Tackling racism must be on national agenda

The savage killings of teens, Isaiah Henry, Joel Henry, and subsequently, Haresh Singh, have triggered the racist vein in thousands of Guyanese who have been publicly expressing unsettling views on social media platforms.

The respons from citizens to the killings has painted a vivid picture that racism is real in Guyana, and is a national issue.

Confirming this a fact, attorney Nigel Hughes said this should be an eyeopener  to national leaders that racism is still a national issue that needs to be placed on the national agenda.

Hughes expressed this view while giving remarks at the funeral service of the Henry boys.

He said, with the killings, “We have opened unhealed wounds of racism, and ethnicity have become the number one priority of this republic we call Guyana. They can no longer be ignored, denied, or disacknowledged. Race and ethnicity are principle obstacles to peace and good order, and consequently the development of this dear land of ours. If we are to collectively forge a common destiny, then it’s corner stones must be equality, equal rights and justice.”

Therefore, he charged the leaders of the country “to acknowledge that race and ethnicity are national problems, and consequently place them on the national agenda. The time has come for our leaders to meet, sit and collectively address this national scourge. The time has come for our national leaders to jointly visit each other’s communities and hold frank discussions with the people, so that they may get a true reflection of the realities of alienation and distrust, which are real. The time has come for national leaders to recognise the role in which ethnic and racial identity play in a multiethnic, multicultural society, and to find creative ways to teach our people that the celebration of your ethnicity and your ethnic identity, does not mean the degradation of another ethnicity or racial identity.”

And finally, the attorney said that it is time for the national leaders to decide whether Guyana’s national motto is truly reflected of the national aspirations.

“And if they so conclude, that they must collectively embark upon urgent measures to achieve it. Guyana is better than this. We must begin to find and form antiracial alliances across our parent divisions, so we must create and define a common pathway to peace, based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, email rights and justice,” Hughes concluded.

Hughes is the family attorney of the Henry boys and have on several occasions expressed sentiments of similar nature.

He had noted too, that the state of the country was a collective effort, and it will require the same collective effort to get the change that is needed.

“The murders of Joel, Isaiah and Haresh did not occur in a vacuum and the reaction to their awful, brutal, deaths did not occur without context. We collectively have all contributed to the creation of the horribly deformed society we call Guyana, which has enabled the perpetrators of these gruesome murders, to feel sufficiently secure that they could engage in such acts of barbarity. We have an aspirational National Motto which says one people, one nation, one destiny, yet in our daily collective lives, and certainly at every election cycle, we abandon any notion of our commitment to our national motto,” Hughes preached.

In saying that, he underscored that it will require the leaders to acknowledge the crisis and recognise the role in which they play, to ensure equal rights and justice is a norm in society.