Dear Editor,
For now, I will ignore the absurdities and the propaganda ploy contained in a letter written by Professor Narayan Persaud. However, when the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, in his address to welcome the children of former slave owner Gladstone, our President again commits to an absurdity by cleverly but clumsily making a nexus between indentureship and enslavement of our people.
The President, if he wishes to find a place of honour when the history of this country is recorded, must stop this nonsense. Africans were tricked and after being transferred from small boats from the slave castles dotted along the West African Coast were transferred to ships, some shackled and those who did not jump overboard endured seven weeks of a tortuous journey to the new home in Guyana, where they were enslaved and treated less than farm animals.
Immigrants suffered none of this horror. When the Africans rose up in 1823, once their rebellion was suppressed by the plantocracy using superior weaponry, their heads were cut off, bleeding and placed on staves around the Parade Ground. Immigrants suffered none of this.
After slavery was officially abolished in 1834, the Africans spent an additional four years in the sweltering sun, still slaves for a period of four more years apprenticeship. Immigrants had no such experience.
Due to the work of Wilberforce, Newton and Buxton, the plantation owners were required to institute less barbaric and inhumane methods of discipline. The Immigrants arrived and these so-called improved methods were put in place. The enslaved Africans were uprooted from their native culture, practices and religious beliefs, even their drums and sacred implements were destroyed before the ships transported them to Guyana set sail. Immigrants had no such experience.
None of the Immigrants experienced this indignity. As slavery ended, the British Government compensated the previous slave owners with large sums for each male, female or child slave lost. The Manumitted Africans got not one cent. Immigrants arrived here as paid servants, whether the wages were small or not is not relevant. They were paid.
The Africans toiled to build canals, dams and sea defenses receiving no money. The worst thing fitted on the Africans of the TransAtlantic journey was the loss of their identity. Immigrants were able to bring their drums and implements to maintain their identity. This is a good thing and I say congratulations that they have maintained their ancestral links with dignity and pride. The African had no such identity and I repeat a simplistic example, which I shall repeat everyday, if necessary. When you hear the names Samuel, Phillips, George, David, Hamilton, Brown, Baird, Whyte and Blue, you can be pretty sure these alien labels, these non-African names belong to an Afro Guyanese family.
Singh, Boodram, Persaud, Jaipaul or Basdeo, you are identifying an Indo-Guyanese because that link to Mother India was never broken. In fact, funds were established for any Indian to utilise, if he wished to return to Mother India.
If you hear Rodrigues, Teixeira, Gouveia or Nascimento, you identify the children who came from Madeira who we call Portuguese. Similar if you hear a man is Chin, Sue Ping, Chan-a-Sue and of course, Mr. Su you know his roots are in China. In fact, a former Mayor, the late Compton Young was able to locate his ancestors’ village on a trip to China some years ago.
I can only ascribe a touch of mischief and a deceptive narrative when the President and the likes of Dr. Persaud go out of their way to parallel Indentureship and Slavery. I say, let us straighten up and fly right if we are to become One People with One Nation and One Destiny.
My letter will be drawn to the attention of the President through an Advisor and I hope he has the grace, courage and statesmanship to make it clear that he had no intention to make a parallel between Slavery and Indentureship. I hope for the sake of all that we’re not facing a situation where our distinguished President does not know all of our history and does not know that he does not know. Even recalling that this President earlier eviscerated that we all came here for betterment. Yes, for the Africans, betterment meant being beaten, brutalised, dehumanised and stripped of their identity.
This is the thinking , this is the mantra, this is the pursuit, this is an attempt to trivialise the suffering of a group who perhaps, somebody, somehow wishes to superintend a regime of modern slavery and to ensure that forever and ever the black man’s place is at the bottom of the ladder.
Yours truly,
Hamilton Green
Elder
