ONCE again, the issue of race has raised its head within Guyanese society. Not surprisingly, the problem began where it most often does, amongst our politicians and those who serve them. Over a week ago, PPP/C parliamentarian Nigel Dharamlall released screenshots of a group conversation that involved the President’s Public Information and Press Services Officer, Lloyda Garrett, referring to her staff as “these coolies.” Dharamlall, who is in his own right a self-avowed and quite successful racist,
[http://guyanachronicle.com/2017/09/05/divisive-politics-public-sphere] recommended that Garrett be fired and recommended she undergo a “period of race relations rehabilitation.”

Contriteness
It was reported in the press that shortly after the screenshots were made public, Garrett had apologised to her staff for using the term ‘coolie.’ She has not however, made any public statements since. As an employee of the state, paid by taxpayers’ money, Garrett has a duty to report to the people. It is her responsibility to prove contriteness and in this area she has failed. As someone with the responsibility of press services, one would think that Garrett would know that the effective way to get rid of a scandal is not by burying one’s head in the sand and hope that it goes away.

Even if it does, what this does is create an opportunity for this incident and her reluctance to address it to rear its head in the future. It will become something that distinguishes her despite whatever work she has done or will continue to do. Imran Khan, who insinuated that the screenshots might have been photo-shopped, gave one of the first responses from the government. One must really begin to question why government funds are being used to employ people who seem to continuously fail at the one job they have. When it comes to the topic of racism, given our history with it, our responses should not be silence and a wilful attempt to mislead the public, particularly when your job entails providing information to said public.

We are a divided society. This divide is one that moves between a forced closing in the face of appeals for harmony and an almost instinctive widening caused by one careless comment. We have grown up in a system that perpetuates divisiveness through miseducation and repetition of the ideals related to that miseducation. We are taught to accept things as they are and not question the inherent racism within society.

It is always something placed on the back burner because, ‘we have more serious issues at hand.’
What is the solution to combating racism and how do we make time outside of the ‘serious issues’ for it? So far, our most popular form is that of ‘naming and shaming’ the perpetrators of real or imagined blunders. While this is good in of itself, too often, this approach fails to take into consideration underlying issues that contribute to the racism.

We lack effective solutions to tackle it because even beginning a dialogue can see someone branded as a racist and no one wants that. Reactionary approaches fail for a reason. The reason for their failings is in their very name. It is a reaction to something. It is not sustained and it is not looked at thoroughly.

Toxic environment
Social, political and economic conditions have helped to foster a toxic environment in Guyana. It has created a divide yes, but a divide that is silent and insidious. We all have our implicit biases that we must learn to overcome. These biases make themselves known in the friends we choose, our hiring practices and even in our jokes. Our behaviour when it comes to race and race relations is difficult, because often we don’t even know how much unlearning we have to do.

Many things have become acceptable due to their normalisation. Albeit being unfortunate, it is not surprising that our usage of derogatory terms as they relate to race is something that is common in our lexicon. It is made even worse when we have the leaders and those in the vicinity of power make usage of racist terms that have caused pain to that marginalised group.

Celebration of culture
The word ‘coolie,’ is one that has been used so much, it has become normalised. Not many find issue with it. I have heard many casual conversations reference it and no offence was taken. It is true that over the years, the word has become destigmatised, with many even embracing it. For some it is seen as both a celebration of culture and an acknowledgement of their history.

As it relates to the leaked screenshots, for those who would say we use the term all the time, in this case it was more about context than anything else. It was pointed out that even if the word, “Indian,” had been substituted for the word “coolie,” it would still be reprehensible because of the context in which it was used.

One thing we need to stop doing however, is examining the world in black and white. It is a tempting thing to do; what it leads to is a limited vision in how we handle things. If someone falls short of our expectations, we should not be quick to throw them aside, unless of course their actions are reprehensible.

Dharamlall is shameless in his hypocrisy by asking for the firing of Garrett when he himself goes on an almost daily tirade of racist rhetoric and behaviour and encourages that amongst his support base. I am no fan of Garrett. In fact, I find her intolerable and lacking in several crucial areas. However, she is competent in the work she does and as it stands now, she needs to make a public apology and let us try to heal wounds and move off from this.

In our efforts to dismantle racism and the system that upholds and perpetuates it, we need to ask both ourselves and those around us some very serious questions. It is only through the addressal and constant addressal of race can we begin to see some semblance of unity sprout up about us, because the more we examine ourselves, the more we might find our own discriminatory words and practices.