VishMahabir posted:Georgetown: Contrary to what you might read on GNI, I saw many young mixed couples, Afro, Indo and Amerindians. Afros and Indos were sitting side by side selling their organic produce, getting along very well. Banks also had workers of all races.
I ate some weird fruits called Star Apple, Soursappy and a Sapodilla…they were great!
GT was not entirely clean. It was sad to see displaced persons sleeping in front of Parliament.
I tried getting in Parliament to see one of the sessions, but was not allowed because I wore a t-shirt.
Racial conflict: I did not experience cases of racial conflict where people cuss down each other like some of you knuckleheads do every minute on GNI. Everybody seems to be struggling to earn a living and Indos and Afros got along fine.
Government Offices: Many of the government offices (Immigration, Airport, Post Office, Dept of Foreign Affairs, Culture, etc) were run by a majority of Afros. I tried getting into GECOM (since it been in the news) but the office was fenced in and the entry doors were in chains. I went to the Post Office and some of the Ministries. I suppose if I had visited Guyana during the PPP time, these government offices would have been occupied by a majority Indos.
My comments on your observations:
a. Yes, the racism is not overt in the majority of cases unless there is political unrest. For the most part blacks and Indians live in peace next to each other. However, each will most likely vote for their ethnicity during elections, largely because of fear of the other side. Indians fear black (PNC) rule and blacks fear Indian (PPP) rule. That is the dilemma.
b. The fruit is "soursapp". A soursappy is someone like Skeldon Man.
c. The state of GT tells you a lot about Guyanese. During colonial times and even as late as the late 70's the city was known as the Garden City. We Guyanese have let it decline to what it is now. There is no one else to blame.
d. Your experience at parliament is amusing, yet it tells you about us. We are big into pomp and ceremony and trifling little things, yet we miss the bigger picture. Most of those sitting in parliament are corrupt dunces, yet you get thrown out because you wore a T shirt. If only they would be this diligent about the people who serve there.
e. The govt. offices still would be majority Afros under the PPP. This is part of the bickering - blacks in the civil service and armed forces, Indians in private industry and business.
Thanks for posting the info on your visit.