Coming out of bondage

Dear Editor,
Happy Emancipation to all my Afro-Guyanese brothers and sisters. This day marks the coming out of slavery and the decadence of what slavery entails and the dawn of a new day. The first of August was the starting point of a freed people who would no longer be enslaved physically and to a greater extent mentally; no longer would our peoples be subjected to the servile dictates of the colonial masters. We look back into history and take pride in what we’ve accomplished.
While we look back with pride and dignity at the strides made by our fore parents to bring us to where we are today, we must also look to the present as to where we’ve come from and to the future, to a place where we hope to be.
In an objective analysis of ourselves, we can proudly look back at the Village Movement and speak of an honourable event in history of an indomitable people who bought land, established drainage and irrigation systems, and built for themselves whole communities to live in. Theirs is the legacy we can rightly call the foundation pillars of a modern Guyanese society, on which we can stand.
Now, we have talked about the progressive thinking of our forefathers and the solid foundation they’ve laid for us in this century. Now, let us fast forward to the present and try to juxtapose that situation against what the descendants of slaves did with that foundation. Did they preserve the land that their fore parents bought for them? Did they remain rural or in agriculture? And the answer is a resounding no! What the descendants did is shocking!
Those who came after their ancestors had gone sold the land and moved into the urban areas; yes, they sold the land and headed for the city lights. There was an urban movement, far away from the dirt of a natural and unpretentious traditional living, of a rustic environment. In addition, the Black man became a worker for other people, mainly for the public service.
After independence, the public service became inundated with an Afro-centric crowd, where most of them still exist. Now, living in an urban setting has a lot of challenges. In the first place, inflation hits urban dwellers in a pronounced way. Even now, you are a pawn, political and otherwise, under the direct manipulation of the Government that pays you; in Guyana’s situation, we became the servile wards of a Black Government. Burnham held direct “control” of a predominantly Black public service to do as he pleased.
The PNC then acted in the capacity of the neo-colonial masters of the race; this led them to using public servants to do their dirty work, such as to rig elections, supporting violent incursions into Indian communities to establish their Black triumphalist objectives. At election time there was “Slo fiah moh fire” and slogans such as The Police and the Army are my Kith and Kin,; all in the backwardness of brutally keeping a nation in subjugation.
The year 1992 brought some degree of change and freedom for our country when the regime changed and the PPP/C Government came to office. There was a transformation in the entire country as persons started to find themselves, and development of humankind took precedence over political control.
The PNC came back into power within a coalition of sorts, where the gains Blacks have made were again curtailed. The PNC-led coalition took away the Because We Care cash grant for the children; they took away the Joint Services year-end bonus as well. These are instances where the party pauperised an area of public service where 90% of Blacks subsist. Is this the way the PNC show their “love” for the Black man?
I hasten on to 2020 when the PPP/C again came to office, and once again they blazed a trail of development and progress; the Black race began to draw themselves out of poverty and a Black supremacist mentality mode. The Race began to see themselves as worthy citizens in a One Guyana World, working towards a peaceful, progressive future.
So, ever wondered why so many of our Black brothers and sisters are coming into a PPP/C fold? The stark reality is they have seen the visible manifestation of what the party has done for Guyana and for the Black race in particular. Our peoples have been emancipated from the decadence of yesteryear; we are no longer bound and brainwashed by the PNC; we are moving forward together with the PPP/C for a brighter future. Guyana will never be the same again after election 2025!
Happy Emancipation, brothers and sisters.

Yours Respectfully,
Neil Adams