Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 07, 2022 News
– told not to ignore threats on their lives, livelihoods
By Vanessa Braithwaite
Kaieteur News – It was nothing but a sombre mood on Wednesday as Lindeners joined regional officials to pay homage to the more than 40 persons who were killed when someone bombed the Son Chapman launch that was at the time travelling from Georgetown to Linden with mothers, fathers, children, bauxite workers, market vendors and many other community stalwarts.
While the memorial is done yearly, this year seemed to be more impactful, given the recent deaths of civilians that resulted in heated protest actions. The memorial started with a march-past from Burnham Drive, and proceeded to Christianburg.
It was a blood bath in the peaceful Demerara River, a site never seen before and unfortunately by small children that traumatised them for decades. Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, who gave the feature address, said he was merely seven-years-old when the tragedy struck. He was living close by. “I remember that the police came to stop the music telling us that there was a tragedy in the Demerara River, so we were compelled to stop the music, it got worse when we recognised that two parents on that launch had children in my class,” he remembered. Norton blamed the political climate at the time and laid the blame at the feet of the sitting government at the time for the tragedy. He said it was spurred by racial tension that was occurring in other parts of the country. “Having created conditions of heightened tensions, the People’s Progressive Party prepared the conditions for what happened,” he claimed.
Speaking of more modern incidences, Norton said there is a historical context in which these things occur, citing the death of the Henry boys, Orin Boston and most recently Quindon Bacchus. “One sees a history of first open aggression and the aggression changed its form as we moved along, it came to a head when Shemroy Bouyea, Ron Sommerset and Allan Lewis were murdered.” Any future approach of force, Norton said will not be taken lightly.
Regional Chairman Deron Adams described the event for what is was, tragic. Being one of the most catastrophic national events, Adams said the knowledge must be passed on to youths. “As a terrorist event of this nature, the bombing of the Son Chapman launch has no equal in Guyana or the Caribbean and the Americas, where we share geographic and cultural ties. The single largest blow to rob innocent citizens of their lives and leave a community reeling from its impact, the bombing of the Son Chapman is certainly one of the most impactful events in our history, and has shaped who we are as descendants and residents of this town in ways that are often not even realised.”
He also warned residents to never take threats on their lives or their community lightly, noting that news of the bombing had circulated before it even happened. “Never ignore as too far-fetched or too outlandish, threats to our community and person…Linden has had its fair share of threats over the years that we had treated too lightly or dismissed as too big for those who threaten us to carry out. Just like the residents of Linden in the days and months before July 6th, 1964, who carried on with life and living in the shadow of the threat of this thoroughly reprehensible act, we continue today to carry on in the face of threats to our social life, to our economic life and even at times to our very lives, sometimes thinking that the unthinkable will not befall us.”
Former Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon said the incident still remains relevant in our present society as Guyana continues to struggle with race and political prejudice. “I say to you this morning, that today we see those same conditions of ideologies from afar, we see those same conditions of a new political or economic independence and we see that people are using the opportunity to exploit once again the issues of race and politics, we must be mindful,” he warned.
The memorial service saw the attendance of the relatives of those who passed away many years ago. Son of the owner of the launch Joseph Chapman said that for next year’ memorial, the family will fund the construction of a more permanent monument where the names of those who perished will be engraved.
Following the ceremony, regional officials laid wreaths on the monument that stands at the Christianburg site. The Son Chapman tragedy occurred on July 6, 1964 at approximately 16:00 hrs. The vessel, captained by Herman Softleigh, had just left the docks of Hurudaia, a timber grant settlement 16 miles up the Demerara River after letting off three passengers. About 300 yards from Hurudaia, a loud explosion occurred killing 43 persons inclusive of four children. Pandemonium broke out as the 27 persons and six crew men who were on the decks of the boat, and who survived the explosion, swam to shore while others were rescued by other vessels before the vessel sank. By July 8, 32 bodies had been recovered from the river and taken to the Mackenzie Hospital morgue. Two badly decomposed bodies were buried at Hurudaia and two in Georgetown. Some of the bodies that were identified and buried were: Jean Abrams, Winifred Giles, Irene Jordan, Daphne London, Edna Dublin, Carmen Carrlyn, Alphonso Peters, Joseph Brittlebank, Frank Adams, and Evande Adams, among others.
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