Kissoon’s attack on ethnic consciousness is not the solution for Guyana

Oct 15, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

In his KN column of October 14 (“Ryhaan Shah, Melissa Ifill and Guyana’s sempiternal ethnic consciousness), Freddie Kissoon further digs into his two main but false assumptions, made earlier in his October 8, KN column: (i) that ethnic consciousness, at least for those who proudly embrace it, reduces persons to that one dimension and predetermines their thinking and behaviour, and (ii) ethnic consciousness cannot co-exist with a moral self and a pro-social self. In sum, Kissoon’s view is that those who espouse their ethnicity and culture must be without the DNA code for free will, situational thinking, polychromatic vision, and good character.
Kissoon chooses to ignore the reality and the contradiction that Shah (whom I do not know personally) responded to his October 8 column by asserting that her pride in her ethnicity and culture “in no way stands in contradiction to my moral and principled sense of being which has been instilled in me by my religion, culture, and my familial relationships.” And that Dr. Ifill (whom I know personally) respects and, at every opportunity within her scope, fights for the rights of Guyanese regardless of their race, gender and creed. As such, his question with reference to her (“Should non-African employees and students at UG feel they will be treated fairly when the deputy head of the institution openly exclaims that she lives her life as a black woman?”) is both baseless and a dud.
Outside of Kissoon’s ulterior motives for flogging this horse and for trying to diminish persons, an issue of some interest may lurk. It is found in his endorsement of ethnic pride. Ethnic pride is among the highest manifestations of ethnic consciousness. None of the two will abate in Guyana. They will both defy political and economic suppressants. So, even should Guyana have a government of national unity, people will still self-recognize and celebrate their ethnic identities. Likewise, even should oil revenues give us a real good life, we will not, nor should we, lose “the DNA” for ethnic pride.
And this consciousness will not be limited to those who publicly and proudly declare their ethnic and cultural essences. It will infuse the silent majority as well. The solution to ethnic consciousness in Guyana and worldwide is not, as Kissoon believes, to disparage or disregard it. The solution is to accommodate it in a way that no one is disadvantaged or disrespected because of it.

Yours faithfully,
Sherwood Lowe

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