In this post-elections drama, the sheets feel cold as restless nights and tension grip us. Naked Guyana stands, cold and shivering from embarrassment as the world looks on while her children seek to debase and destroy each other. These bitter souls have not been bred overnight. The election fueled hate has always been beneath the surface waiting to erupt in times like these. People we call brother and sister in our attempts at social cohesion and to live by our motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’ have swiftly transformed.
In this post-elections drama, a man attempted to spit on a friend as she sat in a minibus on the East Coast of Demerara because of her ethnicity. My mind raced back to me at 19 in some chilly English town on a church outing. Three young women attempted to purchase ice-cream only to be greeted by the snarl of the Caucasian man who stood behind the cones and cups. It was like our money was not good enough. Like the colour of our skin was offensive to him. As we walked away, this man spat at us. I know firsthand what it feels like to come face to face with contempt simply because of one’s ethnicity or the colour of skin. It hurts and messes with your mind, but where home is, you should not feel this. This should not be a Guyana story. Guyana is where I am supposed to be a first-class citizen, where I am supposed to be respected and where I am supposed to be treated equally.
Yet in this post-elections drama, I have sunk into a place of silence after reading and listening to some of what has been said on social media. There are derogatory names and death wishes on entire groups of people. We are no longer Guyanese but ‘Blackman,’ ‘Coolie’ and ‘Buck.’ For the first time in a while, I spent time asking myself what I have done as a person of African descent to be despised like this. I cannot feel what others who have also been attacked are feeling. Every group’s experience would be different. I can only write from my experiences. I have lived through been treated like a second-class citizen in this country. When being of African descent and a Buxtonian meant it was difficult to get a job and a target was on your back. You were deemed a hooligan and a bad man or bad woman. Some of that stigma remains.
In this post-election drama, I thought about my children. They are beautiful little girls who are innocent and who have done nothing but live and be molded by their parents and teachers in their six and eight years. I thought of the oldest being told by another child that brown people are ugly. It hurts when you cannot protect your children from every insult and when you come face to face with the reality that some innocent children are being taught to hate. A Guyana so divided is not where I want my children to grow up. For they, too, as they grow older and can better understand, might feel much more of the sting of hate and be forced to react. It is what that hate initiates when it is directed at you. It begins to change you from the inside out. It makes you question the once friendly faces whom you called friends. It makes you sad. It makes you cry inside even when you are smiling. It has the potential to affect your mental health.
In this post-elections drama, we have seen politicians who have created chaos. We have seen those with the loudest voices and those who have remained silent. We have heard appeals for the people to remain calm, to respect the law of the land and accept whatever is the outcome. We have heard rumours of plans to cause disruption. We have been told to buy food and stay indoors.
“Normal thing after every election,” someone said.
But this is not normal. We should not have to fear walking the streets for this is OUR country – none of us should feel fear even when we disagree. I should not have to feel angst and wonder what my future will look likes because of political instability. I should not have to wonder about how I will be treated if it is one party in power and not the other. We should not have to worry about where we will see development and who will benefit or will not because of political allegiance. Regardless of whoever rules we all are Guyanese and our focus should always be on developing our country for the benefit of all of us.
In this post-elections drama, for the first time in a few years I thought seriously about leaving Guyana. I have resisted for so long. Still, where your heart is, your love is and sometimes it is difficult to detach yourself. This is my home and I should not want to leave. This is my home where every five years the ghosts of the past should not walk among the people inciting the hate and the evil that dwell in the hearts of some of the living. When the stability of the country is threatened, we all are at risk.
In this post-elections drama, I hope we can recover yet again. But this recurring horror tells that maybe we never have. Is the damage that has been done too much to fix? Every election within the last ten years I have lost people I thought were friends because of differences. Our children should inherit a better Guyana. But with some of the parents who continue to teach hate from the time the children are young, will we?
In this post-elections drama, may Guyana’s children whose hearts are filled with hate, who write and say the vilest things, who would prefer to see the streets run red than have peace, may they realize that the darkness that lives in their hearts will eventually destroy them and may they find peace.
The quote ‘Whom the gods wish to first destroy, they make mad’ has been echoing in my mind.
This is true of so many Guyanese and should concern us. But hope remains.
