The call for justice for the Henry boys has not come only from Afro-Guyanese

Dear Editor,
The more I read the social media posts by Guyanese following the brutal murder of the Henry boys, the more it pains me to see a Guyana divided in a war of “us vs them”.
To be clear, this is a war generally featuring persons of African descent (Afro-Guyanese) on one side and persons of Indian descent (Indo-Guyanese) on the other.
The call for justice for the Henry boys has not come only from Afro-Guyanese. This might be a good point at which to remind that Guyana is not made up of only two races, but of at least six (6) races, with unique histories and with a large percentage of the population actually being a mixture of two or more of those races. There are actually many Afro-Guyanese married to, or are in relationship with, Indo-Guyanese, and this is really not an odd situation today, even though it would have been in an earlier time.
Yet, many (how many I do not know, but even one would be too much) Indo-Guyanese have posted/said some terrible things in response to those murders. I will not repeat those things here, but they have not only argued that the Henry boys were stealing coconuts and that the owners had a right to stop them from doing that (though this has not been established as the reason why the boys were murdered, and cannot justify their killings even if it was), but they have gone on to reduce the boys to descriptions that are less than human, to say the least, and have further said that persons like them (it doesn’t take much to see that they mean Afro-Guyanese) deserve to be slaughtered in the way those boys were.
This has rapidly driven up the temperature of the atmosphere, not only figuratively, but literally, as persons have even started setting fires in protest of the murders and of such attitudes towards Afro-Guyanese. Now there is condemnation of the murders by one side and condemnation of the protests by the other, and those who are silent or disagree with one are automatically branded as enemy agents.
The call on the Afro-Guyanese side is now an even stronger push for black solidarity, where Afro-Guyanese will support each other and build each other up. This may be good and necessary, especially at a time when black lives are painfully and tragically being ended without cause and with impunity, not just in Guyana, but in the US and other parts of the world.
But is that the entirety of the world we desire to live in? Where Afro-Guyanese only support each other and where only Afro-Guyanese support Afro-Guyanese?
Looking locally, do we want a Guyana where Afro-Guyanese only support and stand up for each other, whether in terms of security, or the economy, or otherwise?
Do we want a Guyana where Afro-Guyanese children are brought up to only care, look out, stand up for, and support those who look like them? Do we want a Guyana where they can only expect care, support and assistance from those who look like them?
Where will that leave us as a society? What kind of Guyana will that be?
Wouldn’t Indo-Guyanese then be justified in similarly teaching their children to unite only within their own race/community? Ditto the Indigenous People of Guyana and the Chinese.
What about those like me, who are of mixed race, particularly those who are mixed with Indian and African race? Where would we stand? Who would support us, and who should we support? How many ‘Guyanas’ would Guyana then be divided into?
I have even heard it said that our motto: One People, One Nation, One Destiny, is a joke because that’s not who we are; that we have always been, and continue to be, divided. While there may be some truth to that, is that the way we want it to continue being? Is that the Guyana we want to continue living in? Is that even Guyana?
Lifting up the virtues of being One should not mean that any individual component of that One is diminished or devalued. On the contrary, it should mean that if one part suffers, the whole suffers with it (in this case ‘them’) and works to remedy the suffering. When Jesus said that, to inherit eternal life, we should Love the Lord Our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind, and Love Our Neighbours as ourselves, He was asked, “Who is my neighbour?” He answered by telling the ‘Parable of the Good Samaritan’. Instead of putting limits on who is our neighbour, He used persons of different ‘races’ to teach that we should be a neighbour to everyone (Luke 10:25-37).
All Guyanese should therefore be seen as our neighbours.
Right now, Afro-Guyanese are suffering, and therefore All Guyana should feel their pain. And All Guyana should be working together to address the source of that pain, and ease the suffering. If or when Indo-Guyanese are suffering, All Guyana should feel their pain, and All Guyana should work together to address the source and ease that pain. Ditto for every race.
We were all created equally in the image of God, and each of our lives is equally valuable. And if one life is in danger, as in the ‘Parable of the Lost Sheep’ (Matthew 18:12-14), we must focus on saving that life. All Guyanese Lives matter; but, right now, it is black lives that are under threat, so we emphasise that #BlackLivesMatter. If Indian lives are under threat, we should emphasise that #IndianLivesMatter. If mixed persons’ lives are under threat, we should emphasise that #MixedLivesMatter.
Therefore, in this current situation, we must all stand up for justice for the Henry boys. And we must seek to understand and comfort all Afro-Guyanese, our fellow Guyanese, who are not only pained by the loss of those boys’ lives, but also are living in fear for their lives and those of their children.
But we do not do this by using this situation to bring pain to other Guyanese, by harming them or destroying their property. We do it by finding those responsible for the pain, and dealing with them appropriately in accordance with the law; and further, by dealing with the underlying factors that created an atmosphere that was conducive to the commission of such acts. We do not sweep any of it under the rug, but we also do not destroy the entire house because part of it is dirty.
It is time to clean our house, Guyana; but let us not destroy it in the process. It is my hope, my prayer, that this situation will not drive us to create a house divided. Instead, I pray that out of this tragedy, we will truly be able to have a #UnitedGuyana; one Guyana; A Guyana where our motto is no joke, but is a true reflection of who we are and how we all value each other; a Guyana of One People, forming One Nation, working together toward One Destiny.

Sincerely,
Kurt Da Silva