Dear Editor,
One of my University of Guyana colleagues who was pursuing her Masters Degree in History engaged me in a discussion on the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney. This was to be part of her Thesis.
The discussion evolved into an argument. There was sharp disagreement on issues that I witnessed and experienced as Living History as compared to what my friend learnt from some book or what she was told.
I tried to convince my UG colleague of what I was, fortunate or unfortunate, to witness, I was relating Living History to her at the time.
I was also Fortunate or Unfortunate to be a young boy at the time of Disturbances in Mackenzie /Wismar/Christianburg. As I stated before, as a child attending the Mackenzie All-age School, I witnessed the beating of East Indians.
It was a strategic operation which correlated with burnings at Wismar and beatings at Mackenzie. From my vantage point looking through my school’s window, overlooking the Demerara River, I could see and hear the loud explosions and this was followed immediately by bursts of fire.
I experienced a Six in the Evening to Six in the Morning Curfew. This was known as the Six to Dawn Curfew which was blared on loudspeakers by the British Soldiers from their army trucks which patrolled the streets of Makenzie.
The central areas of the Mining Township was always around the market square, where to the Cinema and Boat Landing could be found. This area was always filled to capacity with commuters plying the Mackenzie to Wismar/Christianburg route. Dutchie Boat Landing was the most popular.
Arvida Road was the Regent Street of Mackenzie and everyone can meet everyone around this area. But it was the announcement of the Son Chapman explosion that brought the largest ever gathering of the residents of Makenzie to this area.
I got to go into a cinema for the first time because the doors were torn open after people received the news of the Son Chapman tragedy, maybe, it was flashed on the screen.
I was too young to understand what was going on. I have never discussed the incidents which I saw as a little school boy with anyone ever because, I think, maybe I was too small to interpret what was going on.
The beatings of East Indians which I saw could have resulted in death. I never verified if persons died although, as a curious little youth, I found myself in the midst of the events, either when from school or after Miss Bennett”s lessons in Dacama Circle.
I can only endorse what I witnessed and what I felt as a little boy. I did not know who was responsible for the fear and wanton destruction that was taking place at that time
History is not History when politicians try to put a spin on the facts, especially when they were not around. Those who were around should relate the truth so that this generation can understand where our country is heading towards racial integration.
The idle PNC in defending the events have been including snippets in its presentations that are biased and mis-leading; and are designed to display innocence when a peaceful community was transformed into a living nightmare.
This was the most frightening period in the history of this country, for me, outside of Slavery and Indentureship. The feeling of being killed at any time, is the worst feeling that one can experience.
At Mackenzie, it was the East Indians who were shipped out on the R H Carr Ferry who felt that insecurity and suffered great losses. This was the first time in my life that I saw the assembly of so many East Indians in Guyana.
Writing and talking about this calamity by a select bunch of self- opinionated politicians, which took place so long ago shows that their irrelevant discussions are meant to clutch at something to waste the taxpayers’ money.