Separating race from politics

Apr 10, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
We have made a fateful and depressive decision to align our political system along racial lines. We have seen its destruction unravel us. I have always wondered why we must be in a situation like this and why is it we cannot separate politics and the development of Guyana from who we are as different races.
After learning more about our beloved brother Walter Rodney, I understood that race and politics have always been a tool of manipulation to control the people and keep them with just enough to survive but not enough to thrive and have a voice for determination.
When the slave masters left our country, our own brothers and sisters who had some position of control wanted to live like the slaves masters so they continued the trend of the British to exploit their own.
As our leaders schemed and propagated the divide and conquer strategy by putting Indians and Blacks against each other, it morphed into an uncontrollable beast that we now accept as normal. But we never took the time to see that upper class blacks exploited other blacks; upper class Indians did the same to their own race. And sadly, all political campaigns in Guyana have always been about racial division.
The truth is that there have always been only two choices in Guyana– either the PPP or PNC. If someone chooses to cross the line on the grounds of politics, they would immediately be branded a traitor on either side. In effect we have closed all possibility of hope to have a political system that support objective thinking based on what Guyanese deserves and not a politician or party wants.
Rodney was the only leader that offered a way that was better for Guyana and that is why he was killed. But it is important that we do not forget what Rodney stood for. His dream must live on and grow so that we can find a way forward that gives us a better future. I chose to support the PPP in 2015 not because of race but because I believe that they are more efficient and progressive than the PNC.
As a mixed race Guyanese coming from an Indian and Amerindian mother and Black and White father, I have embraced my African, Amerindian and Indian roots because at a deeper level there is not much difference between them.
We all need the same things; to provide for our families; a better life for them that are not hard as we had it and that our politicians do not forget this simple need as they take control of our tax dollars.
Malcolm Watkins

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