Dear Editor,
An Emancipation message
As we observe the official end of the brutality of slavery in Guyana, there are ominous signs that the descendants of manumitted Africans face the real prospect of a subtle form of re-enslavement. Events in July suggest an urgency by one and all, to treat August 1st, as an opportunity to break the chains of materialism, and little knowledge of our history in order to over come.
This occasion requires understanding the threat, and preparing young and old African descendants to be studious, diligent, and demand justice. The task for all of us is urgent and requires strength, determination, unity of action and sacrifice where necessary. First the victims must recognise that human history has a fascinating way of repeating itself.
Slavery lasted for centuries partly because of European treachery and African chiefs who were consumed and confused by materialism and the crumbs from the imperial coloniser. In Guyana today this relationship is developing at a fast rate.
In his address, Professor Ali Mazrui on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Emancipation, titled “From the Mandingo to the Mandelas”, he noted as follows; “the Jews have managed to turn their suffering under the Nazis into a religious doctrine, as well as a political resource. But Blacks have neither sacralised their suffering into a sacred doctrine nor exploited it as a political fund.”
In Guyana the reasons for the above situation are deep and complex, but must be studied to overcome before it’s too late. The task today is to inject into the veins of every Guyanese, in particular Afro-Guyanese, the curative medicine of knowledge, to avoid the missteps of the past.
When European explorers, visited West Africa the need for free labour on their plantations in America, Guyana and else where was a priority, and with the complicity of some African chiefs they captured and kidnapped thousands of Africans from villages and kept them in “slave castles”, along the Atlantic coast, then known as the Gold Coast now Ghana, later they were bundled into ships and transported to territories such as ours. The beginning of the infamous trans-Atlantic slave trade. A slave trade aptly described in Robin Blackburn book, “The overthrow of Colonial Slavery”; where he stated that “The rate of growth of the Atlantic trade in the eighteenth century had outstripped all other branches of European commence and created fabulous fortunes.”
On this day the African community must be able to face up to the century-old trick that whenever black people seek justice for their hurt and suffering, or speak about the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery, and the validity of reparation, they are accused of being racist.
I expect in his message for Emancipation Day, with billions and unprecedented wealth available, His Excellency President Dr Irfaan Mohamed Ali will announce that the Guyana government will make a substantial contribution to the establishment of a reparation fund. A fund, after public and open discussion, to be managed by credible organisations for specific purposes, such as youth and educational advancement.
Reparation must not be trivialised. The wounds of slavery are deep, not experienced by any other ethnic group in Guyana. For example, on my annual pilgrimage to the mother country no records of the names of the ships that transported the Africans from West Africa to these shores, can be found. However, records of the ships that brought other are available.
When the captured Africans were marched onto the vessels, the European sailors threw overboard all of their drums, and other religious and cultural paraphernalia, ensuring a brutal disconnection from their roots.
Another example of the pernicious severance from our base persists to this day; if you hear the names Gomes, Gouveia, or DeSouza nine out of ten times it is a Portuguese family, if you hear the names Singh, Lall or Jagnarine you are likely to trace them to Indian heritage, and similarly the names Chin, Wong and Su-ping traceable to China.
But here comes the irony and the tragedy now taken for granted, the children, and their children’s children of Afro-Guyanese proudly carry names such as London, Liverpool, Kingston or Lancaster, all places in England where the slave trade flourished, and the names of our erstwhile masters and oppressors, with no roots or reference to any part of West Africa. Even though this is changing in several ways, we can not change the disconnect and distortion that has persisted consequent to slavery. I was horrified when I discovered that there are still Guyanese with dark complexions still spending money to purchase skin lightening cream, a sign that emancipation is incomplete.
Another fact is; Massa, with care and craftiness, cultivated a class referred to as the house slave, whose loyalty was no longer with the majority known as the field slave, but they truly felt to serve the ruling class provided them with status, comfort and money. Events in Guyana, particularly over the last few decades suggest that this condition is well in place. And, as during the struggle for freedom from 1763 onwards, that group constitutes a dangerous assembly placed in positions of purported authority.
This Emancipation Day must help us break the remaining mental chains that still bind some us. On this day let us be reminded that no one give a people real freedom, they have to demand it, and the watchword is struggle, consistent struggle. This struggle must mean understanding the mindset of the oppressor yesterday and today. The oppressors who somehow believe it is their God-given right to be the principal beneficiaries of our vast natural resources, never give up easily. This is the situation in Guyana today.
It was the constant uprisings and rebellions by the slaves that brought the European plantocracy to their senses, making slavery no longer a profitable venture, and the onset of emancipation in 1834.
As we consider the journey from slavery to Emancipation to Independence and advanced to being a Republic, our leaders, political, community, and religious, must concentrate on:
First – sharing the history of the struggle, this history will help release the creative genius of our youth.
Second – It must be able to capture ancestral piety i.e. a pride and reverence for those whose blood and tears nourish this earth we call Guyana, and to defend the nation state from external intruders and internal exploiters.
Third – We must spend more time teaching our young people the importance of a sound education in a new world of swift advancing science and technology.
If anyone is moved by the contents of this message, I ask you to identify a young boy or girl and spare them an hour or two of your weeks to help them, pro bono, navigate an imperfect educational system. This appeal is for teachers, educators, religious leaders, and professionals to get on board, so that by next emancipation, as a people we are glorious and not damned.
Finally, some of us men have left the burden of bringing up children, we help bring into this world, to their mothers. This has caused the dismemberment and instability of many family units. In other words, men must be part of genuine and sustainable emancipation. The period ahead must not be seen as a burden, but as a booster for the betterment of the descendants of those whose sacrifice help shape the Guyana we know today.
At this time as I wish every descendant of slaves in Guyana, a thoughtful and action-oriented Emancipation.
Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green
