real, not a figment of our imagination.
In any race / ethnicity there are racists and considering that Guyana is plagued with widespread racism, I am cognizant of the fact that racism has touched the lives of all Guyanese. However, Indo-Guyanese face the brunt of this problem. Indo-Guyanese must understand the propellers to this problem if we are going to safe guard ourselves. Although, we are not saints like most human beings, we must understand that perhaps, our relatively calm personality portrays us as weak and makes us vulnerable. We rarely stand up for our rights. We rarely join the picket lines or engage in civil unrest, riots or similar aggressive behaviors even when we are abused. We almost never engage in street crimes and almost never menace another race / ethnicity. Our good nature portrays us as weak and so we are taken advantage. We must acknowledge the problem of racism and address it. To this end, I urge Mr Jagdeo and all Guyanese to continue to stand against racism. Racism should never be tolerated.
Dr. Annie Baliram

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One thought on “Guyana continues to be plagued with the race question”

Cochore August 11, 2016 at 7:13 am

“Racism should never be tolerated.”
..speaks volumes about this letter writer. Thank heavens her ‘self-salutation’ at the end wasn’t… yours faithfully, Dr (really..?? are you sure.) Annie Baliram.

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