Dear Editor,
Former USA Attorney General, Eric Holder, once described his country as a nation of cowards when it comes to issues of race. Here is Holder in his own words: “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” When asked to review his statement, the AG refused to back down: “I wouldn’t walk away from that speech… I think we are still a nation that is too afraid to confront racial issues… Americans are still hesitant to reach out to one another across the colour line [to] talk about racial issues.” I have referenced Holder to talk about Guyana. Holder in my estimation was on target, even if somewhat charitable, in his description.
I make bold to go further and describe Guyana as a nation of cowards and hypocrites when it comes to issues of race. Political parties do not confront the issue because they fear they would lose “crossover votes.” Yet, when they think that they are safe in the presence of co-ethnics, they are fulsome in their condemnation of the other. Civil Society organizations and leaders ignore the issue because they don’t think it should be part of polite conversation. Some leaders and commentators only speak about race and ethnicity when their ethnic party is out of government. Hence the hypocrisy. The consequence of this cowardice and hypocrisy is that any individual who confronts the issue in the open space is deemed a racist by the opposite group, and a political risk by his or her own group.
On a recent edition of my programme Politics 101, I posed the following question for discussion—Does Guyana’s Oil Wealth belong to all Guyanese. One of my guests could not or refused to answer the question. He instead wanted to discuss who squandered Guyana’s wealth these past 52 years. For some commentators, enhanced local democracy would solve Guyana’s problems. Others feel that we should strengthen our institutions, and everything would fall neatly in place. Still others feel that Constitutional Reform would do the trick. They all avoid the proverbial elephant in the room—the root of the Guyanese problem.
At least the USA, in the form of the recent USAID Report, is honest enough to raise the Ethno-racial problem. They may have done so in pursuit of their own interest but what is noteworthy, is that despite their entanglement in the last election, they recognize the danger that that outcome poses. It is an attempt, I think, to point to a more nuanced reading of the situation. What has been clear for all to see, even if we pretend otherwise, is that neither of the two major ethnic groups wants to be governed by the other. Six decades of attempts to force that on them have led to socio-economic and political disaster. If Guyana is to make the most of our oil patrimony, we have to stop being cowards and hypocrites and face head-on our racial demons. We are going nowhere until we reach for a political solution in which the ethno-racial distribution of power in its wider and profound dimension is settled.
Sincerely,
David Hinds
