Indians and Africans are in competition of who was hurt more and who deserve more compensation for sufferings. Claims and counter-claims were/are made about who (which group) suffered more in Guyana, contributed more, dug more trenches, had more productivity, and the like. This can’t be decided by mere rhetoric. Facts and figures are needed. No serious study has been done comparing the brutality of slavery and (Indian) indentureship and their productivity. How does one measure pain and sufferings? When one is feeling real physical pain, being beaten by cat on nine tail whips, does it matter whether the pain is moderate or excessive or brutal meaning whether one gets four or six or ten lashes?
Ashook Ramsaran made a poignant point. He states that Guyana needs an honest, impartial, factual account of history in terms of slavery, indentureship, productivity of each group, etc. – a chronological, factual history of Guiana during colonial times. This, he suggests, can be the basis of dialogue, apologies, compensation for reparative justice. One needs the facts in order to arrive at rational, sound, logical conclusion. Regrettably, politics in the country cloud or shroud its history.
