APNU official and WPA executive Dr David Hinds has urged Corriverton residents of African heritage to be proud of their heritage and to use education and civic engagement to ensure successful futures.
Dr Hinds made this statement during his address at the community’s annual Emancipation Observances, a press release from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) said. In his reflection on the character and dignity of enslaved Africans who survived and overcame slavery, Dr Hinds said, “Slavery was not just about brutality and dehumanization of the African. But equally important, it was about resistance, survival and ultimately overcoming that brutality and dehumanization. Our foreparents’ gift to us was that resilience in the face of the greatest odds. And we must cherish that for all times.” As such, he urged the gathering to let the sacrifices of their forbears resonate in their daily lives.
He also referred to the purchase of villages which he described as “a revolution that lay the basis for a modern Guyana and it represents the highest form of self-activity and self-emancipation” and challenged his audience to return to that tradition of self-reliance. Dr Hinds then exhorted the audience to be proud of their identity and not to see it as a form of racism. “To be proud of your racial identity is not a crime. It is out of our diverse identities that a truly democratic and peaceful Guyana will emerge,” he added.
Further, in a direct address to the youth, he noted that education and civic engagement are the keys to their future. He also warned them not to be seduced by “the constant diet of parties” but to focus more on building a secure future for themselves and their children.
Dr Hinds also encouraged the young men to show more respect for women and to honour their elders.
Regarding the political situation, Dr Hinds drew a parallel between Emancipation from slavery in 1838 and the construction of a Government of National Unity this year. He posited that just as African foreparents emancipated themselves from slavery, “we have to now emancipate ourselves from one-party rule in 2011.”
Hinds said any government of Guyana that does not include representatives of African Guyanese can never be a truly national government. He then urged the gathering to exercise their franchise on Election Day.
