Ancestral lands right pivotal to African empowerment

As villagers of Litchfield, West Coast Berbice take time out to  honour the memory of their ancestors, their struggles and economic drive post slavery that led to the acquisition of the village, it is a moment of pride and joy not only for those of Litchfield and their descendants, but for every African man and woman. For here is proof that the tales told of Africans and the attempt to misrepresent their ability to acquire worth is a misrepresentation of their commitment and drive to economic pursuit.

There is the ongoing struggle of the African race to ensure ancestral lands are preserved and occupied by the rightful heirs in villages. Yesterday, (November 14) Litchfield marked 180 years since it was transported to freed Africans. Among those who bought this village was my great-great-great-great grandfather Cudjoe McPherson. It is the same Cudjoe who, along with others, bought Kingelly, West Coast Berbice. A commemorative ceremony was held in the village to mark the achievement, and the heirs of McPherson laid a plaque in the Anglican Church yard in memory of him, and where his final remains were laid to rest.

Litchfield is one of the many plantations bought by freed Africans soon after slavery and converted to villages. It has a rich legacy of African’s contributions to this nation’s development. It tells the story of former slaves who struggled and put pittances together to acquire lands in a strange place, far away from their ancestral homes. In 21^st century Guyana not only are these lands under threat but the descendants of these former slaves. They are equally under threat from a government, which from all appearances, is setting out to marginalise them as a non-entity in a country built by free labour, blood, sweat and tears and even the cost of lives by  their former slave ancestors.  

For the villagers and proud descendants of former slaves, embracing the indomitable will of enslaved ancestors who survived the horrors of the Middle Passage, the MAAFA, there is no other choice left for them but to embrace the dignity of struggle, having benefited from the rewards. It behooves them to preserve the legacy of their ancestors.  As they do so many ponder why the world accepts the need to memoralise 9/11 and the Jewish holocaust,  in various ways, but to memorialise the worst system known to humanity-chattel slavery- Africans are often made to feel we are the cause of and have to defend our centuries of struggle for human dignity?

We who were the victims are now being made to feel we are the aggressors, that we are wrong to show abhorrence at the memories of this system and what it has done to Africans.  It is this memory which should drive us and is vital to our survival and understanding of who we are, what we must overcome, who are the people that we exist alongside and what are their perspectives of us and motives. We who are victims of those who come to steal and covet ancestral lands are being made to feel we are the aggressors when all persons are doing is seeking to preserve the legacy of our inheritance. We must take what is ours and speak to what affects us.

The issue of ancestral land ownership is not unique to Guyana. However, in Guyana, African ancestral lands are yet to be addressed in a structured manner, respecting the achievements, and ensuring the preservation of those who owned these lands, by purchase. This is a widespread problem.

Africans recognise that consecutive governments have embraced the act of addressing and protecting Amerindians’ right to land and communities, which is good. And whereas Africans have purchased land no effort has been made to put legislation in place to protect those lands. These were lands that were purchased immediately after slavery and spawned the Village Movement in this country which today remains unmatched.

We must bring an end to having to fight for what our ancestors bought and have not transported, leased, or gifted to any other. Ancestral lands right is pivotal to African empowerment. All who are reading and listening should respect the struggles of Africans in this land and support the integrity of their ancestral lands.