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Suggestions for Amerindian heritage month

Aug 13, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

Please allow my letter to be published in your newspaper, so my contribution to the planning of our Amerindian heritage month programme of activities, can be taken into consideration for the benefit of all my Amerindian brothers and sisters.
As we are fast approaching our Amerindian heritage month celebrations, September 2016, there are a number of very important items and topics that can be included in our programme of activities. Apart from the well organised sports and cultural events in Georgetown, some items performed at the various heritage venues country wide, seem to be a bit monotonous, including those on the evening’s agenda at the Sophia exhibition centre.
However, in the interim of the bi-annual Miss Amerindian heritage month pageantry, the organisers at the national level can put together an indigenous fashion and designer show in both the male and female categories, with an introduction of an open poetry and song competition. My suggestions, I think, will be able to showcase and enhance the talents of our indigenous brothers and sisters, and certainly would allow them to be more competitive at the national and international level.
Also, a forum should be well organized to high light some of the vital contributions that our fore-parents had made towards crafting this beautiful country of ours. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs should engage some of our prominent historians, such as Tota Mangar, Mellissa Ifill and Reginaldo Gomes De Oliveira of the state university of Roriama in Brazil, to be involved in this important exercise. These educators have done some extensive research in our cultural and geopolitical history of the Guian’s.
It would be very interesting to have a wide cross section of a Guyanese audience invited to this forum, including the leader of the opposition to listen to some hard facts presented by these distinguished academics. We the Indigenous peoples of this country have thrown down the gauntlet to the very politicians who are under the pretext of representing us. They have together with some historians peddled half truths and lies about us, where we idly stood by during the colonial and post colonial era of this country.
It must be noted that the Indigenous people of this country were taken to Europe and trained as cartographers and when they returned they played an important role in the redoing and re-reading of the entire geography of the Guianas. As a matter of fact, the Indigenous peoples were the first to conduct business in and out of this country, creating an atmosphere for large commercial trading with outsiders. Furthermore, they together with some Creole Blacks accompanied ‘Sir Robert Schomburgk’ on some of his famous expedition and assisted in the demarcation of this country.
This coming Amerindian heritage month September 2016, can be the moment of truth for the indigenous people of this country. In fact, it all depends if our leaders are really serious about promoting and securing our rich heritage of this country.
Mark Anthony Rodrigues
Region 9

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