Dear Editor,
Please allow me to echo the sentiments of Robin Williams in his letter captioned “Brother Kwayana has struggled for his principles since I was a boy” (07.03.16) I remember I was living on Barr Street Kitty at a very young age when one day, on my way home (from some errand no doubt) just in front of the old Hollywood Cinema on Alexander Street (is it still there? editor: it is not) near Barr Street a crowd of people were gathered where a man had apparently just concluded a speech before them. This was circa 1957. A couple of people in the crowd then hoisted the man onto their shoulders and in jubilation the crowd proceeded across Barr Street and up Alexander street, the man high on their shoulders, as they chanted, “We want King! We want King!”
I was spellbound as I stood there and watched them disappear into the distance, then catching myself, I hurried home to describe to my parents what I had just seen. “Are you sure they were saying ‘King’?” my parents enquired as if I had just handed them an important piece of a puzzle they needed to complete a larger picture and they just wanted to verify its authenticity. “Yes”, I insisted, and repeated what I had seen.
I guess back then (perhaps even today) parents could not see that a child of six, seven or eight could be as deeply interested in knowing what is happening in his community and indeed his country as I was then, so they gave me a cursory explanation that although I cannot remember what it was, I know that I never understood. Then again, bless their souls, it may have been as much as they genuinely knew. Be that as it may, one thing they could not conceal because I remember it so vividly was the pride and excitement in their voices as they spoke, mostly to each other, about what the meaning of what I saw could have been.
Listening, it became clear to me then that Guyana was in the midst of some significant revolutionary change.
Like Mr. Williams, I too have never had the honour of meeting Eusi Kwayana but, unlike him, if I met Bro Kwayana today I would probably not know what questions to ask. But I know that I would be intensely interested (just like the kid so many decades ago) in whatever he would have to say. And this is why I join with Williams and others in imploring you Bro Kwayana to produce your memoirs. Give us, from your inside perspective, what went down that day in front of the old Hollywood Cinema. What was your speech about that day? (I am sure you remember). What events led up to it? What followed it? Tell us about those comrades of yours Burnham and Jagan, where were they at the time? What was the temperature of the relationship between the three of you then and later and why? Just get into it man and break it down for us as only you can. Bring us up to the minute from that day forward when you were a young mover and shaker in this land once called British Guiana.
I believe you have more solid gold to offer Guyana and the world than all of El Dorado itself. True, you have already given enough for and to Guyana, yet I implore you for more, we must, for the good of the land, what other choice have we? I am sure you understand.
Yours faithfully,
Stafford Wills
