EVERY few months or so, there comes along something on the Guyanese Facebook space that causes public outrage for a few days. Sometimes it’s a horrific act of physical violence that exposes the worst of us. Other times, like the most recent occurrence, it’s something that reminds us that we have much more work to interrogate the racialised relations within our multiethnic society.

Recently, a local artist publicised a painting he did of the First Family. At first glance, it seemed as though the painting portrayed racial stereotypes of an Afro-Guyanese woman and an Afro-Guyanese child. There was a noticeable absence of a father figure, a very common stereotype of Afro-Guyanese families. And to me, personally, the painting seemed to give an air of dominance to the First Family,

Subsequently, it was made known that the artist drew inspiration from real photographs. By that time, however, the painting had already been widely ridiculed and “cancelled.” The artist apologised, but noted that it was not his intention to misrepresent Afro-Guyanese in this manner.

I don’t know what was the intention of the artist, but I know that the racial stereotypes, at the very least, were quite evident in the painting. It was most certainly interpreted as a racist depiction. And even with the best of intentions, the artist has to take responsibility for his art.

What was troubling was the emergence of the defensive lot, who not only sought to justify the painting but sought to discount the very real feelings of persons who were offended by the painting. For me, if we can’t see what is amiss with a problematic depiction that does not reflect careful consideration of our multiracial society, and those harmful stereotypes that have plagued groups of our society, then, what does that say about us as individuals?

Here again manifests the need for meaningful and sustainable dialogue on our race relations. How do we live in a multiracial and multiethnic society and we cannot begin to identify harmful, problematic, and plain wrong depictions of a group of people? Why do we continue to invalidate the feelings of people who are rightfully offended? It’s not rocket science that we need to find ways of encouraging us to interrogate those learned and normalised sentiments. And we can do that through meaningful dialogue that allows us to speak and listen and empathise and try to be better.

While those conversations took place in the virtual space, I continued having dialogue sessions in my community on race relations. Though our underpinning aim has been to interrogate our racialised relations, this past week we all tried to navigate our personal experiences of being discriminated against, whether in a racial context, due to gender or otherwise.

During our dialogue, we sat and we listened to each other. One friend shared about discrimination in the workplace and how he believed that he did not receive a promotion because of his race. We tried to offer whatever support we could to the friend sharing his unpleasant personal experience.

I don’t know if other factors led to him not receiving that promotion, but at that moment, the entire group accepted that he had a disheartening experience. We didn’t try to tell him how to feel or try to justify the actions of his employer, because we simply don’t know.

Similarly, in trying to understand the painting and the varying reactions towards it, I feel as though the situation demanded that we respect people’s feelings. The fact remains that the artist created something that featured these harmful stereotypes, nevertheless, and people were saddened, angered, and/or offended by it. Even if he had the best intentions, this is an unshakeable fact.

Beyond merely respecting that people’s feelings are valid, we ought to continue with our efforts to educate each other on the nuances of our racialised relations and the learned biases, prejudices, and stereotypes that we have (and might not even realise that we have until we create a painting portraying them). We have to continue the conversations and remain resolute in our attempts to interrogate our shortcomings

Most of all, we must be willing to listen and respect each other’s feelings, instead of invalidating those feelings and the lived experiences that might have contributed to those feelings.

If we don’t undertake meaningful and sustainable action geared at interrogating racial dynamics in Guyana, we will continue to dance around slogans that emphasise the ‘oneness’ articulated in our National Motto and rub powder on each other on Phagwah, thinking that we are blissfully colour blind people. And it will continue this way until the next ‘out-of-pocket’ post, comment, or painting.

If you would like to discuss this column or any of my previous writings, please feel free to contact me via email: vish14ragobeer@gmail.com