Anti-Indian racism in Guyana

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo, evidently hit a raw nerve when, at the funerary services for veteran religious leader, social activist and politician Reepu Daman Persaud, he spoke out against a “resurgence of anti-Indian racism” in Guyana. Some tried to deflect from his thesis by dragging in the red herring of “time and place”. As we commemorate Arrival Day (May 5th) when Indians first arrived into the then colony of British Guiana, we can appreciate that the occasion was supremely appropriate.
Reepu Daman, after all, had been a staunch advocate of the rights of all citizens of this land to enjoy its patrimony without discrimination in any way, shape or form. As one who had struggled and risen out of the logees of Plantation Diamond to confront racism in the capital and prevailed, surely he would not have been oblivious to the old, racist drumbeats becoming ever increasingly strident.
A “resurgence of racism” implies that the phenomenon was once ascendant and perhaps had subsided. This “Arrival Day” provides a fortuitous occasion for the nation to look backwards – not in anger but with a determination not to allow the forces of hate and divisions to prevail once again. The initial racist behaviour against the newly arrived Indians were grounded firmly in the British policy of “divide and rule”. It pitted one group of “natives” against another, while the British occupied the high ground literally and figuratively.
As we review the autobiographical snippets of the white, African and Coloured Guyanese and examine their attitudes towards the Indians, we can see the genesis of the vocabulary and disdain fostered by the Europeans. The Indian had not mastered the rudiments of the British “education” and therefore he must be an ignorant buffoon. How would the other races know of the great achievements of the millennia-old civilisation of the Indian if they were not “educated” about it. So the Indian and his cultural expressions were defined as “beyond the pale”.
How different is it even today, when the Ministry of Culture initiates schools of dance, music and drama and still studiously excludes the Indian contributions in these areas? How much has the British “education” not still pervaded officialdom? We witness the British colonial encouraging the exclusion of the Indian in the state sector by promulgating exclusionary standards.
It is to the credit of the Indian that he did not sit around wringing his hands but took whatever means were available to improve his lot. Unlike what some are asserting, Indian success in agriculture did not arise out of any beneficence of the British to “give” them land. The condition of his indenture demanded that he be repatriated to India at the end of his contracted time. The British simply wanted to avoid this expense and encouraged the Indian to relinquish that right in lieu of a couple of acres of swampy land.
Through money saved subsequently from rice and cattle, the Indians educated themselves and soon began to demand a piece of the national pie, as citizens who had made British Guiana their home. But by then, those who had benefitted from the old order, and buttressed by their now inbred feelings of superiority, refused to allow the Indian on the national stage. Resentment grew when some Indians could not be denied through their patently superior qualifications. As was shown in the ICJ Report, the percentages of Indians in the Civil Service lagged far below their percentages in the private professional occupations where merit was the dominant requirement. The only constant that could explain this variable was racial discrimination.
Today, all Guyanese must stand as one and reaffirm our commitment towards building a nation in which individuals must not be judged by their race or ethnicity. Let us nip the scourge of anti-Indian racism, and any other discriminatory behaviour in the bud.