Dear Editor
On Sunday, September 6 Guyana was stunned by the petrifying news that Joel and Isaiah Henry, two cousins hailing from No.3 village, West Coast Berbice, who had gone missing on Saturday, September 5 had been found slaughtered to death in Cotton Tree backdam.
The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) expresses its condolences to the grieving family, relatives of the deceased youngsters and the wider community. We call for calm in the face of what must be a devastating moment in the lives of those who are feeling the loss most.
We know that these young men are irreplaceable, and their loss is irrecompensable. We have noted the responses of the Government and Opposition and look forward to swift and decisive action on the part of the Guyana Police Force to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are made to answer for their evil deed. Indeed, justice must prevail.
The response so far, by certain sections of the society, treats this as an isolated inhumane and criminal act. IDPADA-G begs to differ. We wish to confront this act as yet another manifestation of the festering division, ethnic strife and utter contempt for the lives of those from other ethnic groups, which have characterized the evolution of Guyanese society and to which many, including various Governments and foreign actors, have turned a blind eye and even aided and abetted from time to time. A cursory review of social media would reveal that this physically violent act is but the heinous physical manifestation of the everyday verbal ethnic violence that is prevalent in our society.
In recognition of this reality of the Guyanese society that IDPADA-G cautioned at election time that discord around elections are an indicator of a long-festering problem. We called for all parties to look beyond the maladies of the elections to seek solutions to the root cause of those problems. Elections starkly reveal the dangerous state of ethnic relations in our society and the urgent need for solutions to the real problem.
The unfolding events, and now this brutal murder are painful reminders of the brutal murder of Felix Ross in Port Moraunt in 1961. That racially motivated murder sparked a dark period of ethnic strife in our history – – a complete history of that time has never been told. We remember Wismar but not what came before or after. Instead of using the dark periods of our history to distill lessons and build a better society we have blamed and vilified each other in a zero-sum game.
IDPADA-G cannot see this post-election period as a time of ‘business as usual’, rather we see it as one which should be used to confront what bedevils our society. What has occurred post elections and is now unfolding are ominous signs of the past and even worse. IDPADA-G therefore seizes this moment to once again alert the leadership of our society, both in and out of government, as well as foreign actors, to the fragile and antagonistically divided state of the Guyanese society and its need for urgent attention.
IDPADA-G extends sincere sympathy to the grieving families and community. In doing so, we hope for a permanent solution to the cycle of racial tension and violence so that no other Guyanese family suffers at the hand of such hate. We look to the promised dialogue between the major parties called for by GECOM before the results of the elections were declared, and, given the escalating tension in the society, we register our disappointment it has not as yet occurred.
Recognition of the central problem facing Guyana and commitment on all sides to a resolution and transformation of our society must be an immediate outcome of this tragic loss of life.
Regards
International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana
