Govt bans use of “Negro”, “East Indian” by Police, health institutions

The Government has, with immediate effect, ordered a ban on the usage of the words “Negro” and “East Indians” by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and public health institutions when referencing Guyana’s main ethnic groups.
In a statement issued on Friday, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, disclosed that this decision has been made by the Cabinet on Thursday.
“Recognizing that many Guyanese find the terms “Negro” and “East Indian” offensive, the Cabinet decided, on June 6, 2024, that the terms used by the Guyana Police Force, including Immigration and the health sector, as forms of identification and epidemiological references to ethnic descriptions will now read [otherwise],” the missive detailed.

These terms, while not enshrined in law, have been used as tools of identification since the colonial era and after independence. However, with the changes made by Cabinet, the new terms to be used to describe ethnicities are Guyanese of African descent, Guyanese of Indian descent, Guyanese Amerindian, Guyanese of mixed ancestry, Guyanese of Portuguese descent, and Guyanese of Chinese descent.
According to Minister Teixeira, relevant entities are instructed to implement the Cabinet’s decision and update their operational manuals and rules accordingly.
This issue was raised recently by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, who expressed concerns about the Police Force’s use of the derogatory word in its official reports. He cited Article 149 of the Guyana Constitution and several other pieces of legislation which commit to equality and non-discrimination, and mandates that all citizens be treated with respect and fairness.
Hughes had written a letter to the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), which has since initiated discussions with the GPF on the matter.
The lawyer’s letter to the Commission stemmed from the Police Force’s initial description of Working People’s Alliance (WPA) activist Kidackie Amsterdam as a “Negro”.

Amsterdam was arrested and charged with violating the Cybercrime Act after a caller to his Facebook programme allegedly advocated the killing of the President and four government ministers. He is currently on $200,000 bail.
Attorney Hughes had engaged the ERC to issue a directive to the Force advising that law enforcement agency to cease the use of the term and any other derogatory language when referring to individuals of African descent.
But, according to Minister Teixeira in her Friday missive, despite being in Government from 1966 to 1992, and again from 2015 to 2020, the People’s National Congress and the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition, along with Hughes, failed to address the Police’s outdated use of terms like “Negro,” which was inherited from British colonial times.
“The arrest of Kidackie Amsterdam on cybercrime charges prompted Mr. Hughes and the PNCR-led Coalition to suddenly raise the issue of ethnic identification. Their long period of somnambulism was finally over, but this newfound urgency did not extend to condemning the caller who demanded the beheading of Government leaders and displaying their heads on staves by the seawall — an image reminiscent of the barbaric practices of the colonial rulers,” Teixeira contended.
Similar arguments were made by Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference on Thursday, in which he disclosed that Cabinet has discussed the matter.
The Vice President had pointed out that Attorney Hughes, in all his career as a lawyer, was aware and even participated in the use of the word in official statements and reports, but has only now chosen to create an issue.
In addition to Hughes, Jagdeo called out PNC member Winston Felix, who, as a former Police Commissioner, never objected to, or took actions against, the use of the term by the GPF.
“The police under [Felix’s] tenure probably used this word a billion times, and sudden he finds the word ‘Negro’ offensive… [And Hughes] never objected in the past [to the use of the word ‘negro’]. There are maybe 50 cases where he saw this before [but never objected], and he has not started practising recently; he has been practicing (for) a long time,” Jagdeo stated.
According to the Vice President, the Opposition could have simply reached out to Government, even President Irfaan Ali, and requested that this term be changed; but instead they are using this issue as part of their racist agenda to appeal to the emotions of Afro-Guyanese.
“For them, it’s a big political issue…,” the VP insisted.