If we don’t change, Guyana won’t either
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has brought a charge against a dental surgeon. It is alleged that in September of last year, the surgeon refused to perform an extraction on a child because of the child’s ethnicity. The man appeared in court on Wednesday and will return on January 22nd, when a trial date will be set.
I have noted that the ERC has been making efforts to address incidents of racial prejudice. Whether these efforts will be ongoing and whether this will result in long term behaviour change, only time will tell. Nevertheless, I commend them for their efforts.
Prejudice is often highlighted in Guyana. The seeds of prejudice are often planted by some families when children are young. Whether this prejudice stems from perceived racial superiority, culture or religion, those who choose to remain unchanged water it with falsehoods until it blooms into discrimination, which contributes to upholding systematic racism.
We continue to only scratch the surface of our racial issues here. What prevents us from digging deeper are our fears, denial and even the benefits. Though words do hurt, many of the people who engage in name calling and other such acts to devalue people do not possess the power to hinder or control the lives of those they try to hurt. What is dangerous, hinders and even kills progress is when people possess the power to affect the quality of life of others based on ethnicity. People can be denied economic power, education, housing and healthcare for example.
As aforementioned, it is alleged that the surgeon refused to treat the child because of their ethnicity. It can be assumed that not only would that child have had to suffer longer if they were in pain, to say nothing about the psychological effects on the child if they were made aware as to why they were not treated.
We must address the institutional racism that is unchecked. When people cannot trust health professionals, educators, the financial institutions, the business community or even the government because of alleged or proven racial bias, it negates racial harmony and weakens the collective.
In small circles for many years, I have heard stories about medical professionals, such as doctors, who displayed their racial bias by refusing to treat patients or were not thorough in examining and diagnosing them. It is frightening. One must wonder how many people were denied treatment in Guyana because a doctor was racist. How many people have died because of medical malpractice because of racism?
And beyond the medical profession — how many people would have been denied opportunities because of racial prejudice? There are instances when people have applied for jobs and were denied. There are instances when people were prevented from advancing their careers. We cannot say this is a thing of the past. How about entrepreneurship? How does it affect people’s access to loans from banks? How does it affect our food supply?
Is there an understanding between those who hold positions of power to purposefully deny people opportunities and care because of their ethnicity or are these just isolated occurrences? Is this new or have we been witnessing this for as long as we have been an independent nation?
So often we discuss our racial issues. Forums where folks are invited to share their opinions about how we can tackle these issues are great. However, simply speaking or writing about the need for change will probably never result in much change. There should be a holistic approach in tackling Guyana’s racial issues. We must look at it from a historical perspective. We must acknowledge how colonialism, slavery, indentureship, culture, religion and politics have affected us.
We must be honest about how we have hurt each other in this country. The home, school, churches, temples, mosques and villages must come together and make deliberate efforts to change how we relate to each other. We cannot wait on government or opposition to do this because they have failed us since Guyana became an independent nation. But most importantly, the people must recognize the need for change and want to change. Nothing happens without the cooperation and consent of the people. Whether our consent is verbal or granted by our silence, Guyana would not be Guyana if we did not choose to accept it the way it is. We can educate ourselves about why we are, what we are and where we are, but if the people are unwilling to change, nothing much will change.
Another thing that was unfortunate, but not surprising about this story is how colourism continues to poison our society. The accused dental surgeon is dark skinned and of Indian descent. He was not only criticized for his alleged racial bias towards a child, but many chose to highlight the fact that he is dark skinned. If he were a man of lighter complexion, I would not have read comments about people comparing how light he was in comparison to them. The emphasis on how dark he is, appears to be rooted in how uncomfortable, disgusted and biased many people are about deep dark skin. Most of these comments were from people of African descent. I understand that they were trying to highlight the fact that the doctor himself is a Black person based on just the colour of his skin, but he chose to discriminate. However, in so doing some revealed their own prejudices. Could it not be that this dental surgeon be criticized simply for allegedly discriminating against the child because of the child’s ethnicity?
The colour of a person’s skin does not determine his integrity or depravity.
The colour of a person’s skin does not determine their beauty or intelligence.
If he is indeed guilty, he was wrong. Should this man be allowed to continue to practice if he is found guilty? Wouldn’t a guilty verdict prove that he is a risk to society? And when will we begin to call others out like him? When will we challenge the institutional racism?