The people who claim to speak for Black people

Jul 11, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

---

Here was a prediction of mine in response to what David Hinds would say when he replied to my criticism of opportunistically introducing the event of slavery in all of his response to those who are accusing his party, APNU of rigging the 2020.
I wrote the following in July 8 column; “In his letter yesterday on me, it is the expected banal repetition – race, slavery, African Guyanese etc. It has become sad and tragic that an analyst can see only one dimension of Guyana‘s sociology. Of course you cannot win once you are non-African because the fall back position is inevitable. It is saturated in people like David Hinds. Here it is – we, non-African Guyanese will never understand how African Guyanese feel, because we don’t have the background of slavery.”
My prediction was potently correct. The very next day, Hinds was at it again. Let’s quote him; “Freddie clearly does not realize that that is a privilege he enjoys simply because he is not Black. Black people do not have that privilege. Freddie will never be a George Floyd who lives his entire life with a knee on his neck and begging to breathe. Freddie enjoys privileges simply because he is non-Black. But race and racism are the greatest threats to Black humanity. Freddie can choose to ignore the fact that Black People are the only group which has to constantly proclaim its humanity.”
This is sick, fetid nonsense that has no place in modern discussion of race. The stupidities in Hinds’ outpourings should obvious to any sane mind. Any non-white person can become another George Floyd. You do not have to be exclusively Black to face racist violence in the US. A video has gone viral all over the world two days ago where a white policeman pressed his knee on the neck of a Guyanese East Indian man. Why Hinds think that Indian man could not have died? It is completely asinine to reduce the tragic violence facing Black Americans and apply it to the African race around the world. This is not only foolish. It is indecent and dishonest.
What privilege do I enjoy as a non-Black over Black Guyanese like Hinds who chose not to live in Guyana? I grew up and have spent my entire life in a country where half the population is Black. What privilege the non-Black population receives in Guyana? Thousands of Guyanese Amerindians are far worse off that African Guyanese and it has been like that for over a hundred years.
Hundreds of thousands of poor East Indians live in Guyana with not an ounce of privilege more than what African Guyanese enjoy. Hinds is confusing class and colour. A fundamental flaw for someone who said Walter Rodney influenced him. Yes, there is a rich, Indian capitalist class In Guyana but they do not share that money with poor Indians.
The more Hinds writes, the more his fundamental dishonesty is showing up. He said non-Black people will never face what happened to George Floyd. That is pathetic asininity. An East Indian teenager was killed by Black policemen protesting rigged election by an African Guyanese elite cabal in March of this year. This is a repeat of 1973 when soldiers shot three East Indians protesting rigged elections by the very African elite cabal. This African elite cabal has rendered the live of 28, 000 East Indians unbearable by the closure of the sugar estates. Since then there have been a number of suicides relating to the social crisis that have followed
The dishonesty of Hinds has no limits. He is trying to transport the suffering of Blacks in the US to Guyana where the sociology is completely different. Guyanese have been afraid since March that this African elite cabal will unleash violence on non-African Guyanese if this African cabal loses the election. In other words, many non-Africans are afraid they may die in mob violence. Yet Hinds has the temerity to tell non-Africans in Guyana there are privileged because they are not Black.
African people all over the world should confront Hinds with his vulgar use of African civilization to justify rigged election in Guyana. African Guyanese, especially young educated men and women must come out and denounce Hinds for his ugly actions in defence of fraudulent elections in this country and using the wrongs Africans in the US face to justify the electoral insanities in Guyana. It is simply amazing that no one in this country has not watched Hinds in his face and did what Andaiye did. When the violent gunmen were killing East Indians under the pretext of African liberation, she wrote, “not in my name.”

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

---

---