GUYANA, described as the land of many waters, is also the home of the country’s six races, thus making it a unique multi-racial society, because of its many strands of cultural diversities that have given the nation its rich tapestry as a people.

It must be reminded, and be re-emphasised, that five of these races came under two categories of circumstances: Africans, who were transported here in the very first instance as slaves, which means that they came under involuntary circumstances from their homelands to a geographic part of the world, unknown to them. The other four, namely East Indians, Europeans, Portuguese, and Chinese came to this land via a system of Indentureship, which was a negotiated and agreed-upon contractual arrangement, which did not amount to them being chattel slaves, and giving their labour under such brutalities.
This means that all of the above would have met the Amerindians as the First Peoples already inhabiting Guyana. This underlines the fact that the five races were strangers in a land from which they did not originate, although it can be strongly contended that because of the length of time that Africans were brought to this part of the world, and the brutal, bloody, dehumanised, and thankless labour which they gave to the land, that they can rightly lay claim to having indigenized the Land.

It has been a journey, with an experience that has resulted in the sad realisation of racism and ethnic challenges as our bugbear – proven to be the stumbling block for unity and prosperity – in a nation filled with talent and natural resources.

Further, characterised by a period of social strife in the pre-independence years of the 1960s, and intermittent phases of tension, particularly on occasions of the exercise of the national will. These have been examples of how complex it is to co-exist in a multi-racial society, especially when it is divided by race, and not helped by seekers of political power, whose constant resort to the divisiveness of race, runs counter to efforts of fostering one people.

However, despite the tensions and fears, we have remained distinctly Guyanese, as is best manifested by the numerous examples of inter-racial communities with their unique human products, coupled with the many life-long friendships between so many members of, particularly, the two largest race groups. Therefore, the report in the Guyana Chronicle of August 02, “De Willem promoter home invaded” has to be disturbing in its content of an incident that is first, patently racist, and extremely dangerous for its demeaning sentiment, implicit of a very serious physical threat.

It is quite clear as to the insular and ignorant mindset of the author(s) of such racially crude messages, scrawled on the walls of the apartment of the occupant of that West Coast Demerara village, in addition to the lacing of a pot of food with what resembles a poisonous substance. The victim of this overt act of hate/racism, only “sin” is that he had chosen to reside in a village that does not reflect a majority of residents of his particular race. But it cannot be a sin, or a wrong, or an infringement of any known written national law, that prohibits, or causes to be prohibited, or prevents any Guyanese of a particular race or colour, from residing in any community of his/her choice, even one that does not have a significant representation, or majority of his/her particular race group.

And if it is an unwritten law that resides in the socio-ethnic understanding of any such community in Guyana, it is not supported by any known written law of Guyana, and is therefore illegal, and must therefore unequivocally be condemned by all peace-loving and harmony-minded Guyanese.

It is abominable, hitherto shameful, that such a dark pattern of anti-national behaviour could still be enacted in any region of Guyana, especially one that had experienced its fair share of communal incidents of the early 1960s that resulted in citizens of a particular ethnic group being forcibly made to leave certain locales where they had lived all their lives.

It is a sad commentary too, that such an incident has not as yet been condemned by the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). But notwithstanding such, it must be repeated as a national reminder that Guyana as a sovereign nation is one and indivisible, that is home to its six races, and will always be; where they all are free to choose the region and community therein as their place of residence of choice, free from any form of discrimination, and racial harassment. This is the Guyana that must be for all peace-loving Guyanese.

We hope that the authorities will investigate the threats uttered to the occupant, and ensure his protection, while also bringing the perpetrator(s) to the courts. As a nation desperately seeking to haul itself back from the precipice of racism, such an incident must not be allowed to replicate itself in any other community.

Unfortunately, such an incident is a reminder to those whose past tenure of governance has served to institutionalise the practice of racism, and who have continued to promulgate such dangerous stanzas for selfish ends, that such an act is a result of their dangerous brand of nationalism that they have continued to foster and support.

We the Guyanese people need to be reminded that, it is out of this gathering of six peoples, brought here from their individual former spiritual homes; residing in proximity to the other, in coastal villages from the 1830s, through colonialism, when we were known as British Guiana, to independence, that have come to forge what has since been known and recognised as the Guyanese nation. Finally, it is incumbent upon us as a nation to begin with the urgency of working together for a better understanding of all our peoples, for a land of unity, and one free from fear.