African Guyanese must consolidate identity - Hoyte
By Courtney Jones
Leader of the People's National Congress (PNC) Desmond Hoyte says the survival of African Guyanese in this country depends on their urgent efforts to consolidate their identity as people of African origin. Hoyte was addressing a crowd at the eighth annual all-night vigil and libation ceremony organised by the National Emancipation Trust of Guyana and held at Parliament Buildings on Saturday night. "In our small society there are many ethnicities and the other ethnicities are aggressively pursuing their own identities and we have equally to pursue ours", the PNC leader told the crowd which at 10 pm was still modest but which built up as the midnight hour approached. Hoyte, stressing the need for strengthening the identity of the African-Guyanese, observed that sometimes people are ashamed of their African heritage. But he noted that there was some hope evident since there was an upsurge of pride among Guyanese in what he described as their "Africanness" especially among young people and to a lesser extent among older people. Hoyte however cautioned that this drive by African-Guyanese to consolidate their identity must not be pursued in a destructive way to harm or dominate any other elements in the society "but to assert our personalities and our interests as an ethnic group in this country". He told the crowd, many of whom were dressed in traditional African garb that it was important that they had more than a passing idea of their history adding that the libation ceremony was important in helping African Guyanese to think about their history and better understand themselves and take their rightful place in this country. Hoyte observed that over the years historians like Oxonian professor Trevor Roper had sought to establish that Africa had always been a dark continent without a history before the coming of European colonisers. He told his listeners however that over the years the rich history of Africa and of great civilisations such as Timbuktu, Mali and Songhi have been unearthed and that as a consequence it was not possible for anybody to say that Africa has no history. "Because the evidence is there of a great history and a great evolution in Africa and a mighty contribution to human civilisation. Indeed Africa is the cradle of mankind", Hoyte told his cheering audience. The PNC leader alleged that in the same way that there have been attempts to distort the history of Africa, there is an ongoing bid to distort the history of Guyana to give the impression that people of African descent have played no significant role in the development of this country. Describing the role of African Guyanese in the history of Guyana as "heroic", Hoyte noted that African slaves by sheer muscle power had moved millions of tonnes of hard clay to build the infrastructure such as the dams and canals which facilitated the establishment of the sugar estates and later villages and made the Guyana coast habitable. "And so we have paid our dues. We are not trespassers in this country. We have a right to be here", Hoyte declared. He however said his remarks must not be construed to mean that other races do not have a right to be in Guyana and have not contributed more than significantly to the development of this country. "I am saying that we have a right that is not inferior to anybody else's to be here in this country and to enjoy the benefits and the bounties of this land". Hoyte called on his listeners to take pride in the fact that not only have they made tremendous contributions to Guyana in the past but also that there are "wonderful opportunities for us to continue to build in the future". But he noted that in every plural society where there were different ethnic groups there was always the potential for conflict. He said that as a result, the question that is facing Guyana is whether we will pursue the path of ethnic conflict or ethnic cooperation. "In this situation there is always a tendency or temptation for people to want to dominate others. I say to you that we must not want to dominate other people, but by the same token we must not allow other people to dominate us", Hoyte said. He called on his audience to ensure that through a process of interaction they become sufficiently strong to help foster cooperation rather than conflict with other races since any show of weakness will lead to domination. "So there is virtue in strengthening all the bases of our group so that we can talk to other people in conditions of equality. We are not inferior to anybody nor should we believe that anybody is inferior to us", he advised. Hoyte also called on his listeners to strive to impart in the younger generation a love of education and the importance of managing money in an intelligent manner. He also spoke about the need to protect African Guyanese youth, adding that he read with great concern what he described as the "criminalising of our young people". Hoyte alluded to the recent picking up by police and placing before the courts of youths for loitering. "There is no law which says that four or five people cannot stand up on a street. But it seems to me that some elements in the police force believe that. He added that it was evident that so many people were going before the court and pleading guilty and getting criminal convictions because of this when they are guilty of nothing. Hoyte called on the young lawyers in the society to keep an eye out for this and do some work to prevent the criminalising of young black youths. The central activity of Saturday night's function was the libation ceremony conducted by University of Guyana Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ghanaian Dr John Caesar. Dr Caesar was assisted by a number of elders including Clifford Blackett, Sylvia Harris, Cyrilda De Jesus, elder statesman Dr Ptolemy Reid, Walter Jordan and Reverends Vernon Fraser and Maurice Mercurius. There were also performances by the National School of Dance, the Yoruba Singers, the Congo Nya Singers of Berbice and the drummers of the House of Nyabingi.
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