Black Lives Matter; it is a phrase that is so simple and profoundly brief in its request for humanity. Yet, it is staunchly opposed and is always certain to bring out the ire of the All Lives Matter crowd. This crowd which is often passively or actively anti-Black, sees commentary on the violence and systemic oppression wrought on Black lives as somehow negating the importance of other lives. This is a diversionary tactic that not only shifts blame and derails possibilities of ally-ship, but it is also very untrue. If all lives mattered, there would be no need for the BLM movement. Everyone regardless of their race and economic status would be afforded the same rights and protection under the law and our socio-economic systems, but this has never been the case. Worldwide, Black lives continue to have less value.
If we have a nuanced understanding of the complexities of race in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean, we would recognize that we are not immune from the systemic anti-Black goings-on in the North. Whether we want to admit it or would rather feign ignorance, we live in a world of stratifications. All of our experiences and opportunities are dependent on our racial backgrounds. While all ethnic minorities experience discrimination and face barriers to existence due to white supremacy, these experiences are not monolithic. Our racial hierarchy is set with white people at the top, Black people at the bottom and other non-Black ethnic minorities lodged somewhere in between.
White supremacy we must understand, does not just exist in one particular continent or context, it transcends borders and once internalized, cements itself amongst minority groups who ensure its maintenance. As Caribbean historian Elsa Goveia said, the one thing that unifies our society and culture is the subordination of Blacks (1970). Everyone has been taught to be anti-Black, even Black people but that’s fodder for another day. Today we speak on how all non-Black people benefit from anti-Blackness as Black people are used as the measuring stick for the humanity of others. This is why despite the many negative experiences and disadvantages faced by non-Black people of colour, they still find comfort in not being Black.
In our little multi-ethnic State, Black people still suffer from housing and healthcare discrimination, inaccess to loans, jobs and educational opportunities. We are also deliberate targets of police violence and criminalization. The unsound view is often spread that our policing systems cannot be anti-Black because it is predominantly Black. When people have agendas of race blindness they promote all sorts of arguments. Policing systems are first and foremost, servants of the State. These servants take direction from leaders and institutions that have and promote anti-Black biases. Even when the State’s machinery is filled with Black faces, it still acts in direct collusion with global anti-Black systems of oppression and violence. So when we speak about Black Lives Matter in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean, it is not a convenient bandwagon on which we seek to hoist ourselves – it is anything but convenient to still be fighting for your humanity while still suffering from the impacts of colonialism and its new insidious forms.
Anti-Blackness is very much present in Guyana and always has been. This is why I find the mythology of multi-ethnic racial harmony so highly amusing; our anti-Blackness permeates every facet of our society from our politics to our conversations. Diversity is not a magic cure all for racism. Even in diverse spaces such as ours, white supremacy reigns and people are applauded for their proximity to whiteness. Non-Black ethnic minorities have actively bought into anti-Black stereotypes and colonial lies so as to assimilate into white ideals and be more well placed to access structures of power.
Many are unable to recognize their anti-Blackness and where it stems from. This is why despite Indian and Indigenous Guyanese often embracing Afro-Caribbean culture such as our music, clothes and slangs, they still distance themselves from Blackness. Many of them do not see the necessity of Black Lives Matter, if they do, it is seen more from an Americanized perspective because surely, anti-Blackness does not run rampant in our little Guyana. To see the necessity of such a movement here is something many are not ready for as they are not too keen on calling out the anti-Blackness in their selves, homes, communities, workspaces and social groups. They aren’t ready to analyze the colorism they perpetuate and how often they appropriate Black culture while rejecting Black people. Then too, there are those who hold up their Black friends as trophies to say, see look, I can’t possibly be racist.
White supremacy is the foundation upon which we exist, anti-Blackness are the waters within which we swim. It is a systemic pandemic that runs through all of our institutions and it will take collective addressing and dismantling to even begin to make a dent. Anti-Blackness is not an individual action that can be remedied by an individual solution as it is centered on society’s disdain and inability to recognize the humanity of Black people. It is in our thoughts, our words, our beliefs and socio-economic systems of existence and it is only with intentionally extensive and transformative life work can this begin to change.