By Akola Thompson
A FEW days ago, I observed that, most often, the ethnicities of those interviewed by media houses on issues such as government or the crime rate are either African or Indian. When I brought it up, I was jokingly asked if I felt slighted because “my people” and their opinions were not being asked for.”I brought the issue up with another, and I was told that my thoughts represented “covert racism.” Of course I was taken aback by this, as, having a mélange of human identities pulsing through my veins, “black” and “coolie” included, any form of racism on my part would be an act of pure self-hate.
Growing up in a country such as Guyana, which has been tinged with the mark of colonialism and ethnic separation, everyone can tell you that we still have an ethnic problem, especially between the Afro- and Indo-Guyanese.

We are told that we need to be extremely aware of the race issue within the country, lest we make some politically incorrect statement. I, for one, think we have reached the stage at which we have become too aware of race and too concerned about being politically correct.

Never before has the importance of being able to distinguish racist statements from innocent ones been so paramount. A few days ago, a friend and I were in a bus headed to the Stabroek bus park. She had on a glimmering frilly blouse, which I had noticed only during our bus ride. Remembering how I was good-naturedly laughed at last year November when I decided to wear a dashiki, I tapped her on the shoulder, saying, “Aye, I now seeing you Indian top.”

She laughed, I laughed, but the young Indian fellow sitting beside her did not. Instead, he flashed me a brief but very evident look of disdain. This unnerved me, because I began to wonder whether my seemingly harmless comment on the blouse of a friend, who just so happens to be Indian, could be considered politically incorrect, and I soon realised that in our attempts at heightening racial sensitivity, we have unwittingly aided in the promotion of acrimony.

We have become so hyper-sensitive to matters relating to race that a wet blanket has virtually been thrown over the still prevalent, and in some ways, growing issue.

If you have not realised by now, I am not a fan of political correctness. That, however, does not mean that I believe persons should be intentionally hurtful or slanderous against another. Too often, however, simple things are misconstrued and considered distasteful.

While the original purpose of political correctness may have been to ensure sensitivity to others who look or feel different from another, maybe it has all been corrupted.

Call it some far-fetched conspiracy theory if you wish, but I believe that the concept of political correctness was created in an attempt to curb important discussion on race issues. I believe it was created so as to uphold the barriers which have long been set up.

Several months ago, in the aftermath of the national elections, when racial tensions were high, I was doing a street opinion piece for a local magazine. I, of course, could pick the topic on which I would interview these persons. I, in all my idealistic glory, decided that I wanted to know their views on racism in Guyana. No one wanted to comment, at least not on the record. Later that day, my two friends, one a cameraman and the other just an idler, laughed at me for not knowing those issues have largely remained untouched for a reason. Deflated, I decided that I would settle for asking them about feminism. I was never turned away.

These incidents may seem small, and maybe in the grander scheme of things they are, but they are indicative of so much. Of course, changing the attitudes and stereotypes associated with race is one for which I believe most of us hope for, but that change will come to fruition only when systematic policies which promote racial equality are put into place.

What the system needs is a complete revamping. Those in power, particularly those who just came out of power, benefit from the racism ingrained within the fabric of our society. Race is often used to not only divide, as was seen in the last elections, but to confuse the people about the reasons behind the economic and social crises of the system, whose problems increase with the divide and enter into what I would like to call a free fall of racial intolerance.