It is the people together who constitute the guardrail against hateful political rhetoric, divisiveness, and violence

Dear Editor,
In callous disregard for the formation of a Guyanese unity, unethical opposition leaders, utilizing various media platforms, hasten to promote Afrocentric racism principally aimed at instilling hate, and generating antagonisms among the ever-advancing harmonious Guyanese people.
Hate – defined as an intense dislike for someone or something – once instilled in the minds of supporters, or gradually implanted in the psyche of gullible and persuadable racist individuals, can easily be exploited as a convenient instrument for creating instability and inciting violence.
Anyone willing to objectively examine regular hateful pontifications by Afrocentric politicians, and their minions would surely unmask the underlying intent to dehumanize and demonize those not pursuable, or susceptible to divisive and destructive racist propaganda that focuses on promoting hate and hostilities or aimed at inciting overt violence.
This then leads one to ask whether the overt violence that materialized in stark aggression of rioting and looting in the aftermath of Adriana Younge’s death, will morph into similar expressions of destructiveness in the coming months before the elections?
Undoubtedly, in recent months, Afrocentrists’ targeted their racist vitriols at those whose social, political, and economic success proved irksome, and resistant to their proselytization of divisiveness and racism.
The indifference became clearly manifested in the denigration of Afro-Guyanese whose antipathy towards Afrocentric ethnocentricities resulted in AFC’s David Hinds condemnation of Afro-Guyanese supporters of the PPP as “lick bottom” and “lick BT Africans,” – a denigration that gained the support of Henry Jeffrey who said, “Hinds barbs are warranted.”
For the economically progressive Guyanese of every race, success did not self-actualize overnight but resulted from years of persistent strenuous toil and thrift. And, within the last four years, under the governance of the PPP/C, the sector of progressive Guyanese grew due to the opportunities provided in areas of employment, education, health, housing, retirement benefits, investments, and national development.
Why then, one may ask, do Afrocentric proponents target their hateful vitriol at the government, and especially at President Ali, and Vice President Jagdeo, when, factually, many of them benefited politically, socially, and economically from the very policies promulgated and articulated by the PPP/C?
The answer appears clear. It is the lust for power and control over government.
Hence, it does not require clairvoyant insights to grasp why Afrocentric proponents seem to focus on inculcating in the minds of the pockets of disenchanted ethnocentric individuals, suspicion and animosity towards successful Guyanese, and the government.
This is despite the truism, that, more-so under the current PPP/C governing administration than under PNC, and APNU-AFC regimes, access to opportunities is available to all desirous of socio-economic success.
Given the evidence of accomplishments in plain sight around the country, those influenced and persuaded by Afrocentric proponents’ falsehoods, racism and hate, could benefit by asking: ‘How does participating in violence and other anti-government activities enhance their lives?’
With the date for national elections fast approaching, would Afrocentric racists, and wannabe politicians expedite their propaganda campaigns of divisiveness, distrust, and hate, while probing opportunities to incite violence?
Time is yet to tell. And, while law-enforcement personnel stand as a buffer to violence, everyone needs to be reminded that it is the people who together constitute the guardrail against hateful political rhetoric, divisiveness, and violence – all destructive elements, which the PPP/C, as a political party, fought, and continue to fight, against.
With evidence, I stand corrected.

Yours sincerely,
Narayan Persaud,
PhD
Professor Emeritus