The once-volatile village of Buxton has launched a series of activities spanning the next two weeks to mark the 170th anniversary of the purchase of the community amidst a call for residents to reclaim their dignity.
Buxton, formerly Planta-tion New Orange Nassau, was bought by 141 freed slaves in 1840.
Delivering the keynote address yesterday at the Friendship Primary School where the launch was held, Buxtonian and Professor of Political Science at the Arizona State University David Hinds said that act by their ancestors represented the real emancipation.
“When our foreparents pooled their resources together and bought this village and other villages in Guyana they were striking the real blow for freedom because that was the highest form of self activity and self emancipation,” Hinds stated.
He continued that their foreparents came out of slavery with dignity which was consolidated and saw the people through colonialism. But he added that there was a “sneaking suspicion that that dignity is under assault.”
Hinds urged the hundreds gathered at the school to use the next two weeks to address their dignity.
“We are part of a … multiracial society, but no other race will respect you if you do not respect yourself,” he declared to applause.
Hinds noted that the community had produced many persons of note including educators, national leaders and had led the country in other ways. He said it was a “burning shame” that Buxton has no secondary schools after having three when he was growing up. He added that education had always been the means to liberation and survival for Afro-Guyanese and if they lose that they lose themselves.
Hinds urged the Buxton-ians to use the next fortnight as a starting point to “agitate” for the return of a high school to the community and called on the powers that be to facilitate the process.
According to the political scientist, he was concerned that Buxton had seemingly become a beggar. “That’s not the Buxton I know. We demand things; and we demand not with arrogance, we demand with production.”
He called on teachers to donate time outside the schools to educate the community’s youth on self respect and dignity. Too many educators, he said had come out of the village, for them not to be able to give back.
Hinds noted that the community will be celebrating over the next two weeks but at the end of this they must start the serious work so that when they return next year they have something tangible to report on.
Also at yesterday’s event was the African Cultural and Development Association’s (ACDA) Eric Phillips who said Buxton was the “heart and soul of Guyana.
“The health of Guyana is the health of Buxton, so if Buxton fails Guyana fails. If Buxton is healthy Guyana is healthy,” he declared. He said that ACDA was with the community through its worse times and will continue to work with it.
Yesterday’s programme was packed with cultural activities, a brief history of the village featured greetings from overseas Buxtonians and recognition of workers, sponsors and overseas representatives.
The planned activities include church services and a day of sports today; guided village tours tomorrow; and health, art and craft fairs on Saturday and August 1.
