OVER the past week, I have been thinking a lot more about my role as an individual and as a young Indo-Guyanese in the dynamics of race relations in Guyana, prompted by the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not sure what exactly is the right way to use my voice and my platform to help further the cause, but right now I think that it is important for me to be honest with myself and with the experiences I have been part of.

#BlackLivesMatter is a movement and a conversation happening across the world that began in 2013 when police officer George Zimmerman was acquitted of fatally shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The movement has gained momentum over the years and came to a peak within the last few weeks, after the murder of a black man George Perry Floyd. Once again, this senseless killing has placed a spotlight on a myriad of issues facing the black community in the US. It is an undeniable fact that black lives have been treated time and time again as though they do not matter. They’re faced with disgusting prejudices and stereotypes, that lead to experiences I can only imagine. And that makes me so, so angry.

More than that, my friend and sociologist Derwayne Wills has shown me that this movement allows for a “transnational space for global-south solidarity and resistance against imperialism” as well. The imperialism that has led to the cultivation and perpetuation of the same entrenched systems of oppression, which exist in the US and which, fundamentally, have led to Floyd’s death, in our Guyana.

I am not blissfully unaware that the experiences of Afro-Guyanese are very different from mine. They have their own experiences of stereotypes and prejudices and this is coupled with the entrenched socio-cultural hegemony they have to contend with. I have read and learnt about these, but more than that, admittedly, I have grown up experiencing countless occasions where my family members and persons from my cultural background have exhibited their racism in both covert and overt ways.

Those same family members have often made the argument that ‘black people do the same to (Indian) people’ (that is they have their stereotypes and prejudices against Indo-Guyanese) and that has been a huge part of their reasoning to continue perpetuating their prejudices and stereotypes against Afro-Guyanese. The division in Guyana’s political system, driven by the ethnic and resource-driven conflicts, has only served to exacerbate their sentiments towards Afro-Guyanese.

I remember after the last Regional and General Elections, when the APNU+AFC coalition had won the elections, I attended a Sunday morning Satsang at my mandir. Normally, after the prayers and the havan (offerings to the fire) is completed, the pandit or a respected elder in the mandir would usually tell some anecdote in an attempt to teach some moral or value, based on the Hindu scriptures. I don’t remember what anecdote was told that day, but I do remember that a respected woman in the community speaking about the elections and spoke about how the PPP/C lost the elections because “(Indian) people living in (Indian) people areas” did not come out to vote, and let the “black people come out in their numbers.” As I mentioned, Guyana is a place characterised by ethnic and resource-driven conflicts upon which the current political system thrives. And essentially, many Indo-Guyanese felt threatened that Afro-Guyanese would now be in possession and have control over the country’s resources because of the party in power. That is part of the conundrum in Guyana, and here I was in my mandir, a space where persons come to engage in devotion and spirituality, listening to the disdain for Afro-Guyanese. You see the problem here, right?

At the core of this tension between Indo and Afro-Guyanese, for me, are the legacies of the plantation systems and imperialism. Our history has shaped the society we live in today, and unfortunately, part of that includes biases in our cultural groups.

It is not my role to use my voice or any of my platforms to trivialise the experiences of Afro-Guyanese, or any #BlackLives for that matter. In the context of race relations in Guyana, I believe that we need to be honest and open about our experiences with race and racism so that we can finally learn to heal from the conflicts that have long since permeated our country and stagnated our collective growth. And supporting the wider #BlackLivesMatter movement, confronting and seeking to dismantle the inequalities black people face does not mean I care any less about my Indo-Guyanese background or any other group. Rather, it means that I understand that people’s rights are being infringed upon and that should not be. I choose to oppose an oppressive, capitalist system replete with cultural and narrative hegemony.

So yeah, I’m Vishani and I firmly say #BlackLivesMatter