Dear Editor,
Kindly allow me to write an open letter to African organizations about an annual “rite of passage” that is most condescending and humiliating to People of African Descent in Guyana, and no doubt the Caribbean because only in Guyana does this occur.
Emancipation Day is a sacred day throughout the Caribbean and the African Diaspora. No other day is more sacred. But in Guyana, African organizations are asked to send Emancipation Day proposals to the Ministry of Culture, which are then reviewed and approved by the Minister of Culture.
The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), which has one of the largest Emancipation Day Festival in the Caribbean, this year received US$17,500 as a government contribution for their event that annually costs the organization approximately US$150,000. This event also has a large number of unpaid volunteers, and significant costs for both the National Park, the Guyana Police Force and private security. Last year, ACDA featured Morgan Heritage from Jamaica, and has an international artiste every year. ACDA usually receives the largest grant and never attends these ceremonies. Other African groups receive between U$500 to US2000.
To receive these financial grants, African organizations were asked to wear African clothing and to have at least 3 members at an “Event” at the National Conference Center where the grants were received. Some African organizations travelled from West Berbice, some from Essequibo for this opportunity. Pictures were taken with bountiful pride and displayed on Facebook pages and national papers showing wide smiles of appreciation
I say to my African Brothers and Sisters, stop this self-enslavement and self-humiliation, which is reminiscent of the Zoos in Belgium and France in the 1950s that had Africans on display for European visitors during their World Fairs. Where is our dignity? Think about our Ancestors, 473,000 of whom died during 200 plus years of enslavement, and who cleared 15,000 square miles of Guyana to make this country hospitable, under conditions described by the United Nations, as “the greatest crime against humanity”. No other ethnic group in Guyana is treated with this disdain and indifference.
Amerindians have a full month of celebrations during Amerindian Heritage Month in September. Over G$100 billion has been provided to Amerindians through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, an Amerindian Development Fund, LCDS carbon credits (G$4.78B) and weekly announcements of projects in the 204 different communities that have government funded community development plans. Yet, there is no event where they are asked to assemble at one location, dressed in traditional clothing and receive their grants.
Financial repair (economic justice) and “self-repair” are the two necessary elements of reparatory justice. Participating in this “magnificent masquerade” does nothing to our self-repair. This annual “circus” to receive petty cash is an insult to our African ancestors and an affront to our decency and should be to all ethnic groups in Guyana.
For over five years now, and almost every Thursday when the Guyana Reparations Committee (GRC) meets, I have been accused by my fellow African Guyanese of not addressing local African Guyanese issues of economic and cultural marginalization. As Chairman of the GRC and an elected Vice Chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, I have remained loyal to the mandates of the Prime Ministerial Subcommittee on Reparations and have refrained from writing about local issues affecting Guyanese at home. I have purposefully ringfenced the GRC from becoming involved in several local issues.
Over the last two years, contrary to all previous PPP and APNU governments, the Guyana Reparations Committee has been politically treated as if it is a local African organization such as the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G). Whilst an official complaint has been made, the GRC will stick to our mandate unless forced not to.
In closing, I hope President Mohamed Irfaan Ali puts a stop to this annual Emancipation affront to African dignity as this practice is an egregious display of ethnic marginalization and cultural blasphemy.
Eric Phillips
Chair, Guyana Reparations Committee
Vice Chair, Caricom Reparations Commission
