Dear Editor,
Monday, the 15th of January was a National Holiday in the United States of America, the country where many Guyanese reside. The significance of this National Holiday was to mark the birth anniversary and to honour Martin Luther King (Jnr), the Afro American Civil Rights leader. Thanks to Andrew Young, who visited with us in Guyana, I had the honour and pleasure to meet this gracious gentleman King in Atlanta, shortly before he was assassinated.
In the United States, in spite of the lofty words contained in the Constitution about equality, it took the courage of Martin Luther King and others to dispel the notion that black people were not really equal and many saw no difficulty with slavery and the marginalisation of persons with one drop of African blood. This occurred in a country accepted as the greatest, mightiest and the bastion of democracy. The lynchpin is the well-known statement that all men are created equal. The religious bodies and beliefs have sold this to all and sundry. However, this has not always been the reality. This mighty nation in 1776 cut their umbilical cord with the mother-country Great Britain. The man who led them and became their first President George Washington reminded that “Your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty.” Liberty?
Yet it took the US Civil War to end slavery, which was essentially a war about the enslavement or freeing of black Africans in the USA. It also took the Civil Rights movement to bring an end to the Jim Crow laws and other practices, which marginalised persons for no other reason that they carried one drop of African blood surging through their veins. Perhaps the catalyst to arrest and bring an end to this discrimination and marginalisation was Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech on the steps at Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 – “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
As we celebrated the 95th anniversary of this great soul, let us reflect on his efforts and stewardship, particularly in our country, Guyana, where descendants of enslaved Africans feel that for whatever reason, rightly or wrongly they are being marginalised. Let us as we remember Martin Luther King’s crusade and martyrdom that today some folks who seek positions of authority, but whose foreparents were not enslaved now seek to distort and redefine the cause and consequences of the American Civil War. Let us not ignore the fact that the American Civil War was all about the horrors and inequity of slavery. Let us with affection and veneration remember Martin Luther King (Jnr). Let us understand the philosophical underpinnings of his address on the foothills of the Lincoln Memorial for it speaks for justice being delivered to all men.
Let us seek someone beyond and outside of our political parties, someone to lead the charge for complete and unbounded freedom for all Guyanese. Let us, and in particular, our young people, do like Martin Luther King and campaign beyond the narrow confines of school, club, church, mosques and temples. Let us be brave beyond platitudes and rhetoric. America, Guyana and the international community need men and women to be the catalyst for change. Finally, to those who write and agitate for better, let us ponder these words of Martin Luther King (Jnr), when he said, and I quote “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” On this day, let us in and out of office, seek to make a reality of Martin Luther King’s dream. Years ago we posed the question, can we do it? The response was, Yes we can! Happy Martin Luther King Day.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green