Dear Editor,
If I had one criticism of my father Linden Forbes, it would be that he chose Desmond Hoyte over Hamilton Green. I believe deep down inside that Hamilton Green would not have allowed the persecution of black people by the PPP. No one would have called him Hamilton Persaud and the West would not have been successful in tricking him into giving power to the PPP. Hoyte did one thing correctly, he laid a political ghost to rest with no intention of seeing it escape from its political grave. Robert Corbin came along and visited that graveside and hammered new nails into that coffin. By the time Granger came along, we were already in a world where diplomacy was very important. He pretended that the dead was alive and still rendered it powerless.
Harmon did not raise that mummy but felt compassion for it. Harmon fed that mummy with a long spoon and kept it away from political daylight. When I was a child I would go down to the Demerara river side at Linden. I loved looking at the black water; wondering about its mystery beneath. Fancy looking bottles would wash up on the sand. One day a woman said to me, “Do not open any of those bottles. Don’t play with them either. Pelt them back in the river.” I asked her why? She said: “They are Dutch bottles, if you open them you would be releasing things meant to be locked away forever. The Dutch curse is not to be messed with.”
I got scared and never ventured to open one. Why in my adult life I screwed the cap off of one of those bottles, is a question I would never be able to sensibly answer. What I have come to realise is that there was wisdom in that woman’s advice. Will I ever be able to put the contents back into the bottle and screw the lid tight and throw it back into the river? Only time will tell. The Dutch curse is ever present; in the advent of oil and the choice of a liberator. That is why when I met Forbes at the Georgetown seawalls, he told me to “Fix it”. Truth is, I don’t know if I can and may have to live with the agony of our persecution a while longer. I need to consult with Brother George to find a solution.
Sincerely,
Norman Browne
Social and Political Activist
