By GHK Lall–If no apology for serial crimes is so hard to make, then I can only imagine the resistance to calls for reparations. If there is nothing to apologize for, then what is there to make reparations about? The issue is that ‘odious institution’ slavery. Though centuries later, the stench is stronger. Of man’s inhumanity against man. Specifically, the white man’s crimes against the Black man. Those are not some slivers of an overwrought imagination.
Those crimes are real as in millions of dead, a continent hemorrhaged, and a people still trying to rise from the destruction inflicted. If there’s so much difficulty in extending a sincere apology for those monstrous crimes, then does any other apology for any depravity mean anything? When Buckingham Palace can wear its best Oxbridge accents, and declare ‘no apology’ for slavery, then why is Guyana welcoming King Charles III? If he can’t humble himself, then he should be quietly counseled to find hospitality elsewhere.
Whenever I think that the world has progressed, regret comes. Whenever I harbor ideas that the essence of man has changed, I’m fooling myself. Behind the forced embraces, artificial smiles, lurk some old, venomous snakes. It’s known that blood attracts sharks. Oil attracts scoundrels at every level, from every walk, and all cardinal points.
Frankly, some of the people who shake the hands of Pres Ali and Vice President Jagdeo would soon as spit on them. Old prejudices die hard, often never. I try to drum these realities in their heads. I fail. They believe they are beloved. It’s the black gold, my brothers, and the sooner there’s awareness of that magic, and the manipulators that come to Guyana’s doors, the better Guyana is for it.
I suppose that in the eyes of Buckingham Palace, an apology for slavery would be bad form, set a ghastly precedent, and just not done. In the mind of Buckingham Palace, a n—a is always a n—a and a c—e from the subcontinent is still a c—-e. I have a challenge for white people and nonwhite folks. What else can it be? When a man can’t look another man in the eye and bring himself to utter a heartfelt apology, then somewhere in that formula is one who is not seen as a man, but as a lesser life form.
One unworthy of basic human dignity. One underserving of a fundamental human consideration. Sorrow. Shame. On behalf of the British people, a full, unqualified apology extended to the descendants of slaves treated so heinously by our forebears. If that kind of respect doesn’t exist, then that man or woman should not be in my house, in my space, in my land.
It goes without saying that calling upon Pres Ali and Vice President Jagdeo to stand tall for once, to stand straight, is asking too much. I know a lost cause when I see one. When Guyana was destitute and ragged, people walked over it. Now that Guyana is rich, everyone wants to win its hand, smell its perfume, taste its riches. Those must mean something.
If the man enslaved cannot be given an apology, then what about the lesser crimes committed against the indentured of Guyana? Indeed, there are the impotent in Guyana who paste silly grins across their faces, when the kicks to the nuggets rain like before, only in a more velvety, silky manner nowadays.
Those who treat my brothers right, do justice by them, they are my brothers, too. Those who hide behind clever words and postures, play their believed sophisticated games, I keep far from them, don’t want to be anywhere around me and mine.
To the British monarchy, this I deliver: no apology for slavery, then expect nothing resembling hospitality. Guyana doesn’t need Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace needs Guyana. Slavery is still alive and well. It’s not called that, just not recognised as being such.
