Dear Editor,
DESCENDANTS of slaves in Guyana do not celebrate African arrival day. Why? Slavery was an abomination everywhere. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to celebrate. So why do Indians in Guyana find it appropriate to “celebrate” Indian Arrival Day? How do we celebrate bondage, enslavement, and subjugation when we know of the violence associated with this trade?

Proponents of this so-called celebration provide many reasons to justify their ill- conceived and misdirected efforts. Unfortunately, those people are merely observe-ing the legacy of the indentured servants. Celebrating “Indians arriving on a boat….” sends disturbing images to one’s mind, especially if one has had some familiarity with the literature and documentation of the British Parliament of that time.

Based on the recorded documents from the Parliament, nothing about these people’s “arrival” should be celebrated! The documents are available for review, please see if you could find reasons for celebration after reading the chronicled complaints presented by parliamentarians for investigation. Rather, Guyana finds a reason to “celebrate” everything. Go, please see all the activities, at cultural centres and elsewhere around the country demonstrate one thing. It shows a legacy of indentured servants. And I agree, the accomplishments of the Indian people in Guyana following the end of bondage should be commended and recognised. But that recognition must not be confused with “celebrating the arrival of the Indians.”

Clearly, the brilliant minds of Guyana made a mistake in naming the event, “Indian Arrival Day.” Read the books, read David Dabydeen’s “Coolie Odyssey,” “coolie woman,” read the transcripts of investigations and the narratives of former Guyanese slaves who observed how Indians were mistreated. Note the slaves who formally complained and whose complaints triggered a formal investigation of the British East India Company. Some of you will be familiar with that organisation as the actual entity that dealt in the slave/indentured trade.

Again, if you did have some familiarity with “Indians arriving,” you will immediately conjure up an image of malnourished, sickly looking Indians disembarking ships, dirty, bewildered, crying women and children, new-born babies being breastfed.

That is the image of Indians arriving. Emaciated men terrified, petrified of British policemen on the wharf barking orders to match estate owners with new labour.

Now tell me, have you seen any movie, any play at the cultural centre depicting those images of Indians arriving? Probably not.

So why are Indians “celebrating” Indian Arrival Day? Did the collective minds misunderstand the meaning of “celebration”? Examine these events across the country and you will not find anything remotely resembling what indentured servants endured. If you find re-enactments of White massa beating and raping the women, please let me know. I want to thank the producer of that show.

Indians who arrived were illiterate and were exploited because of that. The British East India Company knew our foreparents could not read, yet forced them to agree to a contract upon disembarking those ships and placing them in bondage.

To one and all, whoever were instrumental in the development and celebration or participation, you are minimising the magnitude of destruction sanctioned by the British. As you celebrate, reflect on the reasons why Indians cannot speak Hindi. Reflect on those Muslims too who lost their culture, practices and language.

In the end, perhaps you too should call for a change in the name of the celebration or whatever they call it.

Yours sincerely,
Gopaul S. Rampersaud
Chapel Hill NC