Dear Editor,
Recently, Priya Manickchand shared highlights from her walk-through of Tiger Bay – a historically Black community which has long been neglected by the State. Community walkthroughs can be transformative, if of course they are guided by ethical storytelling, a strategic plan for development, and implementation once the camera has been downed. There was a clear absence of the former two, and if the 2020 walkthrough of the community by Irfaan Ali is any indication, implementation of next steps is still a far way off.
For the purposes of this letter, I want to focus on the lack of ethics around the visit by Priya and her team. There were several disturbing images and videos that emanated from this publicity activity, which further reinforced stereotypes, and which effectively positioned Priya, and by extension the party she serves, as saviours of this community. A reminder that outside of the brief stint in office by the APNU+AFC from 2015-2020, the PPP/C has had uninterrupted power and responsibility for the country since 1992. That is 23 uninterrupted years, followed by an additional ten years trajectory from 2020-2030. So it is clearly not a lack of time, but rather a fundamental lack of care that has resulted in the continued marginalization of communities such as Tiger Bay.
The entire spectacle was not only disturbing, but incredibly disrespectful to the community at large. A lot of it screamed development/poverty porn. This kind of framing seeks to portray those who are poor in unfavourable conditions, in order to push the agenda of the person/institutions selling a narrative of saviorism. If these spectacles actually came with practical, community driven solutions, maybe in the grand scheme of things they might be marginally acceptable, but as we’ve seen and continue to see, promised change has never come to fruition for these communities.
While this is deplorable across the board, it is even more insidious when children are used in this way. Priya and her team shared images of young children dressed half naked, standing next to a well dressed and made up Minister. Now Editor, for most of my life, Priya has served as Minister of Education, so I do know that she is very aware of the protocols of sharing the images of children. My question now is, why were these protocols not adhered to?
One of the first things they teach you when doing community outreach, is ethics and adherence to do no harm principles. Where was Priya and her team when these introductory lessons were being shared? Organizations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund have identified protocols for taking pictures of children to ensure that the dignity of children are maintained, and that one is not reinforcing racial, social or economic stereotypes. I want you to read those last two points again to drive home how unethical this practice is.
Despite the swift criticism from many around the usage of these children’s images, Priya has had no apologies to make. Today, the images of these children are still front and centre to be seen. Instead of taking accountability for this, Priya instead chose to remove herself from criticism by highlighting her predominantly Black media team. What do you think the messaging was here? Clearly, Priya was insinuating that she cannot be criticized because it is the young Black members of her team who made the decision to post these. I won’t get into the asininity of this response, but I do want to highlight that while she clearly has talented members on her team, young people require training to effectively do their work in a manner that is not only ethical, but also transformative. Many of us are raised in anti-Black environments which reshape perceptions of self and the communities we belong to. It does take intentional effort and unlearning to ensure that we are not further contributing to harmful narratives that further disenfranchise entire communities who already face racial, social and economic stigma.
The responses from many commenters around how the community is responsible for their poverty was not surprising, because that was exactly the sort of messaging that those unethical photos and videos facilitated. Unfortunately, in the mythical “One Guyana” where racism does not exist unless it is the ruling party being targeted, these concerns are never addressed and all continues as per norm.
The government and its representatives are supposed to be the protectors of children, and ensure that they are able to live in safe and healthy environments. Part of that is centred around ensuring that there are good economic conditions for them to thrive, safe communities that are well resourced, and responses that do not centre egos, but transformative solutions. This also means ensuring that the way that children are portrayed does not further contribute to harmful stereotypes or put them in danger. I want to focus on the last point for a bit, because the danger of putting children’s images online, especially in compromising positions, is not one I believe is being taken seriously here. I must ask Priya, would you allow your daughter or son to be photographed in this manner and shared publicly for all to see? Just the thought of that might seem preposterous, right? Guyana has a serious violence problem and a lot of this is enacted against children. Posting children’s images, and the communities they are from makes them further vulnerable to sexual abusers and predators. Globally, there is a fierce push to ensure that there are protections of children’s identities, especially when they have been positioned as a marginalized class, but that clearly does not matter here.
Beyond Priya, I also recognize that this is an institutional problem. There is a common practice of government ministers, and government workers (teachers in particular) regularly sharing photos and videos of children on public profiles with no parental permission, no blurring of children’s faces, and often identifying their specific location. Is the danger in this not seen?
Since I raised the problematic nature of Priya’s post and its dangers, I’ve had several persons also highlight how they have tried addressing this issue several times with relevant Ministries and authorities, only to be ignored and dismissed. Police officers are reluctant to address this and there is no recourse from the relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Education, or the Ministry of Human Services, whose Minister also recently came under criticism for her own blindness around addressing child labour. With leaders like this it is not surprising that teachers can now start entire Tik Tok pages regularly sharing images and videos of children and it needs to stop. The internet is now the hunting ground of child sexual groomers and abusers and there needs to be more caution and enforced regulation around how the images of children are shared.
I am calling on the government to immediately establish clear protocols for all officials regarding photographing and sharing images of minors, require written parental consent before any child’s image is posted publicly (recognizing that even with parental permission, there is a responsibility to ensure they are captured in a good light), mandate training for government communications teams on ethical community documentation, and create real enforcement mechanisms with consequences for violations. These are necessities.