Let’s use this pre-election period to forge a sense of nationhood, regardless of party affiliation

Aug 25, 2019 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Having had the good fortune of being involved in Sports, Academia, Business and Politics as a Guyanese; be it in the community where I reside, the business I manage, giving solicited or unsolicited advice to politicians; it seems to me that it is time for us to now look directly at the sunlight and cast off the Guyanese shadows of race identification that have tormented and divided Guyana for over sixty years.
We have to enable and embrace a culture, especially at the political, business and governmental level that de-emphasizes the use of such terms as African-Guyanese, Indian-Guyanese, Portuguese-Guyanese, Chinese-Guyanese and similarly the use of black, brown, red, white and yellow to identify Guyanese in different ways.
Referring to Guyanese in a hyphenated or race-labelling manner, should not be the primary means of communication on our population demographics; we can instead conveythe information using inclusive language, with the tone and prosody of what is being emphasized. The use by Guyanese of self-hyphenation and race-labelling tends to create racist and other destructive divisions amongst our people.
A disturbing visual and widespread occurrence resulting from the partial consequence of this racialization and destructive practice is cornerstoned often times in segregated local employment practices in governmental organizations and private businesses. Some of our leading private sector institutions present this social malady, and to a lesser extent this perversion occurs far too frequently in the public sector.
Having studied the evolution of two great leaders, namely Malcolm X and Walter Rodney; and having seen their transformation to believing in integrated, multiethnic, multicultural, and multiracial societies and nations, I will let their progressive wisdom guide me.
The following quote is an extract from Malcolm X’s last speech in Detroit on February 14,1965: “I am not racist in any form whatsoever; I don’t believe in any form of racism, I don’t believe in any form of Discrimination or Segregation”.
Similarly, we have Walter Rodney concluding the following in a 1978 lecture: “… It seems to me that we are in a position to illustrate and to illustrate not just from the distant past, but the recent history of Guyana that race is an aberration viewed from a working class point of view, that it is maintained deliberately by classes whose interest contradicts with the interest of the working class…”.
Tackling problems of poverty, housing, education, security and unemployment,should be done without the use of race labels. We can do so in a nation building manner that advances Guyanaism to unifyour country and not instead have a mixture of hyphenated Guyanese hordes that are easilyignited racially by our baserinstincts, where these baser instincts are invariably politically instigated.
The Guyana system I am advocating for, will not allow for employment, property ownership, social services, financial services,among other systems, services, structures or industriesto be determined on a discriminatory basis. Instead, dthe economic, social and cultural components ofGuyanaismwill be implemented, using principles and policies thatarereflective of demographic parameters in a Guyanese context.
We cannot and ought not to ignore or try to wish away our admixture, yet this admixture must never be emphasized above Guyanaism, being Guyanese is what our Political Leaders must herald and proclaim.
If great men such as Malcolm X and Walter Rodney in their knowledge morphing, saw the necessity for racial integration and the vital importance of human rights, so must we. The meanings of words expressed and the context in which they are used have consequences, let us aim to use language for positive consequences.
It would be remiss of me not to recognize that the political culture of the two major parties needs to be overhauled, needs to be changed, needs to be transformed – to being pro-Guyanese.
Over the sixty years I referenced above, we have had two political movements that captured nationally and, in the diaspora, an ethos that we in Guyana need so much. The political movements built under the umbrellas of The Working People’s Alliance and The Alliance For Change- were destroyed or subsumed by one of the major parties or by both of the two major parties, the destruction occurred in one instant, after the death of Walter Rodney in June of 1980, and the shredding of the Working People’s Alliance continued with actions that followed, over a decade after his death.
What became clear with the passage of time is that Guyanaism was not allowed to flourish,because of the actions and conduct of the two major political parties.
In 2011 the Alliance For Change, at the height of its better and brighter days, inhaled, inspired and exhaled the spirit of nationhood. The soul of the Alliance For Change was subsequently subsumed and snuffed out after the 2015 General and Regional Elections, thereby losing its Guyanaist identification.
My belief is that lasting change from this ruinous race based and race-labelling culture will best be exampled and implemented from within the two major parties.
As Senator Barrack Obama said in February of 2008: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Let us use this pre-election period to Guyananize the political culture and forge a sense of nationhood, regardless of party affiliation or party support.
We ought not to have rubber stamp politicians in senior office. Terms such as race traitor, house slave, race selloutand other race-based permutationsshould not be foisted on those who seek to cultivate a Guyana that is inclusive and speaks for all Guyanese.
Positive vibrations are what we need in Guyana from our “Grangers” and “Jagdeos”. Our political and business leaders must set the language and tone; it is the honorable thing to do. As Guyanese, we are capable of avoiding the hyphens that cage and separate us. As Guyanese we can be one people in one nation, with a destiny of solidarity.
Yours respectfully,
Dr. David Hinds

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