Dear Editor,
When Bharrat Jagdeo highlighted the disturbing fact that, “there is an assault on our democracy, an assault on Indo-Guyanese and an assault on PPP/C supporters” in a recent address in New York City, he set off a firestorm, particularly within the APNU/PNC/AFC Government. Such an action shed light on the callousness and willingness by government to bury the rights of Guyanese for political gains.
Undoubtedly, Indo-Guyanese have been hammered by racial assaults which intensified after the May 2015 election. This is common knowledge.
Like any caring and decent human being Jagdeo offered solace when he remarked: “we are going to take back Guyana.” Even in American politics, politicians including Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, John Kerry and Barack Obama have used the exact same words when addressing supporters.
Government seems to be bullying Jagdeo who deserves praise for his courage to stand against inhumanity, and I urge others to stand by him. We must remember that we should never turn a blind eye when our fellow humans hurt. And this is exactly my motivation to jump into the fray.
Undeniably, government itself discriminates against Indo-Guyanese and without a doubt it knows of the chronic racial problem overtly plaguing the Indo-Guyanese community.
Government wants us to believe that racism does not exist. So it creates a firestorm and mounts a cruel attack on Jagdeo, falsely branding him a racist. Such antics are aimed solely to silence Jagdeo and fool the people of Guyana.
Government’s actions have got to be a ruse when we are hurting. In the wake of all this, government cannot escape earning itself the notorious reputation of being: insensitive, biased and inhumane.
Knowing what I know about racism in this country, I can safely say that only a mad man or someone hungry for votes would have a problem with what Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo’s remarks fully resonate with me because they are the truth. I have experienced overt racism since I was a youngster and I have been itching to fight against it. Racism upends everything and turns life into hell. There wasn’t a single day that I did not encounter racism. Racism stripped my dignity and left me wounded.
Then there were the racists who profiled me, mugged me and brutalised me umpteen times. My memory is saturated with cruel encounters of racism.
Editor, think about the fact that Indo-Guyanese represent roughly less than 20% of the public sector in spite they are in the majority. This speaks volumes on racial discrimination against us. Jagdeo was alluding to exactly all this when he remarked that Indo-Guyanese are going through a rough time.
Racism is cruel and inexcusable.
The interest of the people must trump the interest of government. Government must find a way to engage all. Government needs to know that its actions are antithetical to social cohesion which is desperately needed to break five decades of failure in this country.
It is a well-known fact that this government prefers not to do business with Indo-Guyanese; if government prefers “loyalists” who are not Indo-Guyanese, then you may ask why it is doing business with Nagamootoo. The answer is obvious: Nagamootoo is used as a vehicle to draw votes from Indo-Guyanese, while the APNU/PNC continues to abuse us. This is sad and tragic.
Racism is destructive. Racism is ignorance. We need a caring government who understands our pain irrespective of what we look like.
Government can’t eat its cake and have it too. If government does not like Jagdeo to address such a situation on racism, then it must do something about it. Moreover, only a dishonest freak would draw the singular conclusion that Jagdeo panders to race when in fact he is addressing a chronic and massive problem which is real, not a figment of our imagination.
In any race/ethnicity there are racists and considering that Guyana is plagued with widespread racism, I am cognizant of the fact that racism has touched the lives of all Guyanese.
Indo-Guyanese must understand the propellers to this problem if we are going to safeguard ourselves. Although we are not saints, like most human beings we must understand that perhaps, our relatively calm personality portrays us as weak and makes us vulnerable.
We rarely stand up for our rights.
We rarely join the picket lines or engage in civil unrest, riots or similar aggressive behaviours even when we are abused.
We almost never engage in street suppressions and do not menace another race/ethnicity.
Our good nature portrays us as weak and so we are taken advantage of. We must acknowledge the problem of racism and address it.
To this end, I urge Jagdeo and all Guyanese to continue to stand against racism. Racism should never be tolerated.
Kudos to Jagdeo!
Sincerely,
Dr Annie Baliram
