BTW all praises to Odeen for investing lots of time to develop snippets of Guyanese history. Not only is it easily digested (you do not have to read an enitire history book to get specific pieces of info) but Guyanese history is poorly reported.
I am sure that most Guyanese kids taking CXC History know more Jamaican or Bajan history than they do Guyanese. This is why there is so much ignorance about Guyanese heritage and we have been led to believe that Guyanese weere a docile people prior to the "GODS" of Cheddi and Burnham.
How many know anything about Nathaniel Critchlow and others?
How many know the real reason why indentures were brought in? No it was NOT because the freed slaves abandoned the estates as indentures weree even taken to labor surplus islands like Jamaica and St Kitts.
How many knew that the estates used a reserve of creole and Bajan blacks to ensure that Indian indentures didnt get out of hand? Just as the indentures were used to undermine the efforts of the Guyanese creole blacks. This being why the plantation system worked hard to under mine the black free villages and their attempts at peasant farming and petty trading and as independent tradesmen.
How many know the origins of the African middle class in Guyana, and that Guyana was one of the FIRST countries in the Caribbean or Latin America to develop an African property owning middle class?
How many know that the first occupational choice of freed slaves was NOT to work in the civil service, but to engage as peasant farmers and small traders, the very occupations which blacks are now accuse dof shunning? How many know why Afro Guyanese (and their counterparts in Trinidad, and maybe Suriname) abandoned those occupations seeking employment heavily in the civil service or as teachers, nurses or police men.
Lots of that is relevant to today's Guyana, but we do not know our history, so fall prey to lies, and stereotypes.
So Caribny with all of this how come the Indians became wealthier? What stopped the African progress?
1. Are Indians as a group wealthier? Ravi Dev and others will seriously disagree with you in this. Or at least did up to 2000.
Maybe the blatant Jagdeo era racism might have increased African and reduced Indian poverty rates, but in 2000 the two groups were not that different.
In fact the household survey of around 2005 indicated that Africans (disproportionately urban dwellers) had more access to amenities which civilized people take for granted (indoor plumbing) than Indians. And remain more educated as a whole. African women had much higher levels of ;abor force participation than do Indian females, this having repercussions on house hold income.
One can easily compare educational levels attained in Regions 10 compared to Region 6, as an example. Outside of Region 4 in 2002 the highest concentration of people with post secondary education were in region 10, with region 6 having large numbers of people who hadnt even finished primary school.
Do not be fooled by the fact that the majority of the tycoons are Indians. During the election cycle there was much evidence of Indo poverty shown on GNI.
It might indeed be the fact that while the bulk of the wealth in Guyana is in the hands of Indians, income and wealth disparities might also be greater WITHIN the Indian population, when compared to the African population. The result being that poverty levels, and median household incomes miht still be similar.
2. I mentioned to you the successful attempt that the colonial regime engaged in to destroy black enterprise. The result is that blacks saw involvement in farming and small business as a fast route to poverty, and saw upward mobility through obtaining an education, and in entering white collar professions. Look at the origins of most upper middle class Afro Guyanese and you will see this, and not farming or small business as the route which their ancestors used to achieve upward mobility.
Your dumb reaction is exactly why Guyanese need to learn more of our history. You want to engage in dangerous stereotypes. No Africans DO NOT have an aversion to farming or business ownerhsip. Its that their lived experience in Guyana convinced them that these avenues didnt offer much to them, so they shifted to other occupations.