Dear Editor,
“He said the two male Africans were identified by two Prison Officers as wanted men Rondell Rawlins, called ‘Fineman’ and Jermaine Charles, called ‘Skinny.’” This is one of two paragraphs which appeared within the lead story of Friday’s Guyana Chronicle.
Was ‘Fineman’ from Africa? All along we were led to believe he was Guyanese. An earlier paragraph in the same story read: “‘On descending upon the scene, they [the ranks] found the body of a male African lying on the ground. He was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was pronounced dead on arrival,’ Greene told reporters.”
I am curious to know whether ‘Fineman’ and some of his henchmen were indeed from Africa. Was this gang getting assistance from Africa in the form of “freedom fighters?”
Within certain circles in the US there was a rumour circulating recently that the Guyana Government had recruited “bounty hunters” from Israel and Pakistan to hunt down ‘Fineman’ and his gang. While not much credence was given to this rumour, the report of Africans being killed suggests that this gang was not made up only of Guyanese, and it now makes one wonder whether this whole situation has taken on an international dimension.
If in fact ‘Fineman’ and his cohorts are Guyanese then the Commissioner, if quoted accurately, made a significant mistake and should not have attempted to identify the ethnicity of the dead men. Do the police media bulletins in Guyana as a rule make reference to the ethnic background of persons killed, arrested or who are the victims of crime?
In this case the issue of race was introduced into a very sensitive national problem.
Yours faithfully,
Wesley Kirton
YO ! ,,,, kirton ,, yuh “nit pickin” and ” splittin hairs “,,,,, u need to go pick some coconuts to help meh bio-diesel !…….. an if any africans in wid the de “freedom
fighters” dem musse come from nigeria !…..
try african american. MR. BARAK OBAMA. THE NEXT US. PRESIDENT
Wesley you are wasting your time trying to get clarification of who is and who is not a GUYANESE. Way back when I questioned the wording of a SN report on an occurrence in the USA which referred to people of Indians extract living in Queens New York as GUYANESE, while in the same sentence referred to others (born and bred in Guyana) as Africans. At that time my wife who is of pure East Indian heritage and was also born in Guyana, drew my attention to the article and jokingly asked whether I was aware that I was no longer a GUYANESE.
I pointed out that anomoly to the Editor of the Stabroek News and noted a change in the wording of subsequent articles. However, it appears that the clock has now gone full circle.
Maybe it is time for a full scale migration to Africa by Guyanese of African extract,; the only thing is that they too do not want us as they do not see us as being Africans and, therefore, not belonging to their land.
Previous and present governments in Guyana have so polarized the population that the mere mention of the word Guyana brings to the fore a vision of a natiion divided and drifting further apart.
At any rate, a hell of a good job done by the Joint Services in ridding Guyana of a few more miscreants.
richard.
i see have a canadian flag.
check it out the indians from india don’t like the indians from guyana and count us for less.
please do your home work.
African guyanese is used to describe persons of african descent and India guyanese are guyanese of indian descent….simple as that Mr Kirton! Perhaps you are not so proud of your african heritage…I’m assuming you are of african descent if you are not then I apologise! Be proud of our heritage and we can better appreciate others!!
Describing someone as African Guyanese or Afro Guyanese is totally different from describing them as African. It is not about not being proud of one’s heritage it is about using the correct description. An African is a person born in Africa, an Afro Guyanese is a person of African descent born in Guyana. The two terms have different connotations
I am a bit confused by what has transpired since Mr. Kirton’s letter. As I recall,
- he stated that the two criminals who were killed were referred to in the press as AFRICANS (not afro-Guyanese)
- Michael Tannassee accused him of nit picking (could be regarded as a fair comment in a discourse)
- Bishnu R suggested that in America people of African descent are referred to as AFRICAN AMERICANS (and this is correct although there is a movement on for Americans to be identified as Americans only regardless of racial origins)
- I then suggested to Mr. Kirton that he was wasting his time trying to determine who is or who is not regarded as GUYANESE. I quoted a particular instance when I advised the Editor of SN of the inappropriateness of a statement appearing in an article of an incident in Queens New York; suggested that Africans may be best advised to return to Africa and further opined that would not work since Africans do not regard us (including me) as belonging to Africa)
- Bishnu R then correctly connected me to CANADA (yes, I have been a CANADIAN CITIZEN in excess of 40 years) and suggested that I should do home work to figure out that Indians from INDIA do not like Indians from Guyana ( I could have told him this without doing any home work but then I many have been accused of racism (this is the Guyanese pshche).
- Lionuk then advised Bishnu R of the reason why Indians from INDIA do not like Guyanese Indians
- and capping off the confusion, Lionuk returns to advise Mr. Kirton that African Guyanese is used to identify Guyanese of African descent and Indian Guyanese is used to identify Guyanese of Indian descent. He further accuses Mr. Kirton of not being proud of his African heritage.
This is exactly where this whole issue started, with Mr. Kirton asking that Guyanese of African descent be describes thusly and not merely as Africans.
WOW!!!!
Maybe they should say Afro Guyanese.
In a multiethnic society racial sensitivity should be at the forefront, and being politically correct is necessary.
….. how abt juss plain ole simple GUYANESE !…… the very first time many of us see us,, as ,,,then slowly ,, but surely the “race hate” will dissipate and our motto will stand strong in all our affairs globaly ,,,,,,,
“ONE PEOPLE ! ONE NATION ! ONE DESTINY ” ! our destiny is the chain of which each of us is a link,, which brings to mind ,, “the chain is as strong as it’s weakest link ” !,,,,,,,
go figure ………….
Bgsbny a good thought but do you really believe that the populace of Guyana are mature enough to accept this, before race, creed or politics? I doubt it.
….. hey Rich,, u and i know ,, that anything we put our minds to ,, can be achieved ,, all it takes is the time to educate the young,, with a new understanding of how unity can be achieved ,,if we hold each others hands ,, less of what is heard on the electronic media ,, and the only radio stn in GY,, is a first step !…..
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME……
i’ve said this b4 and i stand by every syllable in this very highly simplistic statement with a universal impact !,,,,,,
education was the first crack in the nat’l infrastructure beginning in the very early stages of the 70s,,,, with this came the fast paced need to fill the blanks ,, those who were “put “to stem the “haemorrhage” were band-aids used ,, when indeed there was a need for emergency surgery to not only stop the bleeding of the best and well trained “educators” anywhere in the c’bean and possibly further afield ! but to maintain the high standards of education that all of GY had the right to boast abt in most any forum ! sadly ,, like everything else ,, not only was education affected ,, so too,, in time,, was the entire nat’l infrastructure !,,,, all in the hands of burnham and the paramount party ! those who leave comments here with a never ending tirade of prevarications.. r the ones who need to stop seeing the microscopic blip ,, in the eyes of others ,,and get some well needed help to take the green heart timber from theirs……
it will do no one any good to sit by and allow the “destroyers ” — not only in GY– but among us here,, that open up the wounds that burnham and the pnc
inflicted on ,, not only me ,, but irrefutably all of GUYANA ! i have no agenda ,, other than to make them know ,, that we too,, like them,, r humans with
emotions !…… we ,,, indeed,, i know the power of forgiveness,, but if we forget to remember ,, while it is being unleashed on us all over again ,, then it is,, and will forever be our fault if we fail to stand strong for each other in the face of uncalled for “brutish behavior”,,,
How can there be racial harmony in Guyana,if every effort is made to attach a racial description to every Guyanese? We should give this racial description thing a long holiday and made reference to ourselves and others from and in the homeland as GUYANESE.
Also we seem to forget that there is a growing portion of the population that is of mixed races. What would we call them? My family and I are examples of Guyanese of mixed races.My father was from China and my mother grandparents were from India and my wife is of African heritage.My daughter always has a problem explaining to people what her racial backround is, so she take the easy way out and say she is GUYANESE, from a land of six races!!!!!
Hey Bishnu R..there might be reasons why the indians from india give you the perception that they don’t like guyanese indians? Perhaps its bcos we have lost our culture..and adopted a rum culture/creole culture..and we don’t speak any indian languages…what commonality is left..who do we blame?