Guyana is a country in which reality and fantasy can often blur in people’s minds. We have become so accustomed to viewing things from a warped lens that what is often seen is a vastly different image rather than the one that actually exists. Occasionally though, something that is extremely hard to ignore happens and we are left with the raw image of the violence and instability that steadily rocks us. One such incident was the alleged assault Attorney-at-law Nirvan Singh committed against a female officer of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Nirvan was said to have spat on and hurled racist and other disrespectful statements against the officer who was tasked with securing the residence of his father, Justice Carl Singh. This incident allows the opportunity to analyse several components of the sociopolitical, economic and cultural realities in Guyana – realities that have been long known by those who experience vulnerabilities.
In 2019, UN Women reported that approximately fifty-five percent of women have experienced at least one form of violence. Often, when we think about violence against women, we think of physical and sexual assault, which is fair. Violence however, also lives in the realm of the racial, psychological and economic. As a working class Black woman, tasked with security oversight of the home of persons who have many privileges, the experience of the officer demonstrates the way that certain groups are viewed and treated as being less than.
When women experience violence, many often ask the question about why they do not report. The reality is that the reporting system largely only works for those who have the power to sway it in their direction and women, particularly those who are poor, often lack this power. Hence why it is not surprising that despite the filing of a lawsuit against Nirvan, the GPF has remained silent about the reported abuse meted out against one of their own. It is very likely that had the officer not gone public with her experience, it would’ve quickly and quietly been swept under the rug.
This of course is not surprising when we recognize the role that race and class has to play in the free reign persons such as this are allowed to have. Nirvan felt comfortable enough to allegedly call the officer derogatory racist names.
Nirvan’s alleged actions demonstrated the reasoning of a person who is very aware that he will face very little repercussions for his actions. There is recognition in the fact that society as a whole places very little value on women. This value rapidly declines when factors such as Blackness and economic vulnerabilities are placed into the mix. For those who have had the privilege of “coming from money” they recognize that their circle protects, resulting in a certain hypocrisy that extends to those that use their power to get away with violence. This double standard that they are often held to can really make it difficult to believe that we are not living in a surreal wonderland after all.