OP-ED: The Woodley Park incident

Mar 01, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – I thank the Hon. Minister of Education for recognising that a serious and most sensitive incident occurred at the Woodley Park Secondary School in West Berbice.  By her own words, there is at least acknowledgement that what happened was of a racially obnoxious nature.

I commend her for that, and as she said there is an investigation still underway, and that one person will be charged.  The proofs from that investigation will be the pudding that confirms that this matter is being taken with the genuine seriousness, as it should be, and that no other designs are at work.

The first question that comes to me is focused on what the charge is going to be?  Then, is it going to be a single charge, such as assaulting a child, resulting in some measly fine of a few thousand dollars?  Is one of the objectives that everybody breathes out deeply, in the quickest time possible, the matter deemed dealt with properly, and that’s it?  If this is the plan, this is going to be the case that unfolds, then I assert that it is not good enough, and an injustice would have been done, adding insult to injury.

From what I have heard and seen from the audio and video evidence making the rounds, the unacceptable and the combustible did take place in Woodley Park.  Many in Guyana should have seen and heard that evidence, and to date, there have been no claims of fake news, or doctored evidence. What unfolded in Woodley Park was a male adult with a wood in his hand in an area that ought to be out of bounds. This is even when allowance is made for an absence of malicious intent, which appeared to be very much present.  It does not matter who he was, Black, Brown, or otherwise; even if it was a woman, the same standard applied.  We are talking about a school with children, and we have had too many savaging incidents that have been harmful to the physical wellbeing of teachers and the peace of onlooking children.

Worse still, the audio evidence of the incident is sharp and could not have been clearer.  It was racist, repugnant, and unacceptable. When we start speaking in hostile terms about whose area this is, and who doesn’t belong lines are crossed.  To make this more grassroots, it is that they (a certain kind of people) should neither be seen nor heard, nor have any right to be in Woodley Park.  This was in public and to the face, and not the safety of Facebook.  This could have deteriorated in the customary Guyanese fashion, with reciprocal name calling, taunting, and insulting leading to what and where is anybody’s guess.  Except that it would not have been what is helpful and healthy to good relations between the races, withonly the ugly surfacing.  A whole community could have been sucked in, with matters taking on a life of its own, as these things do.

I will now go further since I believe that it would open the eyes of my fellow Guyanese. We are not in a good place as a society; never have been, certainly not now. There is no choice but to take off the gloves and be brutally frank.  We, in Guyana, are sitting on a powder keg. I urge doubters to get a glimpse from social media platforms, which presents Guyana in all of its rawness and rancidness. Many things, official and unofficial, are supplying the ingredients to what is a precarious situation. This is my assessment, my conclusion.  It is why the development(s) at Woodley Park must not be swept under the carpet in a cloud of soothing language that means nothing, other than to make the matter go away in the shortest time.

It goes without saying that if the aggressor and racist degrader was from the other side of the harsh political divide, then this matter at Woodley Park involving children would have been used, manipulated, and leveraged for the maximum exposures possible.  There would have been an uncontrolled frenzy going on in cyberspace, with the endless cursing that is now our chief claim to fame. What I sense is that a man (not necessarily one) lost control of himself, and let the worst in his nature reveal its nasty face. To make myself clear, what goes for one must go for all. In other words, no exception, no protection, no rush to minimisation, however carefully managed and controlled.  No different folks, different strokes, please.

Once again, the Minister of Education is due a word for lending a moderating voice, adopting the right tone, and manifesting the politically correct response to what others would label an incendiary situation; which could have degraded to one.  I think that there is more work to be done, and more that should be forthcoming, especially with the nature of the charges laid. We wait to be enlightened.

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

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• GHK Lall, incident, Minister of Education, Park, Woodley

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