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origins and linkage
from Kaieteur News
by GxMedia
DEAREDITOR
I write in response to a letterbyMr KitNascimento published in the April 1 editionofyournewspaper In that missive, Mr Nascimento sought to characteriseRickfordBurke, Tacuma Ogunseye and myself as “dangerous” men whopreach“RaceHate.”He q u o t e d f r o m a n d paraphrased comments I made on my Social Media/TV program, Politics 101.Hencemyresponse.
According to Mr Nascimento, Ogunseye “propose that our security forcesturntheirgunsagainst adulyelectedgovernmentto support a mass uprising to overthrow the government.” This is not an actual quotation from Ogunseye, because he never uttered those words It is Mr. Nascimento’s interpretation ofwhathesaid.Thequestion here is what constitutes “ o v e r t h r o w i n g ” a government? For example, does the slogan “Oppose, Expose and Depose” made popular by the founder leader of Mr Nascimento’s party, the United Force, amount to advocacy of o v e r t h r o w i n g t h e government?
Mr Nascimento goes on to accuse us of Race Hate, purportedly against Indian Guyanese. His evidence is mycallonAfricanGuyanese to purchase items produced in their community as a first resort a call for selfreliance Mr Nascimento must be aware of the “buy local” concept, which is a major strand of economic thought. He, therefore, must explainhowmyadvocacyof itamountstoRaceHate.Did Mr Burnham’s Buy Local callorthemorerecentcallon GuyanesetobuyBanksBeer instead of Trinidadian beer amounttoInsularity?Inany case, Mr Nascimento in his haste to brand me a racist omitted a crucial part of my advocacy I advised African Guyanese that when they buy outside of their community, they must patronize Indian Guyanese s m a l l b u s i n e s s e s Nascimento must say whetherthatisRacehate.
Mr Nascimento continuedinthesameveinof misrepresentation when he accusedbeofthreateningthe Stabroek News for “not covering the news from a WPA perspective and accusing the newspaper of kowtowing to the government.”Nothingcould be further from the truth. I accused the Stabroek News ofnotgivingcoveragetothe WPA—the newspaper does not report on the party’s pressreleases.Thatisafact. Further, Mr Nascimento considersmyannouncement thatwearedocumentingthe instancesof“condemnation” ofOgunseyeathreat.
Myreminderthatthereis life after the PPP is also considered Race Hate by Nascimento. Let me say the following.Iknowsomething about Race Hate and Racism. As an African, I experience it every day, I study and teach them—they are grounded in notions Racial Superiority and Inferiority and the use of Institutional Power to actualizethosenotions.
But,inGuyanathereisa twisted definition of Race
Hate and Racism which Mr. Nascimento evidently subscribesto.InGuyana,he or she who advocates for Racial pride, self-love, selfreliance,dignityandequality isbrandedaRacist,—acase of the victims of Racism being charged with Racism. There is logic behind that formulation It’s called Racial Denial and Racial Amnesia—a denial that our history, which is heavily influenced by the grim experience of slavery, has generated institutions and attitudes with particular assumptionsofBlackness.It is these assumptions which make it so easy to c o n s c i o u s l y a n d u n c o n s c i o u s l y mischaracterize Black rebuke of the State and Society as “dangerous”, “racist”and“seditious.”
Finally, Mr Nascimento endorses Mr Ali’s quest to “banish Racism.” I offer the followingadvice.
To banish racism, one must first comprehend its origins, linkages and human consequences. Second, one must become anAnti-Racist inahumanesense.
Third, one must be willing to banish the institutional and social privileges that are accrued from Racism. Fourth, one must be willing to banish obstacles to Non-Racism suchasRacialInequalityand Inequitability in the distributive institutions of State and Government and the Racial Value-Gap that renders some human lives more expendable than others.
Regards
DavidHinds
