quote:Originally posted by caribj:
1. Burnham employed the same methods of handling AfroGuyanese as the slave masters did. If they were wrong then so was he. In fact he deliberately tried to down play any attempts at empowerment by AfroGuyanese prior to 1952 because he wanted to annoint himself as our Lord and Savior. He peddled the notion that we were docile until he arrived and so should show him gratitude. The notion that AfroGuyanese attempted to improve their lives before him, and would continue to do so DESPITE him, was not what he wanted us to believe. He wanted a dependent group of people who thought that they couldnt survive without him and he probably succeeded with many. Until he ran out of cash in the late 70s. And so the gravy train ended and people had to depend on themselves or starve. This is why the AfroGuyanese is relatively better off than his Trini counterpart.
Fatboy was an example of bad black leadership. Just like Mugabe who I consider to be of the same mold. Sorry I cant find anything positive to say about him.
Burnham looked and learnt from Jagan who attacked , rediculed , labelled and maligned the indian moderate leaders . Burnham went after the LCP like a pitbull and brought mulattoes and professional blacks to cringe . People like Martin carter , John Carter , Dolphin etc were made to cringe. Burnham gave the black masses the same cool aid Jagan gave the ignorant coolies who thought power by the people was realy for the people and they all got f*#cked by Jagan and Burnham .
2. Where did Guyanese have access to African culture? Please dont offer "make up" culture as peddled by Eusi and now by Eric. Africans will laugh at you. In fact any attempt by TransAtlantic blacks to engage in being pretend Africans is met with derision....not the least because in Africa they look at the Caribbean and at US based blacks and consider us to be better off than they are. They have enough problems of their own. Dressing in attire that is not your own, and looking silly while trying to adapt customs which you dont understand strikes Africans as being quite odd. The slave ship sailed and its not taking any one back.
east Indians gave up their language but held onto their culture , traditions and religion in ways far different from India . Afro Guyanese in the county of Berbice held onto the what remnants of their cutlure and traditions they had but people like A.J Seymour , Dolphin and other mulattoes made sure it did not spread because they were jockeying for power and wanted to be the voice for all blacks . It was Fatboy , yes Fatboy , who attempted to re-kindle and resurrect the last remnants of afro Guyanese culture . Dude , you gotta give due where it is due ! cuss fatboy all yuh want he was the only black man and leader to try to foster afro guyaanese culture no matter how adulterated it was .
3. There was a systematic attempt under colonialism for slaves to be divided and to not trust each other. Much has been written about this so I will not engage in senseless debate on what is obvious to all expert on that topic. Needless to say that there is NO way that a handful of white men would have survived for long in places like Guyana if there was unity. Look at what happened in the 1763 Berbice Revolt. Even as most of those slaves were born in Africa (so had their traditions intact) at the time this was a problem. The seeds of division were already being sown. Imagine generations later as Creoles who knew nothing other than slavery.
The brits did the same with indian indentures , they split them up and their families . Brothers were placed on different ships and told they were goignto the same place but were sent to different colonies . Yes the conquerer always has his way.
Again Burnham capitalized on this. Funny thing is so does Jagdeo.
4. If some one meets the qualifications and has teh aptitude (demonstrating this by under going confirmation) then if the Catholic priest says sorry "I am Irish and you arent so no communion for you" he is being racist. We arent talking about hiring unqualified people. If 10 blacks show up and none are qualified than none are hired and there is no racism there. And this fact is not a concern of the prospective employer either.
If 10 people show up for a job and 10 are blacks and none qualify for the job it simply indicates the situation is chowtic !
5. Your attitude towards those who you hire and thsoe who you do business with is what I expect. No favors for any one. Perform or get out. Being Indian doesnt give the person any advanatge if they dont perform. If you actually do this then this is what I expect. This is not what happens in Guyana though.
Well this is how I conduct myself and this is what I support . favoritism , nepotism and curry favoring are not progressive ! It should and must be stamped out in Guyana where it thrives !
6. Despite having bad leadership mnay blacks persevere and succeed. Which is why I wonder why you always bring up the leadership issue. Being in a community with bad leadership doesnt give people a right to discriminate against these people. Whether its whites doing that to Indians in the USA, or Indians in 2011 doing that to blacks in Guyana. As you said the Indo community cannot hire the population so almost all must seek employment in companies owned by others. Should they tolerate racism because of this?
what people see , witness and experience is what creates their perceptions and beliefs . Everytime there were riots in Guyana and looting many black employees joined in the looting hence creating a nagative perception for blacks who are not like that just as guys like stereo type indians based on the behavior of the PPP .
7. Eusi Kwayana is a constructed name. Its not a real name. Africans have many ethnicities, each having their own practises and traditions. So an AfroGuyanese might have ancestry from one or more of the Akan groups, plus, Ibo (or Yoruba) plus some Congo. Of course very few of us know anything but some vague notion that most (not all) of our ancestors came from Africa as slaves.
Which tradition should they adapt? As an African said when he saw AfroGuyanese trying to be "African" one Emancipation day, he said if they wanted to "play" African they ought to get it right. Mixing the traditions of one group with those of another is inaccurate and might even have been dangerous given enemities which existed between some groups.
It is too late for TransAtlantic blacks to play African. We only display our ignorance and in any case too much time has past. I can find any Afrocentric African American dressed in full regalia and with some "make up" name based on Swahili (which by the way is Afro Arabic, not African, but he doesnt know this). He will look MORE like an African American the more he tries to pretend he is not.
8. OK so if every black, hispanic or whatever were told to only do business with their own, even if you were better, where does that leave you. Confined to just a niche market. Clearly you made achoice not to depend on an ethnic nice for reasons best known to you....but I am sure based on pursuing profitable opportunities where ever they were and refusing to cede such becasue of race.[/QUOTE]
Bai my business does not depend on race and gender it is based on financial ability . I am saying if people who believe themselves to be oppressed , marginalized and ostracized dont COOPERATE they will never rise up to become a bonafide contender . BTW , I do not deal in niche markets I deal in dollar value markets . However , if I can pillage a neiche market because businesses ignore it and I can meet their demands I will .