Dear Editor,
I HAVE noticed that my friends — and I mean my friends in the PPP — are once again playing the race card.

This is not new; it has been the bane of our people, if not the curse of Guyana.
At this time, after all the stress this country has been through, one would have thought that a responsible party leadership would allow us to exhale and breathe a breath of clean, fresh, race-free air, supporting a clean, green Guyana. Back in the mid-50s, I recall the August 1957 elections, the PPP relied entirely on appealing to race with the popular ‘anthem’ or slogan, ‘Apan Jaat.’

I remember the Central Demerara Constituency contest, Elections of August 12, 1957: Sydney King (6,285 votes) was by far the most popular figure in all the villages, but lost to a newcomer, the PPP-sponsored, Balram Singh Rai (7,125 votes), purely on the basis of racial voting.

The PPP has always sadly relied on race to secure an advantage in electoral matters.
We have had several commissions mounted in response to the demand for ethnic balance in areas where the PPP felt they needed to have the upper hand, ignoring our known history. One time it was the composition of the Public Service, another time it was the police force, the military and now, GECOM.

Guyana’s history– if understood– is simple and instructive.
Very briefly, after the end of slavery, the British in an effort to reduce the bargaining power of the manumitted Africans on the plantations, imported labour from Madeira, England, China and India. They also flooded many of the African communities to frustrate their pursuit of farming and business. In the meantime, efforts were made to persuade the indentured labourers to pursue education and christianity.
The freed Africans who were cruelly and completely severed from their ancestral roots in West Africa, took to education and christianity.

This simple analysis explains Guyana in the early part and much of the 20th century.
The freed Africans became teachers, nurses, public servants and joined the security services; others moved to the dangerous interior to mind gold and diamonds.
The majority of Indo-Guyanese wisely concentrated on cultivation of economic crops and business entrepreneurship.

When the PPP therefore appealed to the international community, complaining about imbalances in the public sector, police force, etc., some of us had to remind those beating the race drum, that they could not be selective in their demand for ethnic balance.
We contended that if the advocates for ethnic balance in an enlightened society were serious, then let us have the mathematical balance in employment; in public and private enterprises; the allocation of industrial and agricultural lands; and indeed, all spheres of national life.

Today as I write, NCN, the state-controlled radio station, broadcasts about ninety (90%) per cent Indian music and programmes and less than ten (10%) per cent of African music and programmes.

But my friends in the PPP are blind to these things. I write as a Guyanese, who has lived through and shared the trauma of racial strife in this country; and I hope and pray every day that we will march gallantly and gracefully to make a reality of our Motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny,’; and that when we speak to Sue Ping, Samuels, and Singh, that we treat with those persons, not on the basis of their colour, but on the content of their character.

Dear Editor, forgive me, but my life experience, disallows me racism.
I am proud to be a descendant of an African who was forced to adopt English names and mannerisms, but cannot ignore the fact that my mother hails from the Wismar/Christianburg community, with Amerindian blood surging through her veins.
Some of my best and most trusted friends from school days are the Chinese, Portuguese, East Indian and not to forget what I suspect is now in truth a majority, those who are mixed.

My first wife was mixed: Caucasian, Amerindian and African; my present wife, is a delicious mixture: her maternal grandfather was a Caucasian who came here from Barbados. Her father is heavily Indian with a sprinkling of Scottish and African blood. I have grandsons who are pure blue-blooded Caucasian British.

I grew up in a yard shared by a delightful Portuguese family and two of my most trusted compatriots, were Indian and Portuguese; their children fondly call me “Uncle Hammy or Uncle Dennis.”

Today, many of my acquaintances are Indo-Guyanese and other non-African persons.
This brief letter is to appeal to my friends in the PPP to stop this musical symphony based on race.

It is so nonsensical. Former President Ramotar once told me he was not pure Indian.
What of my friend Clement Rohee?

On the government’s side, find me anyone who has pure Indian, African, Chinese, Portuguese or Amerindian blood?

Today, let us celebrate our rich heritage and end this sherad [sic].
God bless the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and let us celebrate by singing and doing what is contained in one of our national songs, ‘Let us Co-operate for Guyana ’ words and music written by a mixed Guyanese, William .R. A (Billy) Pilgrim.

May I make this caveat: I bet you some of those at GECOM described as Afro-Guyanese, are parents and grandparents of other ethnic groups.

But thanks to the cosmetic business, how can you know who is really Indo, Chino, Porto, Afro or Amerindian?

The truth is, all awe are one family.

Regards
Hamilton Green