Only 181 years ago, the ancestors of present day Afro-Guyanese were liberated from the shackles of slavery. Slave revolts coupled with white fear, political pressure and the declining economic gains of slavery, were some of the main factors that resulted in the end of the barbaric commoditization of black bodies through the slave trade. Slave owners however, even after abolishment continued to profit as Britain took out a loan to compensate the slave owners for their lost labour force. Britain’s slavery debt was not repaid until 2015.
Imagine that…a country, whose wealth is built off the backs of the enslaved, compensated slave owners and their descendants while continuously spitting in the face of calls for reparations for African descendants. Many are quick to suggest that African descendants “get over” slavery as it does not exist or impact us in modern day society. These limited thinkers are usually of the opinion that to speak on ancestral trauma or demand reparatory justice is unnecessarily harping on the past when we should be moving onwards to a mythical post-racial society. The unequal social, political and economic systems that were set up against Africans through colonialism and enslavement are ones that still remains firmly in place today. The effects of structural racism which sees limited access to education, employment, credit unions and housing has continued to fuel intergenerational poverty in many Afro-descended homes and communities. The findings of a preliminary report in 2017 by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in examining the human rights of Guyanese of African descent found that there are “serious deficiencies in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.” It was found that racial profiling by the Guyana Police Force largely impacts persons of African descent and women of African descent face inequalities and multiple forms of discrimination because of their race, colour, gender and religious beliefs.
As an Afro-Indigenous woman, I have always been conscious of race and the fact that we will never ever really be able to escape it. I, like many hold on to the idealistic hope that we will solve racism and destroy racist structures in Guyana and the rest of the world, but I don’t think I’ll see that in my lifetime. Only in 2017, thousands of Libyan African migrants were being bought and sold into slavery. For many black people, the news of present day slavery was not much news, black people existing in capitalist structures are painfully aware of how easily their lives can be commodified. Many think that not discussing racism will somehow magically solve it, as if suppression has ever been a cure-all for anything. All silence on race does is ensure that racist attitudes, systems and structures remain firmly in place.
The Guyanese experience and its politics of power unfortunately, have always been firmly rooted in race and oppression. We have tried many ways in which to address our problems with race. The thing we have not put enough emphasis on is the discussion of racism itself, the effects of it and how social systems are designed to upkeep racial divisions in the interests of control and supremacy. Examples of this can be seen in our history where the stoking of racial fears has led to our present day collective oppression while those in power continue to profit from our disunity.
An often-cited historical inaccuracy is that the end of chattel slavery resulted in freed Africans refusing to work on the plantations due to the inhumane treatment they had experienced. The real story goes more like this: Following emancipation, freed Africans formed work groups upon recognizing they were now in better bargaining position over the plantation owners. They would band together and negotiate the wages needed for their labour, ensuring they were being paid fairly. The planters of course did not appreciate the change in power and began searching for an alternative labour force. They turned mainly to India and brought in a workforce under Indentureship to break the upper hand of freed Africans in the labour market. Competition for wage labour coupled with the Planters stoking of fear and mistrust, saw animosity between the two groups and the crushing of any possibility of a united labour force. This was the first contributor to our current tensions between the groups.
Further along, following the split of Guyana’s two major leaders, Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham (who are still deified to an absurd amount) we would once again allow ourselves to be divided on the issue of race by men with power. Present day, not much has changed. We were easily manipulated to distrust each other then and we are still easily manipulated to distrust each other now. Many Guyanese when talking of the country’s multiculturalism would often spin tales of unity, cross-ethnic celebrations, food and clothes to be found in Guyana, unless of course it is election time. It is usually used as a running gag but there really is nothing funny about it. What it demonstrates is how the underlying racial tensions thinly guised in the interests of diversity are quickly pulled off when group supremacy and control come into play. It all depends on who wields the power and who benefits from it.
As we reflect on Emancipation and the struggles and triumphs that led us to the point that we are at today, we should think on how we can all contribute towards mental liberation and the shaping of a country in which little afro haired boys and girls will not have to experience the stain of racism.
