Dear Editor,
President Obama recently took it upon himself to apologise to world leaders for past US misdeeds (to put it mildly). These apologies were made in France (in the aftermath of the G20 Summit) as well as Trinidad and Tobago during the recent Summit of the Americas.
Much has been made of these apologies in various sections of the US press and though most Americans have agreed with President Obama, understandably some have also been critical. I think that the following two points are relevant to any discussion of President Obama’s decision to apologise:
First of all, since when has it become unpopular for African-Americans (as President Obama is) to be humble and even deferential to people of other races? Historically as an African-American, you were expected to be humble and ‘know your place,’ especially when dealing with whites. (Ask Jesse Jackson who was frequently accused of being arrogant in his bid for the presidency). You are trained to be that way and punished when you deviate. (Ask the millions of unemployed African-American youths; those in the military where they can be straightened out; and those in prison). But now that we have an African-American president, humility and being apologetic becomes a problem for some white people (not most) because the African-American president is representing all of the United States on the world stage.
Well, get real America; the successful African-American has been trained to be humble and apologetic, so you can’t have one rule for over here and another for ‘over there.’ Although, I have to add that in apologising for the behaviour of presidents that went before him, President Obama is still a man of considerable dignity and commands great respect wherever he goes.
Secondly, by apologising maybe President Obama is helping to prevent a major economic catastrophe from befalling the US as had occurred with other empires of the past.
Maybe, if there were leaders who were willing to apologise for Rome and the British, these two earlier empires would not have fallen as precipitously as they did.
President Obama seems to be re-engaging the world in new and different ways and is making it clear that the days of bullying other countries are indeed over. He is communicating more effectively and showing a more human side of the United States.
To most Americans, that is what they want their president to do at this point in time. In spite of the critics, Mr Obama’s approval rating has continued to soar among all ethnic groups.
I would go as far as to say, that this is the kind of leadership that our politicians in Guyana need to emulate.
Leaders of the two major political parties in Guyana could certainly give some thought to the idea of apologising for past mistakes, if they are of the opinion that it will begin a healing process and lead to a new relationship of trust and fair-mindedness between the Guyanese people and their political representatives.
Yours faithfully,
Rudy Vyfhuis