Respect and protect African Emancipation celebrations

Jul 16, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

The member organizations of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) stand with sister organization, the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) to demand respect for and protection of the 30-year-old tradition of ACDA’s Annual celebration of Emancipation.

The decision to host a free event across the street from ACDA on Emancipation Day is a contemptuous and wicked ploy to divide and destroy the African Guyanese community. The public must be made aware that the so-called community organization, Association for People of African Descent is neither community-based nor a creation of Guyanese of African Descent.

In a Guyana Times article on April 24, 2024, Minister Oneidge Walrond herself explained that “In 2023, THE GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED THE ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT (APAD) to foster unity among Afro-Guyanese communities, drive positive social change, and empower all members to actively participate in shaping Guyana’s future.”

APAD is a red herring, a ruse to mislead people of African descent and to create division among our people – particularly, it appears, generational division. We must ensure that all African Guyanese are aware that this nefarious Pied Piper is seeking to lead us nowhere but is bent on destroying our community and misleading our youth.

We call on government to use Guyana’s wealth to empower African Guyanese youth not simply find every opportunity to entertain them. As we celebrate the 186th anniversary of Emancipation, Guyana’s wealth can fund Reparations to give youth the resources they need to put their generation soundly on the path to full Emancipation. Government must respect the ACDA traditional event, immediately cancel its APAD August 1st event and use its resources to support genuine upliftment and Emancipation for African Guyanese.

Sincerely,

Olive Cannings Sampson

Chief Executive Officer

IDPADA-G

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Chief Executive Officer, communities, International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly- Guyana (IDPADA-G), Olive Cannings Sampson, Organization

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