IN my Thursday, June 13, 2024 article headlined, “WPA and Walter Rodney: An insoluble mystery,” I wrote the following words: “Strangely, from 1980 to 2022, the Rodney family has been absolutely silent about anything at all to do with Guyana. Then in 2022, the family asked the Guyana Government not to proceed with the visit of then President of Brazil, Mr. Bolsonaro, because Brazil discriminates against Black Brazilians. Some 42 years of silence was broken only to speak about Black people.”

From June 14, when that article was published, I received a number of emails and telephone calls about the statement. There are four aspects to the enquiry – did the family actually make that communication to the government; where and when the family said so because I can be mistaken; disappointment in the Rodney family choosing to stay silent for four decades; and I was disingenuous when I wrote about the statement because I deliberately left out the context.
I will start with the first aspect. Yes the family did write to the Guyana Government. The Rodney family (the mother and son) added their names to a list of signatures in a letter published by the Stabroek News of January 21, 2022 calling for the cancellation of the visit to Guyana of then President Bolsonaro of Brazil because of discrimination against Afro-Brazilians.
I now look at the fourth dimension – that I was dishonest in not mentioning context. If Johnny added his name to a document of 25 signatures accusing a named bank manager of theft, it still makes him in his own capacity liable to libel. If the bank manager sues, Johnny will be a defendant. Johnny made the accusation even though he was part of a wider forum.

If you were part of a group that wrote a letter asking the government to close down the Bank of Guyana, then group or no group, you want the bank to be closed. I did not see it necessary to state that the Rodney family made the call as part of a wider association. I agree that I could have stated the context but that would only have been for reader’s interest. The point I think readers would have been interested in is the statement itself.

I have covered three aspects of the communication I received about the statement from Mrs. Rodney and her son Shaka. I will now elaborate on the questions I was asked by five enquirers – why after 40 years, the break in silence by the Rodney family? I believe I have an obligation to answer.
Let me be loudly unambiguous – I am not against the family of Walter Rodney expressing rejection that a head of government of another country should not be accepted on a state visit to Guyana because the country he comes from practices discrimination against African people.
When I saw the Rodney family’s signature I was shocked and from that day in January 2022, I lost respect for Mrs. Rodney and her son Shaka. If they open their mouths or put pen to paper to write anything negative about the Government of Guyana, I will respond with strong tones.
From June 1980 to the end of 2021, the children and wife of Dr. Walter Rodney have never uttered one word about anything in Guyana except for the justified call for a commission of inquiry into Walter Rodney’s death. That is 41 years of reticence. From 1980, there have been tragic occurrences in this land that necessitated the voice or pen of the Rodney family.

Mrs. Rodney shared a close friendship with Andaiye who passed away in 2019. During the violent period (2002-2005), when there were racist criminals who killed Indian people indiscriminately and claimed they were African freedom fighters, Andaiye published a letter in the newspapers loudly proclaiming; “not in my name.”
She noted that she was African and she did not want racist criminals killing Indian people, and saying that they were doing it for African Guyanese.
Here is a brief list of political disasters that occurred from 1985 and the Rodney family members were invisible and inaudible. The disgraceful 1985 election rigging; the violent attempt to derail the 1992 election results through looting and arson; post 1997 election mayhem; 2002-2005 anti-Indian killings done by gunmen operating from Buxton; five months of attack on the electoral process in 2020 for which people like the Rodney family should have at least mustered the courage to condemn in the name of Walter Rodney; post-election violence in September 2020 in Region Five in which, once again, Indian people were brutalised and their properties attacked. From 1980 to 2021, the Rodney family said not a word on Guyana only in 2022 to tell us about what Bolsonaro is doing to people of African descent in Brazil.