The United States of America is in constant struggle on race relations, addressing racial injustices and seeking to create a more perfect union consistent with its Independence Declaration that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Whilst it is a struggle, it is a necessary struggle that helps to create awareness of what needs to be done, the improvements that are necessary in society to work in harmony, to live and work with each other, and in this context it means all the various ethnicities.
Sometimes one gets the sense that outsiders like America and would like to migrate to the USA because of better opportunities, laws and enforcement. But it cannot be ignored that these are upheld through constant and daily struggles to create a more inclusive and harmonious society. America does for other multiethnic societies what they are afraid to confront.
It is fair to say Guyanese are yet to recognise and appreciate for betterment to come to all races in Guyana, Guyanese will have to basically take on a similar struggle that would bring to the fore the deep underbelly of racism that exists in Guyana.
In the USA, the media is actively part of the conversations on race, and in some instances for given issues, though more are facilitators of conversations for a racial justice in society. This PBS 7-minute interview with Dr. Ronald Crutcher, a classical musician and president of the University of Richmond, addresses confronting the complexities of racism in response to racial divisions that are leaving people searching for answers.
