Dear Editor,
It is with great reluctance that I drew up a petition to defund the Ethnic Relations Commission. “What would a petition accomplish?” I asked myself. After all, the ERC is a constitutional body. But how could I ignore the endless calls for the ERC to be disbanded, defunded or otherwise scrapped that I kept hearing again and again? Indeed, after only a day or so, my petition had already received the signature of several hundred people. That may not seem like many to some, but let it sink in that hundreds of people have lost faith in a constitutional commission to the point they think it no longer deserves any financing whatsoever. That, on its own, is cause for serious reflection.
As the ethnic struggle that gripped Berbice threw the nation into turmoil I saw again and again cries for leadership, for the ERC to do something, anything. Instead we observed insensitive and incendiary statements by one of its commissioners, further prompting cries for it to be defunded. Even as I write, individuals are calling for his resignation. But I am not writing to lay the blame on one person or organization. The second half of my petition called for funding to be diverted to a truth and reconciliation process to deal holistically with ethnic tensions that are far beyond the capacity of the ERC to control. The ERC’s failures are a symptom, not the disease.
The disease, in my opinion, is unresolved fear, distrust and even hatred. These currents started long ago and have been at times fanned by politicians for their own gain. Guyana’s young people recognize this, and are disgusted by it. What we young people seem to grasp, which at times it seems eludes older generations, is that prejudice is not unique to Guyana. The struggle for equality and
justice is currently epitomized by the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide, but was it so long ago that Indians marched for independence from the British?
A more recent example, which informs what these hundreds of people think is one potential way forward, comes from South Africa. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission there allowed those who had committed atrocities, from both sides, to come forward, admit their guilt and facilitate the healing process. We may not want to be so forgiving given the horrors of the past few days, but we certainly need a forum where people can come forward and share details of ordinary racism that has given rise to the same fear, distrust and hatred. We need a chance to take a deep breath as a nation, to cry, to grieve and then to find solutions.
I recognize that the appropriate way to remove the ERC, if that is what the nation decides, is to amend the constitution, but I also believe we can each of us admit that it is not an effective institution. It is clear that public apologies are not enough to in any way heal the racial rifts that expose themselves with such horrors. It is clear we need a different path forward. These hundreds of persons are calling for a truth and reconciliation process. Prejudice is not unique to Guyana, and solutions like this have combatted it elsewhere. Fear, distrust and hatred are all natural parts of the human psyche. It is our responsibility to make sure they do not spring from prejudice.
Yours faithfully,
Elson Low