PPP needs to stop this musical symphony based on race
Dear Editor,
I noticed that my friends, and I mean my friends, in the PPP, are once again playing the race card.
This is not new; it has been the bane of our people if not the curse of Guyana.
At this time, after all the stress this country has been through, one would have thought that a responsible Party leadership would allow us to exhale and breathe a breath of clean, fresh, race-free air supporting a clean, green Guyana.
Back in the mid fifties I recall the August 1957 Elections, the PPP relied entirely on appealing to race with the popular ‘anthem’ or slogan ‘ApanJaat.’
I remember the Central Demerara Constituency Contest, Elections of 12th of August, 1957 Sydney King ( 6,285 votes) was by far the most popular figure in all the villages but lost to a newcomer, PPP sponsored, Balram Singh Rai (7,125 votes), purely on the basis of racial voting.
The PPP has always sadly relied on race to secure an advantage in electoral matters.
We have had several Commissions mounted in response to the demand for ethnic balance in areas where the PPP felt they needed to have the upper hand ignoring our known history. One time it was the composition of the Public Service, another time it was the Police Force, the Military and now, GECOM.
Guyana’s history, if understood is simple and instructive.
Very briefly, after the end of slavery, the British, in an effort to reduce the Bargaining power of the Manumitted Africans on the Plantations, imported labour from Madeira, England, China and India.
They also flooded many of the African Communities to frustrate the Africans’ pursuit of farming and business .
In the meantime, efforts were made to persuade the Indentured Labourers to pursue Education and Christianity.
The freed Africans who were cruelly and completely severed from their ancestral roots in West Africa took to Education and Christianity.
This simple analysis explains Guyana in the early part and much of the twentieth century.
The freed Africans became teachers, nurses, public servants and joined security services.
Others moved to the dangerous interior to mine gold and diamonds.
The majority of Indo Guyanese wisely concentrated on cultivation of economic crops and business entrepreneurship.
When the PPP therefore raised and appealed to the International Community, complaining about imbalances in the Public Sector, Police Force, etc. some of us had to remind those beating the race drum, that they could not be selective in their demand for ethnic balance.
We contended that if the Advocates for ethnic balance in an enlightened society were serious then let us have the mathematical balance in employment, in public and private enterprises, the allocation of industrial and agricultural lands and indeed, all spheres of national life.
Today, as I write, NCN, the State Control Radio Station, broadcast about ninety percent Indian Music and Programmes and less than ten percent of African Music and Programmes.
But my friends in the PPP are blind to these things.
I write as a Guyanese, who has lived through and shared the trauma of racial strife in this country and I hope and pray everyday that we will march gallantly and gracefully to make a reality our Motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny,’ and that when we speak to Sue Ping, Samuels, Singh, that we treat with those persons, not based on their colour, but on the content of their character.
Dear Editor, forgive me, but my life experience, disallows me racism.
I am proud to be a descendant of an African who was forced to adopt English names and mannerism but cannot ignore the fact that my Mother hails from the Wismar/Christianburg community with Amerindian blood surging through her veins.
Some of my best and most trusted friends from school days are the Chinese, Portuguese, East Indian and not to forget what I suspect is now in truth a majority those who are mixed.
My first wife, was mixed; Caucasian, Amerindian and African, my present wife, is a delicious mixture; her maternal grandfather was a Caucasian who came here from Barbados. Her father, is heavily Indian with a sprinkling of Scottish and African blood. I have grandsons who are pure blue blooded Caucasian British.
I grew up in a yard shared by a delightful Portuguese family and two of my most trusted compatriots, were Indian and Portuguese and their children fondly call me “Uncle Hammy or Uncle Dennis.”
Today, many of my acquaintances are Indo Guyanese and others, Non African persons.
This brief letter is to appeal to my friends in the PPP to stop this musical symphony based on race.
It is so nonsensical. Former President Ramoutar once told me he was not pure Indian.
What of my friend Clement Rohee?
On the Government side, find me anyone, who has pure Indian, African, Chinese, Portuguese or Amerindian blood?
Today, let us celebrate our rich heritage and end this charade.
God bless the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and let us celebrate by singing and doing what is contained in one of our National Songs, ‘Let us Co-operate for Guyana ’ words and music written by mixed Guyanese, William .R. A (Billy) Pilgrim.
May I make this caveat, I bet you some of those at GECOM described as Afro Guyanese, are parents and grandparents of other ethnic groups.
But thanks to the cosmetic business, how can you know who is really Indo, Chino, Porto, Afro or Amerindian?
The truth is all awe are one family.
Hamilton Green
