LOCAL events that took place this past week are yet another stark reminder of why we need to continue interrogating our learned anti-blackness and how we interact with race in our system of oppression.

Let me say that there isn’t any logic that can be used to justify stupid, disgusting and racist remarks against an entire race of people, no matter how humorous it was intended to be. There just isn’t. And as much as I want to understand the genesis of any logic that seeks to perpetuate or justify remarks like these, there is just some level of ignorance I cannot comprehend.

Over the past week, the Guyana Students’ Association in Trinidad and Tobago (GuySATT) partnered with our sister associations in Barbados and Jamaica to host a two-day discussion on ‘Interrogating Anti-Blackness and Race.’ Amidst this sickening situation, I thought it would be apt to share some of what I have learned over the past week.

A key component in navigating anti-blackness in our contemporary context is to understand the interplay between power and oppression. Oppression is a tool of those who have the power to set and control the narrative, and power is what leads to the perpetuation of oppression.

That having been established, the issue here is not just ‘black and white’ (pun intended). I believe that our oppression has been so entrenched, that we can no longer see it. Its effects, however, are still very real and felt every day. My friend Derwayne Wills explained, in GuySATT’s forum, that oppression has four manifestations: the first manifestation is ideological, and that is where you can attribute the genesis and perpetuation of racism and patriarchy.

Beyond that ideological manifestation, there is also the institutional manifestation, where oppression is blatantly and not so blatantly enshrined in the laws, policies, and governmental programmes. And our interactions with oppression are rooted in the systems created by the white expansionists and colonisers who used the political and economic power to perpetuate their anti-black sentiments into laws and policies of oppression. Anti-blackness is an ideology of their own, enforced through the institutions they created.

This eventually leads to interpersonal and individual manifestations of oppression. To exist in this anti-black system created, it seems logical to distance yourself from the ‘blackness.’ In Guyana’s case, I think about how other persons of colour have learned the interpersonal manifestation of oppression; how these persons are similarly anti-black, simply because that is what the power structure dictates. The biases, the prejudices, the stereotypes, have all been perpetuated due to this. And on the individual front, this means accepting and normalising the oppression.

For me, discussions such as these are important so that students, just like myself, could garner an understanding of the occurrences that surround us, the historical contexts that underpin these occurrences, and even our interface with those occurrences. Only then could we discern that the issues around us are not ‘black and white’ (pun intended).

In my last two columns, I have written about my own learned biases and prejudices, and how I need to be aware of those (and where they stem from) to move beyond them. I have realised that while I can be open to unlearning these manifestations and symptoms of oppression, there are many, within and tangential to my circles, who cannot do so as easily as I can. Or who, for some reason or the other, will not try.

On the second day of our discussion, coincidentally, it was the death anniversary of renowned Guyanese intellectual Dr. Walter Rodney. On that day, we delved into talking about whether racial unity in Guyana is an illusion, representation, and confronting the narrative hegemony and how gender and intersectionality factors into the discourse on race. Later that night, the UWI’s Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles organised a forum which was replete with so many renowned Caribbean scholars who spoke highly of Dr. Rodney and his work.

Rodney questioned whether the ‘clashes’ between Afro and Indo-Guyanese were always racial in nature, or whether they were more of “…an inter-class conflict rooted in the inequalities of the socio-economic structure.” He thought about how anti-blackness is rooted in white supremacy. He thought about how Indo and Afro-Guyanese could work together to subvert these entrenched systems of inequality, since they do not serve in the best interests of either.

There are so many other things to learn from the life and work of Dr. Rodney. And it is truly confusing to see how so many persons across the Caribbean and in parts of North America and Africa hold him in such high regard, while in Guyana knowledge of his work and life is sparsely known.

Guyana continues to be characterised by these racial divisions. There is no better example than the recent vile sentiments of a well-known civilian with an internet platform that he uses to parade as a reporter. But maybe understanding the oppressive system we’ve been part of for too long will help others to be less ignorant. Maybe we need to continue talking, and listening and learning– as individuals and as groups. Maybe then, something will change.

If you would like to connect with me to discuss this column or any of my previous work, feel free to email me at vish14ragobeer@gmail.com