The theme for ACDA’s Emancipation Festival 2022 was “Celebrating the enduring African spirit through cultural expression” and the sub-theme is “Realizing the Guyanese dream through community economic empowerment.”
After two years of virtual celebrations, people gathered outside around the country to honour our African ancestors with libation and to celebrate. But along with the greetings, vibrant colours and foods, the ongoing struggles of African Guyanese were not overlooked.
The 1st of August 1838 was a hundred and eighty-four years ago and yet the screams for freedom, equality and justice can still be heard. Years ago, I was told about a screaming skull in the UK. It was said that screams could be heard from the grave of one who was enslaved. Fact or myth, I often think, how many of our African ancestors are not at rest and screaming from their graves but the noise of the rest of the world silences them.
It is not often that I allow myself to think about the suffering of our African ancestors during chattel slavery. But on Emancipation eve, as I stood in Buxton listening to the drums, I thought about how they were shackled. I thought of how on their journey here their bodies were like lambs to the slaughter bound together in the darkest places of those ships navigating rough waters and how the seabed became some of their final resting places. I thought about how they worked from sunrise to sunset on plantations for no pay with wounds on their bodies that were healed, healing and fresh ones in the places that had healed. I thought about how they made food with the scraps their massas discarded. I thought about how they were lynched, how families were destroyed because they were separated, how they were stripped of their religions and their names and how the effects of such atrocities are still felt today.
What is the African Guyanese experience today? Why do we continue to hear the clatter of the shackles that bound our ancestors? Why are some of our hands bound now, having been integrated into a society with those who first settled, those who were indentured and those who were enslavers? Even though our accomplishments are great, and we stand in excellence, why we are still fighting for respect, and justice?
Our ancestors were visionaries, they had a spirit of endurance that led to them pooling their resources to purchase villages around the country after Emancipation and they worked to develop those villages for they knew one of the first steps of belonging was land ownership. Now some of their descendants are fighting for survival in some of those very villages.
The African Guyanese contributions to this country are indisputable. After a hundred and eighty-four years, and even without the descendants of the enslavers paying the reparations they owe, our lives in this land should be prosperous. African Guyanese should not be poor. Like all other Guyanese, we should be respected first class citizens in our country, and the wealth that our country possesses should be equally distributed.
But here we are in 2022 and our shackling, our labour, lynching, and our final resting places of no peace, have taken on new forms. On paper we are free from the grasp of the colonizers but now it is the minds of many for which freedom must be sought. Those without an identity are a threat to the survival of the whole. Like roots removed from the ground and a tree floating above ground at risk of falling and breaking into pieces at any time, so is the living of some African descendants. The dishonouring of African ancestors contributes to the venom that poisons this society. People who turn their backs on those who were so that they are, are a people who will wander and often lose their way and be destroyed without mercy.
After one hundred and eighty-four years, the discussions of who we are, what we were and where we are going should have been had and the path of maintaining our dignity and for every generation to excel should be clear, but unfortunately there are many who still do not know themselves.
One of my favourite proverbs is an Egyptian one that says, “The kingdom of heaven is within you and whoever shall know himself shall find it.”
Many believe that the kingdom of heaven is a place they go after death, depending on their deeds. Some believe that there will be a day of resurrection and heaven will be on Earth. I believe that these beliefs can be detrimental to people. To believe that suffering on this Earth is necessary and that it is only after death that one will find joy and peace, can affect one’s ability to stand and demand one’s heaven on Earth. If people believe that this world is not their home, they might not be motivated to stand and be the best version of themselves.
By now the majority should know that it is within them that the power lies to change the world and to change their reality.
After a hundred and eighty-four-years African Guyanese should not be feeling lost or be lacking confidence in their leaders. No one should be emboldened to say that there are no role models in the African Guyanese communities. People should not be waiting for politicians to visit their villages, to promise them handouts and them blindly believing that handouts will change their lives. It seems like many Guyanese have been conditioned to believe that handouts are progress. But progress is when Guyanese do not need handouts. It is when every Guyanese has been taught how to fish and their nets are overflowing.
Are African Guyanese under threat of being left behind as Guyana quickly changes?
We are seeing the face of our country change. With ExxonMobil’s presence here, Brazilians, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Americans, Chinese, Europeans, and others sauntering into our country and marking their place and taking our resources, are we sure about our place? Have we thought about what the face of Guyana will look like in a decade or two? Have we wondered who the faces of the richest will be and how many will try to further enslave the poorest in this land? Will the enduring spirit that has kept us continue to keep us in the trying times to come? How do we realize the Guyanese dream through community economic development if we do not stand and fight for our place?
It was great to be outside for Emancipation 2022. Though I reflected on some of painful aspects of our ancestors’ experiences, I also celebrated the enduring African spirit.
