I WAS fortunate to view the rebroadcast of a 1999 panel discussion hosted by CaribVision TV on the topic racism. The panellists were: A White Bajan Senator, an Indian Trinidadian and Afro-Guyanese Aubrey Norton. The discussions ran the gamut from governance to the inevitable race question.
Of course, Aubrey Norton was his usual self pontificating like an expert on things of this nature, trying desperately to convince himself as well as his viewers that racism is the root cause for the ills that plague the Guyanese society.
No doubt about that. On the issue of shared governance, Mr. Norton went down the slippery slope of defence of his dictator icon Burnham, by simply saying “the matter was under consideration.” Mind you, the said matter was “under consideration” for decades having being first raised by Dr. Jagan under the theme of Guyana having a patriotic front government. Jagan knew fully well that his party won every election held under Burnham, yet for all of this he got nothing.
He was shamefully heckled and booed in parliament for that, and treated as someone who has lost his mind. Fast forward to 1992 with the PNCR now APNU in opposition, there is an animated call for the institution of shared governance, why, because they are “not in control.” It is the control factor that drives the discussion on who apparently is on top of the situation. Whenever it seems that they are not ahead of the pact, or power is not in their hands, then it becomes our right to share power.
The same could be said of the race issue whenever the PNCR (I keep calling them that which really they are) think that they are not in an advantageous position, they cry foul. The race card is another convenient avenue to vent their political anger at the PPP/C. Take for example the marriage or the shacking up of an Indian woman with a Black Man. This is not a racial problem but if the roles are reversed then definitely this becomes a race problem. It all boils down to a matter of perception, or like I said, who is in control.
Let me relate to you a story, a true story I like to tell true stories because they are factual evidences of real situations. I have a friend who lives in Sophia, one who happened to be there when the squatter revolution took place. He related to me that he went to the  then Minister for Housing Shaik Baksh to regularise his occupancy of a house lot when closer examination of the said lot revealed another occupant, an Indian as the allotted one.
He told me that the minister in his presence crossed out that name which made him the proud owner of a plot of land in Sophia. Now, we are talking about a Black Man meeting an Indian minister of government who in essence took away land from an Indian brother to give to the Black. This is not racism at all. There are numerous stories like the one I’ve mentioned which answer the question of racism in Guyana. It is a matter of perceived ideas and of course who you are talking to.