DAVID Hinds’ eyes pass every Guyanese of African Descent or ancestry. He is disrespectful to the maximum level. He has not changed his extreme behaviour and political discourse; he is guilty of hiding behind the thin veil of so-called intelligence and hyper-masculinity when he really is a dullard, racist, and pathetic excuse of a man who, in turn, cannot express himself and his emotions with class and integrity.

This, of course, forces and compels the political leader to seek to denigrate and bring down black men and women in today’s society for using their brains and reasoning abilities to make informed decisions about their future, taking into consideration their past experiences, both lived and told to them.

So, he seeks to label them as “lick bottoms”, “sellouts”, and “house slaves” because they dare to vote differently than the other black men and women who vote for the opposition parties, which, he thinks, supports black empowerment, black superiority, black governance and blackness even if it means his version of shared governance and national unity.

Hinds is confused by this bold and brazen attempt by these brothers and sisters of African Descent, and is showing signs of mental decline and frustration because he feels he owns their minds and they are his property to control like the slave owners and masters of the decades-old slavery story.

He is likely to show more signs of desperation this year, as Hinds and other opposition politicians lose major political grounds as the election draws closer.
Firstly, no one can tell any right-thinking Guyanese that Hinds is not a political miscreant, and should not be trusted with power, authority, and control.

Let’s be clear, Hinds’ commentary made on the social media platforms to the world exposes his innermost thinking about African Guyanese who chose to vote differently from their own. It shows the fact that he does not respect the choice that they are making freely for whatever reason. He then labels them and treats them with scorn as opposed to looking into their choices with a view of establishing causation, and seeking to remedy the situation or problems, if he could.

It’s disappointing, to say the least, and hurtful that Hinds spoke in this way of black Guyanese who he seeks to lead; it is offensive and dangerous to make a comment about African people or Guyanese in that way. It is racist, even if it was not intended to be taken that way.

Hinds must face the legal consequences of his utterances, whatever they may be. He is a shame and embarrassment to academia, and the body politics locally because he dabbled in racist, divisive and inflammatory politics.

African Guyanese must never forget the words uttered by Hinds, and all those men and women, particularly of African Descent, who stood silent and are now seeking to explain it away, and want to unjustly shield Hinds from the public’s outrage.

They will remember the insults hurdled at them for choosing their choice to lead the country at the ballot boxes. They will make sure Hinds remains in opposition and is never elected to any office in this country that is comprised of citizens of proud African ancestry who laboured and toiled for them to be able to exercise their franchises how they see fit and freely.

Hinds does not own any one race or people in this country. As a matter of fact, he does not own Black or African Guyanese much less Buxtonians. He can’t control their thought process or impact their lives either positively or negatively. He is a minus rather than a plus to the people. What has Hinds done for people of African Descent here as opposed to cause them harm, and create division and racial strife? How much money or resources flowed from Hinds pockets directly into the empowerment movement in Guyana? How has this politician made the lives of normal Guyanese easier and brighter?

What had he done through his emissaries in the parliament and Government of David Granger and the APNU+AFC from 2015 to 2019 August and 2011 to 2015? What do other not-so-extreme members of the opposition parties think of Hinds as a politician?

What does Aubrey Norton think about the chances of having a man like Hinds besides him, if he wins the presidency? And, what is a David Hinds and what is his claim to fame?
Secondly, Hinds should be afraid to label African Guyanese a “sellout” or “lick bottom” when he is licking the bottom of the People’s National Congress Reform and selling out his party daily to the highest bidder.

Hinds recently signed an agreement again with the PNC, the very same party that killed the WPA’s founder Walter Rodney. He may be guilty of selling out, which is why he is seeking to portray his “lick beetee” politics on a section of society.

After all, he has single-handedly redefined the WPA from a party of intellects and the highest form of leaders, integrity, honesty and justice to a party of followers, paper intellectuals, masked loyalty and rejects. There is no pride in calling oneself a WPA Member publicly, nor being part of Hinds’ racist and problematic politics. He has stolen the party, and seeks to lord it over its non-existent membership for personal gains and aggrandisement.

Hinds must not use the rhetoric he did because he is opening a can of worms not only for himself but for the other three members of the WPA. This is not the first time that Hinds has spoken controversially, but it seems to be always within the context of creating racial division and race hatred within a group or to another group.

Recall when he said at November 2021, “undermine the enablers of the government, the businesses; dem does come with big truckload… Dem from Black Bush, but dem come ah Plaisance Market fuh sell; dem ain’t from here”.

He further extended his call for “the enablers” of the government to be undermined, saying: “We cannot go to Mon Repos Market and buy black pudding.”
So, he and the WPA are not new to political controversy, and they flare up at every election period.

What Hinds should be focused on instead is rebuilding the WPA party and making it seem electable and trustworthy. The truth is, since the party chose to coalesce with the killers of Dr. Rodney, and even before that in the early 90s and 2000s, it has been seen as an extremely dangerous, violent, racist and divisive entity.

The goodly doctor should focus on rebranding the party and reshaping its image. He should focus on redefining its image and getting back to Walter Rodney’s groundings and principles, which would never see it working with Burnham’s party, once it has not changed.

He should seek to empower the African Guyanese voters, through non-violent and intellectual ways, about what they should be doing to get involved with politics as opposed to calling them names and belittling them for exercising their constitutional obligations freely. He should apologise, but he won’t.

He should focus on doing and saying things that are positive to the struggle and empowerment of African Guyanese in modern Guyana, which would be a plus for him, the PNCR, and thr WPA.
It is important to note that the public should not wait to hear condemnation about this from Vincent Alexander or his political unit, IPADAG. They are complicit, and are only awoken by the PPP/C and Bharrat Jagdeo if they were to mention something as crass and disingenuous as Hinds did.

Finally, African Guyanese are proud people who, each day, are capable of making decisions about their lives and future freely. They do not need Hinds or the WPA to tell them which way they should go; they are independent thinkers and real intellectuals that are leading and driving some of the industries that make Guyana great.

They don’t need another lecture, or a politician to guide their decisions about who to vote for; they know who to trust. They choose development, and they choose the forward movement of Guyana, and are wary of people like Hinds who want to belittle and stop them from making sound choices.

They know that preaching about blackness, black empowerment, and Africanism does not automatically make one a black or African leader of high esteem or intellect. Being African Guyanese in today’s society is much more complex than Hinds could ever begin to put his one-cell brain to understand.

For African Guyanese, the struggle begins with making a choice based on facts, track record, history, and commonsense, as opposed to dealing with emotion, race, and other subjective factors.
It’s taking pride in one’s race and turning every single challenge into a successful opportunity. Some African Guyanese may be on the path of successfully challenging the economic and social stereotypes that are still out there about the race that are haunting their collective existence and forward movement from slavery to true freedom and economic development. Guyana has no place for old racists like Hinds in modern society. There is no place for these puerile and racist remarks against some or all African Guyanese. Who wants to be like ‘David Hinds’? Nobody!

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.