We have long taken ethnic unease into our homes and swaddled it under blankets of mutual loathing.
If we see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, does that mean that evil does not exist? By and large, some of us delude ourselves that we live in multi-ethnic unity. Others live in denial that there is a problem. It’s a small wonder that so many of us are shocked when hate crimes rock the core of what we say and think we are. Many would condemn rebellious resistances to these hate crimes on the grounds that these protests threaten the foundation of our society.
Certainly, there are the opportunistic who take advantage of legitimate protests to attack innocent bystanders. There must of course be condemnation against these people for they do not stand on the side of justice.
We must however, not let rogue elements overshadow the legitimate reasons for the protests. Predictable patterns are followed in these demonstrations. The coverage quickly becomes about looting and property damage rather than the structural problems that drive our society. While many would rather protests be neatly packaged and presented, thought should be given to the fact that “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will” (Douglas).
Largely, I believe the protests merely magnified how long we have been tottering on uneven ground. Our societal foundation has had ethnic oppression, distrust, fear and apathy constantly poured into it. This is then sealed by our stark refusal to face the truth upon which we stand. So, our foundation for all it was meant to be remains perfectly intact.
The gruesome killings of Joel Henry and Isaiah Henry have ripped back several layers of our societal foundation to reveal the ugliness inside. Many of us are for the first time paying attention to how latent racism, mistrust, suspicion and even hatred of each other manifest itself. Tragically, there will of course always be those who remain firmly rooted in their inability to recognize the anti-Black racism and ethnic strife that exists across Guyana.
They seek to blame everything else, rather than focus on the actual causes. Meanwhile we engage in retaliatory violence against each other. As always, it is women and children that are usually the first victims, as we have seen in the tragic murder of teenager Haresh Singh in the days following the Henry killings. What now, then?
The gruesome murders of the Henry boys served as the catalyst for the protests but it was not just about the hate crimes. It was about the environment that allowed the hate crimes to occur. Our environment has always been unapologetically hostile to Black people. The protests we saw were not aimed at evening the score, it was about an underprivileged population challenging an exclusionary status quo.
There is always a moral high ground that is sought out when it comes to protests, particularly Black ones. They are told to be patient for justice. Follow the laws of the land. But what does justice look like for poor Black Guyanese or poor Indian Guyanese? What does it look like for Amerindians? Do the laws of the land protect them and their communities? Who does one turn to in the face of police and State violence?
We cannot and should not close our eyes to the fact that the justice system has not worked in favour of the Black community. This is not surprising as policing and judicial systems were founded on ideas of Black oppression. This can be traced to the transnational slave trade and the need to ensure a captive population. We have been living with the consequences of that ever since. We see it play out today in many ways, one of which is in a sad but common response to the recent round of protestors.
There must be honesty in our examination of differing treatments meted out against Afro-Guyanese protestors and that of other races. The language used to describe Black protests almost without fail buys into the colonially generated myth of Afro-Guyanese as violent criminals who seek out constant destruction. This myth is used to provide cover for the exertion of excessive force so as to suppress and bring an end to the uprisings.
The language surrounding protesting Indians, Indigenous etc. are almost always on the neutral end of the scale. They are first met with appeals for calm, as another recycled myth from colonial days is that they are inherently docile. These myths are constantly replayed in various societal systems and spaces. Our government, police, judiciary and media for the most part, do little to disturb their foundations in anti-Blackness.
We need to ask ourselves what is at stake in these negative portrayals of Black uprisings. Why is our society always ready to lap up the tale of Black criminality rather than one of Black freedom? Why do Black people never have the privilege of grief and rage?
While the embers from the last protests have long since been put out, the fresh wounds on our collective consciousness still persists. We cannot rely on any politicians to lead us through this; they have made it clear where their priorities lie. Even now they continue to promote and benefit from ethnic distrust and fear of each other. Politicians have no interest in curbing race narratives that serve them. Neither of the two dominant forces has ever invested in communities with an aim towards crime deterrence rather than crime punishment. Neither has ever been keen on the upliftment of Black communities and being of service to the poor.
There are so many of us that are mixed up within each other but the hate, the fear, the distrust still remains as present as it was when our newly freed and newly indentured foreparents came face to face for the first time. Politicians have exploited these biases of each other. They must be held accountable to the people to provide equitable service to us. No grand changes will come from being political puppets.
We cannot continue to tend to thriving plants of ethnic fear and unrest within our homes, while simultaneously denying their existence. We must save ourselves from each other. There must be movement away from ideas of superiority and harmful us and dem values. We must feel for each other and understand what it is that we must fight against.
