Dear Editor,
Mark Twain virtually said “never argue with foolish people as they will drag you into the gutter and beat you with experience”. This letter is not to argue with Hits and Jams but to ask them to desist from demonizing African culture in Guyana by their branding of events such as “stink and dutty” and “wet and dutty” among other racially stigmatized and demeaning utterances. This branding is not about culture, it is about negritutde. One cannot forget that during the elections, Africans were called “stink and dutty”, “hungry belly dogs”, and “ugly monkeys” among other terms which the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has remained silent on.
I must remind Hits and Jams that partying is not culture. When we speak of the culture of a place, we are talking about far more than its artistic expressions or its ‘cultural products’ – literature, music, dance, art, sculpture, theatre, film and sport. All of these, of course, are important expressions of the culture of any social group and are part of its shared joy in the business of being alive. But culture is more than all of that. Culture is about shared patterns of identity, symbolic meaning, aspiration, and about the relationships between individuals and groups within that society. Culture is also about the relationships between ideas and perspectives, about self-respect and a sense of security, about how individuals are socialised and values are formed and transmitted. It is also deeply intertwined with structures of power and wealth.
In Guyana, we seem to be culturally and intellectually dumb and mute. We seem to copy everybody’s carnival with a vexness of spirit devoid of a cultural rudder. We are a lost broken ship in the sea of indecency. A culture in which using the words “stink & dutty” and “wet & dutty” are branded with relish and cherish is a culture aligned with immoral branding and cultural heresy.
So, in this open letter about Hits and Jams, I ask for respect for our ancestors, our children and for African culture. They are subliminally branding African Guyanese and ourselves as the “wretched of the earth”. They may think our parties are culture. They are not cultural ambassadors as their branding all but reminds us that they are the equivalent to the image of Mike Tyson at a Spelling Bee competition. The entire Caribbean laughs at their self-depreciation. Part of reparations is self-reparations and self-healing. The branding of Hits and Jams is an open cultural sore full of puss. Where is the ERC? I also call on Exxon and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports as well as other commercial sponsors to stop supporting a branding that is negative and observed in the Caribbean as vile and demeaning.