Open letter to Mr. Lincoln Lewis

May 07, 2021 Letters

Dear Mr. Lewis,

It seems to me your anger towards the President for an unconscious Faux Pas in the Arrival Day Speech he made yesterday is unwarranted and misdirected. President Ali so far in his Presidency has shown to be equally caring to all Guyanese regardless of race and mindful of their history.
Many of us have been taught History in school and are well aware that the African Slaves were taken against their will and forced to labour under the most horrific conditions one can imagine so as to enrich their enslavers.
You have every right to be angry about the treatment meted out to your ancestors and should anyone try to whitewash that horror, the millions of descendants of those African slaves scattered all over this universe as well as non-Africans will never allow that to happen.
I am sure President Ali’s mistake in his Arrival Day Speech was not deliberate nor did he intend to change history or even sanitise it. It was a simple error made during his speech which even the greatest leader of this world tend to do from time to time. They are also humans, after all.
Your anger should be directed towards the people (descendants) who actually perpetrated the evil deed on Africans, starting with the ones who encouraged and permitted Slavery, those who helped by capturing and selling Slaves and those who benefitted from the trade and labour of Slaves on their plantations and in their colonies.
It is only fitting that you seek reparation from the beneficiaries of Slavery for the evil they perpetrated on the African people.
You and everyone else know the Indo Guyanese were not responsible in any way, shape for enslaving your ancestors nor did we have anything to do with it.
We did not profit in any way from the wealth generated by Slave Labour but only served as replacement labour when slavery was finally abolished.
My ancestors may have unwittingly chosen to serve as Indentured Labourers on the Plantations where your ancestors were enslaved but we also were not treated much better as a replacement labour force.
So stoking the fire of rancour and division should never be considered or encouraged over President Ali’s Faux Pas. We are not deserving of your anger.

Sincerely,
Dennis Balgobin

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