Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 25, 2011 Letters
Dear Editor,
It seems that some Guyanese see and define everything in terms of race, even when none is suggested. Take, for example, Mr. Nigel Green’s confusing and irrational retort (KN June 13) to an earlier epistle of mine about the sporting discipline of legendary cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
I noted in one missive that I saw Chanderpaul practicing his shots in Grenada (during Australia’s tour) a few years ago while the other players were in the (Nicholas) hotel around the bar.
The players were on the field practicing but returned to the hotel early, telling some fans the sun was too hot. Chanderpaul stayed in the nets in the hot sun seeking to perfect his shots.
In another missive last year, I saw the team at the Hyatt in Trinidad. Chanderpaul went to his room while the others were in the lobby and around the bar with drinks.
The main point in both missives was the players lack the kind of discipline of Chanderpaul to stay focused on their goal to improve West Indies cricket.
The central theme was not about drinking but on improving playing skills. It was not about Indians and Africans and their sporting discipline or drinking habits.
But Nigel Green erroneously interpreted my missive in exactly that tone, based on race, when that issue never figured in the missives.
I never identified the players by ethnicity and I never penned that I saw Africans drinking. Yet Nigel Green concluded I was writing about “the rest of the players, the descendants of emancipated African slaves and their intimation with liquor”. I made no such remark and by no stretch of the imagination or logic or inference can one form such a conclusion.
In point of fact, the West Indies team had and has Indians, Africans, a White (Brendan Nash), and Mixed race cricketers. So I was shocked to read Green’s unsubstantiated conclusions on using race to advance his argument. Perhaps he felt using race would find appeal among his ethnic group.
But such is the narrative in Guyana that we no longer listen to each other. Some like Green are obsessed with race and they need to start focusing on how to improve race relations rather than define everything on race – that only serves to exacerbate racial tension.
In conclusion, it should be noted that Chanderpaul as a cricketer is not judged by his race. He is loved throughout the West Indies for his mental discipline and commitment to cricket by Africans and non-Africans alike, and they usually crowd him everwhere he goes. In Guyana, African youths seek him out as much as Indian youths.
In Trinidad earlier this month, spectators I spoke with expressed disappointment that Shiv was not included in the 20/20 and the one-dayers, because fans rated his performance higher than most selected for the matches, not his race.
Vishnu Bisram
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
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