I refer to a letter from D. Ramprakash entitled ‘Statistics are essential in the marginalisation debate.’ Ramprakash is of course correct; it is a difficult accusation to define or to quantify and so we have to establish marginalisation another way, ie by looking at the perceptions of people, since if perceptions are not reality, they certainly point to what is reality for our people.
Source: Stabroek
On January 31, 2008 we published the blog with the title Indian Racism Against Afro Guyanese In Guyana which referenced a scholarly work (Racism and the degeneration of Guyana) by Dr. Kean Gibson, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. To the surprise of the BU household the academic’s research was dismissed by individuals who offered no research of their own, but instead operated on high levels of biase and emotionalism. Leading the charge was our decorated pollster Peter Wickham, who is still drowning in the accolades from being proved correct in the just concluded Barbados general election. In response to the aforementioned blog, Peter Wickham was inspired to submit to BU his article titled, Peter Wickham Says It’s All About Racism & Xenophobia. We said then that the BU household was disappointed Peter Wickham who is a professional pollster, and whose reputation and performance is built on using solid quantitative analysis would have resorted to mere words to refute Dr. Gibson’s effort.
The quote above was extracted from a letter to the editor submitted to the Stabroek newspaper by Mr. Anthony Vieira who is a Member of Parliament in Guyana. The submission is interesting because he is able to point to quantitative analysis, prepared by a Dr. Milissa Ifill of the University of Guyana (A study to assess whether there is any discrimination in the award and distribution of economic opportunities in Guyana), under the direction of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) in a report, which supports the widely held perception in Guyana that there is tension between the ethnic groups.
To borrow a quote to illustrate what we mean, Dr. Ifill states:
Indian Guyanese far more than African, mixed or indigenous Guyanese believe that the state, private sector and NGO sector act in a fair manner in their provision of economic opportunities. 80 out of 94 Indian respondents believed that the state acts in a fair manner, the corresponding figure for African respondents is 15 out of 73, while for the mixed groups the figure was 10 out of 40 and for indigenous respondents the figure was 6 out of 23.
The quote does not explain why the Indo-Guyanese is running away from Guyana, if the findings of Dr. Ifill is to be believed. The message which we continue to shout is the importance for Barbados to monitor and capture the results of the impact of a multi-ethnic country like Guyana. The ERC in Guyana has been established for ten years, and has had no obvious ameliorating impact on the rapidly deteriorating racial tensions. Good sense dictates that Barbados should become proactive in managing the rapidly growing ethnic groups. We continue to reiterate that Guyana and Trinidad provide the best case studies to anticipate how we need to manage ethnic relations in Barbados.
Why should we wait until the crap hits the fan?
For Barbadians who feel that their passive and reactive approach to the matter of managing race relations is the correct approach, they should wake up and smell the garlic…we mean coffee! Members of the BU household and others we are sure have listened to the early utterances of Minister Maxine McClean who seems to have a ‘feel’ for this challenge at hand. Does she and her young government need more time?
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