Paying Homage to Guyana’s sons- Joel and Isaiah Henry

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There can be no peace in this land of ours unless every single citizen, every person within the confines of 83,000 square miles enjoy fundamental human rights, dignity and equality as enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana, international laws, and conventions.

Guyana is not a barbaric state. We are not operating in ancient times when such barbarism, as meted out to Joel and Isaiah, were tales of pride and glory, of conquest and the conquer. We are not a pre-civilised nation. And because we are not, we must as a collective be guided by the laws dictating acceptable human interaction and encounters to hold the perpetrators, whether they are direct actors, masterminds, or accomplices in the coverup, accountable.

The responsibility for legal justice in a civilised society falls primarily under the various arms of the state. And today it is to them we look, and we call on, rightly so, to spare no resources in ensuring all reasonable efforts are made to bring legal justice to Joel and Isaiah. Even as we seek legal justice to assuage the community and all Guyanese, who in some form or fashion stand indicted, and feel the pain of these two deaths and the resultant consequences, we must not ignore the importance of socioeconomic and political justice as a means of not only forging peace, but making all Guyanese recognise that where one is deprived, marginalised, demonised, de-humanised, victimised, is subjected to wanton killing and justice is not served, all are denied.

It is our very own Martin Carter who said “all are involved, all are consumed.” Peter Tosh said, “Equal rights and justice.” Equal rights and justice. As I say this today, at the funeral of Joel and Isaiah, I am conscious of those who will seek to bend my words-equal rights and justice for these teens is not called on at the expense of the rights of others, it is called for inclusion in that of all others.

Today, I know the ancestors will welcome them. I pray that their souls find comfort in the arms of the Almighty. I pray He gives them rest in a peace that they were denied in the last minutes of their lives, but said peace be denied those who inflicted such hate and vengeance and escape legal justice.  They took advantage of two teens on their own.  My sons, Rest in Peace.

The Guyana Trades Union Congress mourns the loss of Guyana’s potential labour force. On behalf of myself and family we pledge our commitment to help shape the struggle for peace in this land we called home, where we were brought first, not in peace, but in violation of our rights and humanity.

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