Dear Editor,
After 50 years of independence ‘race’ seems as much a divisive construct as it ever was. Whatever political currency race held has been lost, evident in the underdevelopment of our nation these many years later. It would be ‘madness’ to continue to use it for supposed success at the ballot and expect a different result from the one we have had up to this juncture of our history.
I identify as ‘African’ whenever a form is to be filled up that requires me to check a box indicating my race. However, I cannot escape the fact that in my lineage through my father I’ve inherited the blood of Amerindians; I cannot escape the fact that in my veins moves the blood of Portuguese and Chinese through the bloodline of my mother. Her grandfather, for instance, was Chinese, with the surname Cheong.
Because of my eclectic ethnic extraction, like the character Antoinette in that novel about identity, Wide Sargasso Sea, “I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all.” I am certain many Guyanese can identify with this. I have never felt threatened by another person’s race and I hope no one has felt threatened by mine. In my family my aunt is married to a Naraine, another to a Singh and my own sister, a Panday.
As a result there are members in my family who look nothing like me, yet in their beating hearts is the blood of African slaves. I would hazard a guess that this is the case for thousands of Guyanese. What then is the relevance of race? We are but Guyanese!
With regard to my family’s lineage going past blood and borders, I have relatives who were born in Antigua, Botswana in Southern Africa, England and other jurisdictions. Our beloved son, Jon-Pierre, was born in Trinidad & Tobago and our beautiful Ethan-Leigh saw the sunlight for the first time in the United States of America. Yet they are all Guyanese as well.
It is this little piece of real estate called Guyana, in a huge world, that gave us a beginning in this life and which we refer to as home. I am certain that this is so for thousands of Guyanese.
What then is race? And who is Black and who is Indian?
As a person and leader if I think about race then at the level of the city I will always be at odds with fellow Councillors Bishram Kuppen, Tamashwar Budhoo and others. But I embrace them as my brothers who from time to time I disagree with. Additionally, national and local government policies are expected to be discharged without fear or favour, affection or ill will. To sever that oath in the name of race would be to obliterate the goodwill that endears us to the people.
We are all Guyanese and that is the only thing that matters or should matter. We must resist distinctions based on race, and resist persons who promulgate same. Young people especially have a duty to resist race if only for that brighter future we envision and aspire to.
If we do not resist the lure of racial labels and entitlements then 50 years after our independence, in the year of our Golden Jubilee, that dream emblematic in our motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’ “will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained”, to paraphrase a quote.
Yours faithfully,
Sherod Avery Duncan
Mayor (ag)
Municipality of Georgetown
