At a time when we mourn with their families the brutal murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh and Prettipaul Hargobin, I give my column to the words of Gladson Henry, father of Isaiah and uncle of Joel. His eloquence is beyond statesmen and commentators and certainly beyond any words I might summon.
“I want to say I am not a racial person, I born in Number Three (village), the community I live in. I live among Indian people. We eat together, we sleep together, we live together. The majority of friends I move with are Indian friends, we move like brothers and because of how I was moving with them they give me a nickname ‘Geera’ and ‘Geera’ is because it have to go in the dhal seeing that me is the only black one that living in there. And this same son that died, the majority of his friends are Indians. This same area where he got killed, he dwell among people in that community. And he got Indian friends and they call him ‘Blackboy’ too.”
“What I am saying is, I won’t hold any other person responsible and again, I am not racist. I love my Indian brothers and sisters. I am not supporting immoral protesting because I went out in Number Five (village) and tell them straight ‘If you want to protest, is our right, but let we do it peacefully you understand. And doing it peacefully, the Nation cannot be fighting against one another because this has been going on too long, let we don’t see this thing as Black, or White, or Chiney, or Portuguese…… because if a blackman or a Chiney man did do this, even if it not me child, I swear in my heart, he would have had to pay the penalty, not any man that look like him, or have the same texture hair, but the person that committed the act, you understand.”
“We should not condemn people because of the race for doing these things, let this thing don’t look political or racial or anything…..I have friends in Bath Settlement that work with me and I am sorry for anything that people hold against me. I am mango man, you know me… I was in there election time and a few people tried to harass me but a few big ones told them that I was selling mangoes since I was a little kid and I grow up in the community. I go to the Muslim Mosque, I go to the Hindu Temple, I play Phagwah… I just want to seek justice for my son which any mother or father, anybody would like to see for their family, or son, or daughter.”
Thus does one man in his own heartfelt and moving words say what needs saying — shaming those leaders, so-called, who seek to make use of horrific criminal acts to gain partisan advantage and divide the nation — and teaching a lesson to statesmen and politicians, church leaders and institutional spokesmen, commentators and opinion makers of all persuasions. Honour him.
