It is now ten days since the murderous events that took the lives of five children, three women and three men, all Indian, in Lusignan. There has been an outpouring of sorrow and outrage in the media, over the internet and on the streets. Sadly, not even an event as horrific as this one has prevented some of us from taking sides. This week’s column is for Lusignan and for the numerous Guyanese who have stayed true to their first instinct to grieve with the village. It is also a response to the thoughtless, irresponsible and speculative statements that have been made by one side or the other, statements which will neither mourn nor heal.
Speaking at an art exhibition in Georgetown to mark the 25th anniversary of Walter Rodney’s assassination, Barbadian novelist George Lamming reflected on the life’s work of Eusi Kwayana: ‘One of the richest legacies he left for me was the example of his courtesy. Kwayana always met all his encounters with an unfailing courtesy. It is a virtue that is worth cultivating because it is a spiritual shield, courtesy, how to be courteous, whatever the status, whoever the person, whatever the nature of the situation. Courtesy should never be suspended, because it is the most reliable protection against the virus, the terrible virus of intolerance.’
The Oxford English Dictionary defines courtesy as ‘polite speech or action, especially one required by convention’. This is one of those cases where the dictionary got it utterly wrong. Lamming was most certainly not describing actions or language that hold up the status quo, one that in Guyana is increasingly and dangerously racially polarized. He was referring instead to the transformative power of gestures that challenge the status quo by crossing the divides that separate us.
Lamming’s interpretation of courtesy as a radical act came to mind when I read Eusi Kwayana’s letter to the Stabroek News (January 30th) in which he expressed shock and incomprehension at the killings. His first seven words said it all: ‘Born in Lusignan and grown in Buxton
