Cussing about racism in Guyana and recognising 'our differences make us beautiful' - Groundings 4 July, 2020

Cussing

"Our differences are beautiful" the woman whose first contribution in the Groundings reflected her anger, pain and disappointment at people who she felt betrayed Walter Rodney. She cussed without apology. Another woman said 'pardon my french' the third or fourth time as she cussed as she vented about racism in Guyana, and the bad governance in Guyana


Sherlina and I organised another  online  Groundings., inviting people to talk about :-

1. How do we think about race - our own and other's?
2. How,where did we get our ideas of race (what were our childhood/race lessons?)
3. How can we be actively anti-racist ?

Cussing was not expected.  But that is the thing about difficult conversations, space has to be given for the arc of releasing pain to moving to a different place where the pain is not felt the same way.

Walter Rodney's global reach was realised again - young woman from Trinidad joining to listen to Guyana and young Sudanese born man joining to connect with Guyana.

This is what I learned during the groundings. There were other things, interesting, complex thoughts which should be shared but I don't have the skills and language to put them down in words.


 Personal is political
Where to start? Conversation was open.  People shared their experiences of racism in different places - Hindu wedding house, school , social life - some forms were deliberate, some were unconscious. Of the experiences of being mixed and having to be rejected by all groups, or by one group or the other. Of the intersections between class and race, of being acceptable if the class was higher.
Of never hearing race talk in the family and having many races in the family.

Of being silent now because you could get cuss for being a race traitor or white supremacist or anything else.

Persons talked about solidarity across racial groups at different times - labour struggles, the political struggles during the 1980s in Guyana. That the 1960s history of the racial violence and resulting segregation was not the only history.

One man shared that difficult alliances could be formed on common issues, sharing about the 1969 Chicago Black Panther Rainbow Coalition with white Young Patriots and others.



Dr Janice Imhoff shared these thoughts in advance.

"I address one of my misconceptions and an expectation.
Misconception: Healing the ethnic-racial divide is about developing a friendship, receiving a hug or being in agreement. I have found this not to be true. Because of our ancestral experiences, our sieves to sift life are different, and this has and will remained largely true. Maybe what we should seek is a space within this divide so we can gyaaf. Let’s talk about how we can build respect and tolerance through understanding each other’s ancestral memories, and how our current behaviour contributes and enforces these memories ... if friendship develops as we cross that divide and reach that space ... so be it. But we should not begin with this as our goal.

The ethnic-racial divide breathes because of emotionally charged negative actions. If we can language those emotions - anger, hurt, greed, distrust and dominance. ... Yes, dominance is an emotion since it is something felt ... we discover that they also exist within the behavioural patterns of each racial group. And haven’t we survived within our group? Could we then begin the tolerance, respect, and not dominance, of each other across the divide acknowledging it exists within ourselves, also? Is it the human condition? Can we use this as our launching pad?

Expectation: My expectation is that these discussions will take place among all ethnic groups and not only between the two major ethnic-racial groups.

A man who left Guyana a long time ago, thought he would be out of the politics. But he is drawn into the politics and the racism on social media. He shared "There is an ancient African concept called Ma'at of which these 7 universal principles are the foundation. Truth, Justice, Harmony, Righteousness, Reciprocity, Balance and Order. These principles are across cultures/religions and I suggest these could be the basis upon which organizations work and discourse amongst each other in intra-cultural relationships and inter-cultural relationships. "

The woman who cussed in her first comment said she has a right to anger. The man said that the principles are not separate, that Truths can be uncomfortable, and result in anger, and there is a process of moving from Truth telling to justice which transforms relationships.

Or I might have heard them wrong.

And so the conversation went on, longer than the two intended two hours.

A man lamented. .'How can people vote for a fraud.. for a man who has fake certificates from a made up school?" A woman replied look, those of us with academic privileges should not be worried too much about these academic pretensions. Some discussions abotu how those with legitimate qualifications are oppressors.

But trying to understand that every day life, every day bread and butter and economic issues.. that lesser of two evils is measured and accepted.

And that is the environment in which racism thrives, and which anti-racist work has to be done.


Direct Action
I am writing this while listening to the Sunday morning Satsangh. The Pandit shares this mantra as a reminder of daily responsibility to use hands to do good.

I remember the first time I learned it, in October 2015 just after the APNU+AFC Ministers increased their salaries and so.  And the reminder about action.

The third question in the Groundings was  "How do we become actively anti-racist?"

Action to be taken at multiple levels, about living what is learned and the additional histories which are not taught.

And so people group talked about :-

1.  Disagreeing about elections , holding people accountable without degenerating into the racial words and language. 
2. About having conversations on the issues - Covid 19, education, health, the rising sea levels
3. About having 'family reunions' where family are the descendants of those who were exiled from villages and places and country.
4. About the University of Guyana and other groups doing public learning about the history of struggle in Guyana, the land inequality, the issues of land ownership , about the "Race Commission" which predated the Working People's Alliance
5. About thinking and going back to where we learn about race first, how we are teaching racism now and anti-racism now, to children and others

Some people stayed longer in the Zoom room than they expected.  A woman said afterwards about the call that "I like the honesty and the diverse opinions and the level of respect maintained thru the diversity "