Dear Editor,
My name is Trevor Norton. The William Norton referenced in the article `Rupununi uprising hostage remembers the siege’, 2008/10/12 is my father. I was seven years old at the time of the Rupununi Uprising. To date, Mr. Sagar’s account is the most comprehensive eyewitness retelling of this event that I have come across. While it would be entirely in my rights to speculate as to the motives behind his decidedly belated outpouring, I’d rather focus on expressing my genuine appreciation for his addition to the historical record.
Throughout my teenage years and early adulthood, I struggled to make sense of, what seemed to me, a sad and preventable misfortune. It is appropriate for others to opine on the political raison d’etre of the Uprising, but I continue to view it for what it is to me, a painful, personal tragedy. Accordingly, I have been culling the comments from the SN website on the article for those that are sympathetic to my family’s loss, and those that have expressed interest in our whereabouts and wellbeing. As my teenaged niece, Cherish has offered above, my mother is aging, but well, thank God, and my siblings and I have all moved on to live successful lives in our own spheres. The next generation of Nortons is ten strong, ranging from seven to nineteen years old. God has been good and we are grateful.
Momo, Big D, and any others who claim knowledge of, or have expressed interest in my family, feel free to contact me at trevornorton@ yahoo.com. I am curious to know your true identities. As for the gentleman who speculated that some of the killers were avenging police brutality, I would welcome your sharing any objectively verifiable facts in support of your argument. In the absence of such, you would be well-advised to stop slandering the memory of people you did not know. The image of a man using the privileges of his uniform to abuse those whom he was sworn to protect does not square with the William Egbert Norton I knew.
Joe Biden recently quoted Shakespeare at the US Vice-presidential debate; “What is past is prologue.” That quote seems uniquely apt to this discussion.
No doubt Guyana has changed in the twenty-seven years since I’ve last accurately referred to it as home, but there can also be no doubt that Guyanese of all stripes are still well-guided by the truism that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
Yours faithfully
Trevor Norton
(Comment taken from Stabroek News website)
