CHANGE IS ON THE HORIZON

“All through the history of the race there have been white writers and speakers who have made disparaging remarks of us. One of these was a Bishop Parry who in 1906 declared that Negroes could be said to be without ancestors and that they were therefore inclined to superstition.”... Norman Eustace Cameron, 1950, Georgetown, British Guiana.
“The African whether at home or even in exile after the great hiatus of Slavery, shows practical shrewdness and aptitude for the affairs of local Government. His legal acumen is higher than that of the European.” ...Lord Oliver, Secretary of the Royal West India Commission, 1899, and governor of Jamaica, 1907-1913.
The African races generally have a subtle dialectical faculty, and are in some ways far quicker in apprehension than the average Caucasian.” ...Lord Oliver, Secretary of the Royal West India Commission, 1899, and governor of Jamaica, 1907-1913.

Most people, I have met; I heard on mass media; I read in print media and other such mediums all display racial and/or ethnic stereotypes. What is also confounding, remains most make excuses for members of their so-called ethnic groupings. People make asinine statements whether they are of sound mind, or sober and /or under the influence of man-made substances. And, thus others feel the desire to defend or to excuse or to question others. By so doing, they also expose themselves for the most part, if you are what’s termed a Blackman in Guyana, you are then expected to be a supporter of the PNC or a beneficiary of the PNC, and/or a Christian. Whenever, one such as myself states, I have no allegiance to the PNC - Blacks are often shocked. Some Blacks even questioned whether I am of sound mind. Some suggested the PNC gave my ancestors’ house and land wherever they resided. Others stated the PNC gave me free education. The PNC gave my people plumb jobs and positions . . . All the nonsense which for the most part is not truthful.

Let get into a bit of history of land tenure amongst my ancestry - shall we? Whenever, you Google the name; Bentick Sancho using Google Book-Search, you will, certainly, realize that in February 1856, between Plantations Enmore and Clonbrook on the East Coast of Demerara, Bentick Sancho was an outstanding personality. Bentick Sancho was a shareholder. He was not a member of the PNC or any political party. I see no reason to go out of my way to support any political party. Well! If and/or when there is a Shareholders Party, I would certainly consider membership, instantly.

By January 5, 1848, Bentick Sancho and Tuckness Sancho purchased five and three shares respectively of Plantation Golden Grove, on the East Sea Coast of Demerara. Thus, when the transport was passed on May 5, 1848 the two members of the kinship of Sancho owned 16 percent of Plantation Golden Grove.
Some eight years prior to that in April 1840 George Sanco (likely a miss spelling of Sancho), Friday Campbell and Walter Young and more than 125 others purchased Plantation New Orange Nassau. Also in November 1839, Pollidore Bentick, and Caesar Solomon are number amongst the 83 shareholders who purchased Plantation Northbrook. The three plantations mentioned above became known under repressive regimes of colonizers as the villages of Golden Grove, Buxton and Victoria. I would not be surprised whenever I become enlightened respecting the lists of the shareholders of the other villages on the East Coast of Demerara that my representatives are numbered amongst them. I expect them to be among those of Plantation Friendship, and Plantation Nabaclis.

LAND
The possession of land is the basis of freedom. This has been the scenario throughout the history of the human experience. How upon earth does the Government of Guyana, own land in communities, the Africans purchased in the nineteenth century? That fact as it is currently, does not sit at all well with me. Certainly, it is beyond my imagination that the people of Golden Grove had to approach the Government of Guyana for their permission to lease land in the village of Golden Grove, to construct a community centre thereon, less than 160 years after Africans purchased the plantation. I blame the traitors who conspired with the operatives of the PNC for the present condition our people, primarily Black people, find themselves in this day. They turned their backs upon their ancestral heritage. They made their bed with Forbes Burnham against the legacy of their ancestors of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the American south. They are still paying the price for such gross negligence. Blacks who migrated overseas are continuing to sell the property their ancestors toiled to obtain. This is certainly not an African -Guyanese phenomena but it seems in almost every nation where Africans are found the descendants are selling prime real property to investors of various ethnic backgrounds. Lands along the water fronts are gobbled up instantaneously. The sad thing is in most situations there are relatives there - members of the same kinship who does not possess any real property. It is so very sad. The situation recurs all too often amongst the people of Sancho. My mother and her sister, Inez made a habit of purchasing real property wherever they resided. They were in a modus operandi of the grand father and great grand father.

East Indians express that such Blacks and Blacks in general are deceitful. What bothers me most of all is that for most of my mother’s career she was employed in districts such as Port Mourant, Blairmont, Cumberland and Rose Hall in Canje, and No. # 68 Village on the Corentyne, which were predominately populated by East Indians and it has been my experience that she and I were afforded much respect and our welfare was never in question by East Indians. Have all those and/or such folks departed from the physical realm? I simply refuse to accept such a conclusion. I can recall sitting in a hammock in front of a store at No. # 64 Village, when the announcement was made over the radio that Forbes Burnham and his PNC had trounced Cheddi Jagan and the PPP in Port Mourant and its environments. I was the only “African” in their midst. I can tell you no one uttered racial slurs. Everyone there knew the Elections were being hijacked. African - Guyanese in the district had nothing to do with the results, whatsoever, beyond casting their ballots. The politicians chose to do whatever it is they are allowed to do.
Today, most Indo - Guyanese, even here in the USA, think the vast majority of African Guyanese are out to defile their females, to violate their physical and to covet their property. They seem to have lost all regard of worth of Africans wherever they reside and whomever they are. Some openly question whether Blacks did anything good in Guyana.
Two of the most ridiculous questions, persons of East Indian heritage ever put to me are; Wha mek fine man kill dem people at Lusignan? The translation in English language is - why did fineman kill East Indians at Lusignan? Why did Burnham kill Walter Rodney?
What is really troubling is that an African is expected to answer their questions. Also he is expected to possess and/or express the answers they are looking for. More over Black must and /or is expected to answer for others who are and/or were accused of perpetrating criminal and/or immoral acts against humanity. I don’t know why that is - but it is apparent - the entire Black race is defined by acts and/or words of individuals. If an African - Guyanese is said to violate the human rights and/or civil rights or both of another person what has that to with me and other innocent person who happen to be of similar ethnicity of the perpetrator or accused.
I often recall how offended I felt when Jai birthed at No. # 65 Village, on the Corentyne Coast, British Guiana, a former secondary school teacher at Hindu College at Cove & John, and Golden Grove Government secondary school, at Golden Grove, on the East Coast of Demerara required of me to answer for the acts of Fineman Rawlins and Forbes Burnham. I thought he was insensitive at least and/or at worst absent-minded or racist at worst. I suppose such line of question innocent people is simply racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping if ever there such a thing.
I certainly, recall reading their Goddess Janet Rosenberg Jagan claiming Eusi Kwayana is trying to reinvent himself in the mode of Mahatma Gandhi. I find such a comment as absurd as it is racist. Certainly, there are numerous “Africans” in the human experience African - Guyanese are aware of whom they could emulate. They need not copy and/or covet icons from other groups of people. If I were to copy an East Indian, it won’t be Mohandas Karamchandus Gandhi that’s for sure. Why wont I not start with Vishnu and/or his son, Krishna? It is certainly a transformation of the enemy who was white (Europeans) in most of the era of colonialism to Africans in the decade prior to independence and the era of the post independence. On the other hand, I certainly, feel were Walter Rodney alive today he would be catching the same hell as most Africans -in - the Guyanese experience is currently experiencing. More over, Walter Rodney would not be considered a National Hero was he in the physical realm, today. The majority of those who, sing his praises would be acting as hypocritical as Michael Manley did in Jamaica. I firmly, believe and accept, Walter Rodney was a threat to deceitful politicians such as the majority of those between 1947 and this very day. In fact, all the Heads of State of Guyana from May 26, 1966 to this day are corrupted opportunists. They are and/or were in for personal prestige and personal gain. None were and/or are about the people.

CHANGE IS ON THE HORIZON . . .
What most doesn’t seem to understand are; a number of us, realize that our ancestry in what’s currently known as Guyana predates, by, perhaps, as many as three centuries, any political establishment which purports to defend and/or to represent the underprivileged working class people in that political boundary.
My political philosophy is similar to that of my ancestors. They were hunted, trapped, captured, sold, kidnapped and brought in chains across the Middle Passage. They were enslaved and oppressed on plantations in the Americas. It is also conspicuous of the struggles of the indentured laborers. They were brought from various regions including Africa, Afghanistan, Indian, Pakistan, China, and Portugal to replace enslaved labor on plantations in the colony of British Guiana.
Therefore, any political platform which fails to recognize the blood, sweat, and tears of my representatives does not and can never represent the interest of my people. Every platform that pits ethnic groups against each other cannot and does not represent the greatest good of my people. I would not only be a traitor but a disgrace to humanity to ever support any such platform. Not only that but also I would be disrespectful to the struggles of my ancestors. I can not ever support that which does not give birth to life and dreams of people. I stand concerned and committed to the philosophy of the greatest good of the people.
It is also, absolutely; clear to me, my ancestors were not Christians, prior to the arrival of kidnappers in what’s commonly referred to as West Africa. In fact, they had their own social systems. Theirs’ predates any found on this planet. They were deceived. They were then, Christianized. In fact, in the fifteenth century, a Pope referred to my representatives as Pagan savages. Thus, the Pope gave his blessings to “Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal, to enslave and Christianized my ancestors and their colleagues. Again, in this day, the Age of Information, I cannot align myself with the teachings of those who practiced genocide against my representatives. Well! That would be dumb. Wont it? There is no excuse for ignorance in this age. The struggle continues.
"The time is come, and now is the time when we must stand together in one accord, as men and women of the African race; be not afraid, let us look towards one god, one aim, one destiny” Harold Paul, of the African Church, New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana, at the Esplanade Bandstand, New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana. Thursday, March 6, 1958. Source; Berbice Chronicle, Wednesday, March 12, 1958.