Possibly inadvertent disparaging remarks about indigenous people

Oct 24, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

In your 19th September 2021 Editorial captioned: “Guyana – the latest example of grievous predations”, possibly inadvertent disparaging remarks were made against the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. In particular, I refer to the statement, “…the Native Americans got civilisation and modernisation back then [from the European colonialists]”.
To the contrary, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas developed their own civilisations, despite being apart from the rest of the world, and not benefitting from the exchange of ideas that was able to happen freely in the so called “Old World”. The pyramids of the Aztecs, and the Incan edifices of Machu Picchu, with all the mathematical and geometric knowledge required, to say nothing about their written languages, were all developed literally, indigenously in the Americas. There was no ready exchange of ideas as was happening between Asia, Europe, and Africa to develop jointly mathematics, geometry, and writing. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas were separated for some 40,000 years from that knowledge crucible.
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas learnt how-to live-in harmony with nature; they did not destroy the buffalos of the North American Plains, rather they lived sustainably. The Amazon was safe in their hands. Due to the lack of sustainable lifestyles, there are no more buffalos roaming the North American Plains, and the Amazon is rapidly turning into another Sahara Desert. Today’s focus is on short-term benefits, as we pillage and destroy tomorrow.

Yours sincerely,
Lalu Hanuman
Attorney, Barbados