While I despise the use of an ethnic tag before my nationality, I do not deny my Indian heritage. I do not deny that my great great grandfather Anganou came to British Guiana, broke his back on a sugar plantation and perhaps died at peace in a foreign land that is now home to me. I embrace my heritage, I understand that it is part … Continue reading On Indianness and the PPP Trolls that prowl social media
Leeland Clarkian is an Amerindian elder native to St. Cuthbert’s Mission. He has done much work in educating Amerindians and creating awareness of their culture. On January 24, 2014 I visited St. Cuthbert’s Mission where I met Clarkian for the first time. We spoke of his life, his decision to return to his village, the fate of the Arawakian language and the “othered” state of … Continue reading Amerindians – The “Othered” People of Guyana
“…when a monster grows, it grows out of control. It eats up even those who created the monster. And it’s time that our people understood this.” Walter Rodney, 1977, Georgetown. In January, a woman suggested that I put down my pen – because it was useless – and that I march in the streets of Georgetown. I was taken aback. Did she really believe that … Continue reading The Economics of Activism and the Writer
In memory of Blackie Tonight I want to shed tears for my villager, my friend, my brother. But the tears will not come. There is that familiar heaviness in my chest. But the pain is not the same. Because I have acknowledged my country man as my own, as my family, as my blood, the pain spreads. And still, I cannot cry for my brother … Continue reading Be a brother to your brother, for you, not him
For Rochelle Etwaroo: the hybrid of two great people and a seed of hope. The Dougla Defect is evidence of Guyana’s ongoing Black and Indian war. It is a source of shame to both the Black and Indian man who insists on remaining entrenched in fear. They have both condemned the hybrid of themselves to that cold, cruel no man’s land that separates them. It … Continue reading The Dougla Defect
#withoutwax 