Dear Editor,
America’s writers are its conscience. William Faulkner, one of America’s greatest writers, states that the American Civil War was the price it had to pay for the sin of slavery. Toni Morrison, in Beloved, writes how a mother murders her child because living the life of a slave is worse than death.
Next to war, man’s most abhorrent creation is the institution of slavery with its horror, degradation, cruelty and inhumanity. To think that Guyana is complicit in ‘slavery’ betrays our past. If a slave steps onto our land, then Guyana is not free. We know this, yet we have tainted our heritage and our country by facilitating human trafficking as was reported in Kaieteur News on September 4, 2016.
The PPP needs to examine this issue that occurred during their latter years in power. This crime should be addressed or it will continue to fester and grow like that damned spot on our nation, ie, the sexual abuse of women who were fulfilling their National Service duties during the PNC era. Just as South Africa had to confront and address the atrocities that occurred during apartheid, we too should confront and address the sins of our past or forever be a nation, divided.
Yours faithfully,
Stanley Niamatali
