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October 6 ,2021

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Dear Editor,

My late and honoured friend who would have been one of the most outstanding legal minds in the Commonwealth, having won four consecutive appeals before the Privy Council, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, advises that one of the things a man/woman doesn’t know is that ‘he/she does not know’. This was the mute reaction too many felt when they heard of the audacious reference to the ‘Middle Street’ and the ‘Promenade Gardens’ (indeed at a time when the current Indian Administration shows disrespect for the philosophy of Gandhi, as it continues to mistreat  muslims in India).

But that apart one wonders by what authority could the suggestion be conceived that:

i.  The name of the Promenade Gardens should be changed in recognition of a foreigner who has absolutely no connection to this country.

The following is but a brief profile of this restful place in our Capital City:

“Currently located on a portion of the field then known as the Parade Ground. During the day, the Promenade Garden in Cummingsburg is a quiet place to relax, read and enjoy the flowers. Its tranquility is in stark contrast to its role in the 19th century as a public execution site during the Demerara Revolt, a slave uprising that took place in 1823.

Occupying one city block, with its main entrance located on Middle Street in Cummingsburg, in 1851 steps were taken to transform the site into the Promenade Gardens, a garden which was designed by a Trinidadian botanist in 1851, with seats constructed for the public in 1859.

The Promenade Garden is home to a Victorian-looking Bandstand erected in 1897 in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and it is considered the oldest bandstand of three in the city.”

ii.   Middle Street

It was on Middle Street that key activists of the 1823 Demerara Revolution were forced to drag their coffins on their way to being beheaded. 200 slaves were beheaded and their heads placed on stakes at the Parade Ground.

It is exceptional in any case for a monument to be erected in any country to anyone who has not been a contributor to its history in any way.

In any case, surely commonsense must speak to the reality of further exploding the division amongst a population too small and too tense to absorb more.

This Administration could find no justification for attending to what in the final analysis is a most simplistic notion that could only have originated from a local community – erratically implicating the particular resident High Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

Elijay Bijay

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Proposal to rename Promenade Gardens would be insult of monumental proportions to descendants of African slaves

Dear Editor,

I read with great concern and anguish that during a ceremony to commemorate the life and death of the Great Mahatma Gandhi, that His Excellency, High Commissioner of India proposed in the presence of the President that the Parade Ground and Middle Street be renamed after Mahatma Gandhi.

I expect the President of Guyana and the Government who know our history would reject this proposal as being out of place, as it would further drive a wedge between the Indo and the Afro Guyanese community, an unnecessary adventure at this time.

And certainly would not advance the idea of One Guyana.

Such a proposal would be an insult of monumental proportions to the descendants of African slaves in Guyana.

Out of respect and regard and the need for cohesion, earlier administrations agreed to the Gandhi Monument being placed in the Promenade Gardens and later the Georgetown Municipality accepted a proposal for a monument representing a Hindu religious group being erected to the southern portion of the Promenade Gardens.

However, it appears that the Indian High Commissioner knows nothing of the history of the Promenade Gardens.

The Promenade Gardens, the Parade Ground and that part of Middle Street were all one plot of land. Later, a middle dam, now known as Middle Street was prepared as part of the improvement of Georgetown.

An earlier administration renamed Parade Ground Independence Park. Independence Park, Middle Street and Promenade Gardens constitute an area, where in 1823 dozens of slaves were massacred, their bleeding heads severed from their bodies and placed on poles, on this very ground, as a deterrent to the Africans who rose up against the barbarity and cruelty of the white colonial administrators.

For the descendants of slaves, this is therefore sacred ground, and to rename it after anyone other than one who fought for Emancipation is totally unacceptable and I hope this matter is not pursued because already groups have contacted myself and others, expressing dismay with a promise to resist such a proposal.

We all honour and respect the great soul, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but Africans everywhere recall that while in South Africa, Gandhi fought for the Indians and the coloured; there is no evidence that Gandhi found the time to extend his trouble to the black South African population.

The records are clear and because of this, some countries after Independence have removed Gandhi’s statue, such as Ghana in 2019.

I am sending this letter to the President and the Indian High Commissioner.

Those Africans whose heads were cut off, the only crime was the pursuit of their God-given right to freedom and to be treated as human beings.

We will make every effort to treat this proposal as coming from someone who is unaware of our history or has been misguided by some set of persons.

Yours faithfully,

Hamilton Green

Descendant of an African Slave woman, who dug a hole in the ground to deliver her child, whose blood, sweat and tears civilized the entire coastal belt.  

Django
@Totaram posted:

How do the current names reflect the history of the area? Nothing in the two letters explain how ,for example, "promenade" reflects the murder of slaves.

Hammie letter explained how Promenade Garden was created .

The Promenade Gardens, the Parade Ground and that part of Middle Street were all one plot of land. Later, a middle dam, now known as Middle Street was prepared as part of the improvement of Georgetown.

Django
@Django posted:

Hammie letter explained how Promenade Garden was created .

The Promenade Gardens, the Parade Ground and that part of Middle Street were all one plot of land. Later, a middle dam, now known as Middle Street was prepared as part of the improvement of Georgetown.

Yes, I saw what he wrote.  I agree that the plot of land has great historical significance.  However, the names Promenade, Middle and Parade do not reflect that historical significance.  Surely there are other names that would honour the memory of those who were killed there.  I am not arguing for "Mahatma Gandhi".  That would be a non-starter if Afro-Guyanese object as they seem to be doing.

T
@Totaram posted:

Yes, I saw what he wrote.  I agree that the plot of land has great historical significance.  However, the names Promenade, Middle and Parade do not reflect that historical significance.  Surely there are other names that would honour the memory of those who were killed there.  I am not arguing for "Mahatma Gandhi".  That would be a non-starter if Afro-Guyanese object as they seem to be doing.

The British gave the name Parade Ground, because of the parades and other military activities conducted there .

Django
@Totaram posted:

Yes, I saw what he wrote.  I agree that the plot of land has great historical significance.  However, the names Promenade, Middle and Parade do not reflect that historical significance.  Surely there are other names that would honour the memory of those who were killed there.  I am not arguing for "Mahatma Gandhi".  That would be a non-starter if Afro-Guyanese object as they seem to be doing.

Do you think Linden would be more appropriately renamed Mahatma Gandhi because of coolies that were massacred there?

sachin_05

Green is a racist, he destroyed Granger's chances of Champion of Guyana.

Green, son of a slave?

Amerindians are owners of the land. I know ppl are trying to say they arrive in Guyana too.

Green ppl arrive too.

S
@Spugum posted:

do you know where mandela avenue is and what it was called before?

I know it’s the continuation of sherif street going south just past botanic garden. It begins around home stretch avenue and ends at back road I think. I use to ride my bicycle through that area back in the days. I don’t recalled what it was called before…

sachin_05
@Django posted:

The British gave the name Parade Ground, because of the parades and other military activities conducted there .

Yes but the name is a relic of colonialism.  The letter writers are arguing that it would be inappropriate to name anything in the area after Gandhi because of its historical connection to the massacre of slaves.  My question is how do Parade, Middle or Promenade honour the memory of those that were murdered? 

T
@sachin_05 posted:

I know it’s the continuation of sherif street going south just past botanic garden. It begins around home stretch avenue and ends at back road I think. I use to ride my bicycle through that area back in the days. I don’t recalled what it was called before…

right - it didn't reall have a name. part of it was called the back road

S
@Totaram posted:

Yes but the name is a relic of colonialism.  The letter writers are arguing that it would be inappropriate to name anything in the area after Gandhi because of its historical connection to the massacre of slaves.

My question is how do Parade, Middle or Promenade honour the memory of those that were murdered?

Agreed the name is Colonial Relic.

The Colonials wasn't interested in naming the place in honor of the convicted slaves from the Slave insurrection in Demerara Colony ,August 18 ,1823 ,it will be against them.

Guyanese are aware of the events that took place there and the name should change to reflect the events that took place there .

Django
@Totaram posted:

Yes but the name is a relic of colonialism.  The letter writers are arguing that it would be inappropriate to name anything in the area after Gandhi because of its historical connection to the massacre of slaves.  My question is how do Parade, Middle or Promenade honour the memory of those that were murdered?

these names don't honour the names of the murdered slaves

hamilton greene is being careful with his words here because of racial tensions that exists in guyana at the moment

the real reason behind the push-back on naming anything in that area after Ghandi is 1) the history of the murdered slaves and 2) because or what Ghandi is reported to have written and said about black south africans during their struggle against racism at that time

number 2 above is the real showstopper

S
Last edited by Spugum

African group repudiates call for Middle St to be renamed after Gandhi


…says request an affront to African Guyanese

The 1823 Coalition Committee has signaled its opposition to the renaming of Middle Street after Mahatma Gandhi.
At a ceremony on Sunday, Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Srinivasa requested that the Government of Guyana rename Middle Street to honour M.K Gandhi.
“We vigorously oppose this attempt by Dr, Srinivasa to impose the veneration of a person that is known for his racism against African people more so when the world is waking up and condemning Gandhi and in some countries are removing his statues with haste,” the statement read.

The group noted that one of the first battles Gandhi fought after coming to South Africa was over the separate entrances for whites and blacks at the Durban post office. Gandhi objected that Indians were “classed with the natives of South Africa,” who he called the kaffirs, and demanded a separate entrance for Indians. The group noted that in an open letter to the Natal Parliament in 1893, Gandhi wrote:
“I venture to point out that both the English and the Indians spring from a common stock, called the Indo-Aryan. … A general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.”

Protesting the decision of Johannesburg municipal authorities to allow Africans to live alongside Indians Gandhi wrote in 1904 that the council “must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians, I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen.”

In response to the White League’s agitation against Indian immigration and the proposed importation of Chinese labour, Gandhi wrote in 1903: “We believe also that the white race in South Africa should be the predominating race.”
** quoted from book “The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire.”

According to the group a little-known fact of Guyanese History is that Middle Street featured prominently in the events that defined the aftermath of the 1823 Demerara Revolution. “It was on Middle Street the key participants of that revolution were made to drag their coffins behind them on their way to what can only be described as the worst Court Sitting in the history of our beloved country.”
“The Good High Commissioner Dr Srinivasa must have read about the 1823 Demerara Revolution and should be aware of its importance in the struggle for freedom not only for Guyanese but right-thinking people across the world. Hence to suggest naming that last road the heroes of the 1823 Revolt walked on before they were beheaded and some of their heads made to adorn Middle Street as decorations must surely be an oversight.”

The group said the suggestion to rename Middle Street after a man that showed such contempt and disdain for African people is an affront to all Africans and right-thinking persons.
“We honour and commemorate our brave Ancestors that fought against the worst form of human degradation described by the United Nations as the greatest crime against humanity
We call on the Government of Guyana to stand with African Guyanese against this humiliating and disrespectful request which is truly an insult to all freedom loving peoples.”
[7:22 PM, 10/4/2021] John Smith: A statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the famed Indian independence leader, has been removed from a university campus in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

https://villagevoicenews.com/2...enamed-after-gandhi/

S
Last edited by Spugum

It is wrong to name anywhere after any foreigner. When the Whites ruled the world, they did it claiming places and landmarks had no names. Or, the thinking of native ignorance.

In India, Gandhi is not freely accepted. The Sikhs hate him for agreeing to division of the Punjab to the muslims.

When the Venoes take over Guyana, everything will be Hispanic.

Stupid Guyanese people more riled up bout a renaming rather than good government. Same intensity for good governance.

Is Irfaan that stupid to change the name of the place? Or all of this is more racist rhetoric.

S
@Spugum posted:

African group repudiates call for Middle St to be renamed after Gandhi


…says request an affront to African Guyanese

The 1823 Coalition Committee has signaled its opposition to the renaming of Middle Street after Mahatma Gandhi.
At a ceremony on Sunday, Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Srinivasa requested that the Government of Guyana rename Middle Street to honour M.K Gandhi.
“We vigorously oppose this attempt by Dr, Srinivasa to impose the veneration of a person that is known for his racism against African people more so when the world is waking up and condemning Gandhi and in some countries are removing his statues with haste,” the statement read.

The group noted that one of the first battles Gandhi fought after coming to South Africa was over the separate entrances for whites and blacks at the Durban post office. Gandhi objected that Indians were “classed with the natives of South Africa,” who he called the kaffirs, and demanded a separate entrance for Indians. The group noted that in an open letter to the Natal Parliament in 1893, Gandhi wrote:
“I venture to point out that both the English and the Indians spring from a common stock, called the Indo-Aryan. … A general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.”

Protesting the decision of Johannesburg municipal authorities to allow Africans to live alongside Indians Gandhi wrote in 1904 that the council “must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians, I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen.”

In response to the White League’s agitation against Indian immigration and the proposed importation of Chinese labour, Gandhi wrote in 1903: “We believe also that the white race in South Africa should be the predominating race.”
** quoted from book “The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire.”

According to the group a little-known fact of Guyanese History is that Middle Street featured prominently in the events that defined the aftermath of the 1823 Demerara Revolution. “It was on Middle Street the key participants of that revolution were made to drag their coffins behind them on their way to what can only be described as the worst Court Sitting in the history of our beloved country.”
“The Good High Commissioner Dr Srinivasa must have read about the 1823 Demerara Revolution and should be aware of its importance in the struggle for freedom not only for Guyanese but right-thinking people across the world. Hence to suggest naming that last road the heroes of the 1823 Revolt walked on before they were beheaded and some of their heads made to adorn Middle Street as decorations must surely be an oversight.”

The group said the suggestion to rename Middle Street after a man that showed such contempt and disdain for African people is an affront to all Africans and right-thinking persons.
“We honour and commemorate our brave Ancestors that fought against the worst form of human degradation described by the United Nations as the greatest crime against humanity
We call on the Government of Guyana to stand with African Guyanese against this humiliating and disrespectful request which is truly an insult to all freedom loving peoples.”
[7:22 PM, 10/4/2021] John Smith: A statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the famed Indian independence leader, has been removed from a university campus in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

https://villagevoicenews.com/2...enamed-after-gandhi/

Y’all barking up the wrong tree, y’all need to direct y’all outrage to the slave master who committed these atrocities. They are still around plying their trade, they may not have coolies and blacks in physical chains but they have the nation’s resources in virtual chains in contracts  they signed. The coolie man was sort of enslaved himself, he never owned a slave but the real slave owners got us right where they wants us - at each other throats while they laugh all the way to the bank..hahahahaha [maniacal laughter]

sachin_05
Last edited by sachin_05
@sachin_05 posted:

Y’all barking up the wrong tree, y’all need to direct y’all outrage to the slave master who committed these atrocities. They are still around plying their trade, they may not have coolies and blacks in physical chains but they have the nation’s resources in virtual chains in contracts  they signed. The coolie man was sort of enslaved himself, he never owned a slave but the real slave owners got us right where they wants us - at each other throats while they laugh all the way to the bank..hahahahaha [maniacal laughter]

You so chupid even when you make a valid point you laugh like a hyena in heat.  Nevertheless, you do make a valid point in this post. 

T

Ali Khan has West African, Chinese and East Indian genes in him.  After recently reading what Gandhi wrote about Indians with African women and knowing many East Indian families in Guyana got their start from African Guyanese women.  I cannot for the life of me look at Gandhi the same way ever again.

Ali Khan Azad
Last edited by Ali Khan Azad

Ali Khan has West African, Chinese and East Indian genes in him.  After recently reading what Gandhi wrote about Indians with African women and knowing many East Indian families in Guyana got their start from African Guyanese women.  I cannot for the life of me look at Gandhi the same way ever again.

Dem sey, "Criticisms should be palatable just incase it has to be eaten later." Poor Gandhi aint around to aoplogise. He muss been forgiven, both Mandela and Martin Luther found him favourabe. Then again those men faced white ppl tyranny suh deh know who Gandhi was dealing with.

Gandhi had infinite wisdom and he is quoted many times by prominent ppl. Dem stupid azz bruddahs can never hope to achieve the graces of prominent Afroes.

Solomon said, " Those who have increase in knowledge also have increase in sorrows." He is a whiteman doan expect bruddahs to buy into his wisdom. Dislike Aglo-Aryans at all cost.

S

Like Middle Street which was Middle Dam, Sawmill Dam in Rossignol got named after hundreds of years having no name. Then re-named Burnham's Avenue- a real eyes pass to the Indians living on the Sawmill Dam.

S
@Totaram posted:

You so chupid even when you make a valid point you laugh like a hyena in heat.  Nevertheless, you do make a valid point in this post.

Exactly what Sachin is saying, you are proving his point.

K
@sachin_05 posted:

Y’all barking up the wrong tree, y’all need to direct y’all outrage to the slave master who committed these atrocities. They are still around plying their trade, they may not have coolies and blacks in physical chains but they have the nation’s resources in virtual chains in contracts  they signed. The coolie man was sort of enslaved himself, he never owned a slave but the real slave owners got us right where they wants us - at each other throats while they laugh all the way to the bank..hahahahaha [maniacal laughter]

something odd is going on here

if an indian leader makes racist comments or implements racist policies towards blacks and is called out some indians think that is being anti-indian, why?

edi amin's actions were racist and indians rightfully called him out and still do. i know indians who were actual victims of amin's racist policies. but i don't know any blacks who think that indians that felt the brunt of amin's racism and speak out about it is being anti-black

if an indian says burnham was racist towards him why should i think he's being anti-black based on just that? i may choose to find out a bit more about why he feels that way but that's it

S
@seignet posted:

Dem sey, "Criticisms should be palatable just incase it has to be eaten later." Poor Gandhi aint around to aoplogise. He muss been forgiven, both Mandela and Martin Luther found him favourabe. Then again those men faced white ppl tyranny suh deh know who Gandhi was dealing with.

Gandhi had infinite wisdom and he is quoted many times by prominent ppl. Dem stupid azz bruddahs can never hope to achieve the graces of prominent Afroes.

Solomon said, " Those who have increase in knowledge also have increase in sorrows." He is a whiteman doan expect bruddahs to buy into his wisdom. Dislike Aglo-Aryans at all cost.

ghandi was well admired and inspired many black leaders engaged in the struggle to free their people from oppression. mlk and mandela were impressed with some of his methods

it was later that a side to ghandi emerged that didn't sit well with black people

it's like being in a relationship with a woman you love and admire only to find out later that she isn't what you thought she was

S
@seignet posted:

Dem sey, "Criticisms should be palatable just incase it has to be eaten later." Poor Gandhi aint around to aoplogise. He muss been forgiven, both Mandela and Martin Luther found him favourabe. Then again those men faced white ppl tyranny suh deh know who Gandhi was dealing with.

Gandhi had infinite wisdom and he is quoted many times by prominent ppl. Dem stupid azz bruddahs can never hope to achieve the graces of prominent Afroes.

Solomon said, " Those who have increase in knowledge also have increase in sorrows." He is a whiteman doan expect bruddahs to buy into his wisdom. Dislike Aglo-Aryans at all cost.

didn't his "infinite wisdom" taught him that homo sapiens originated in africa?

look, worship him if you want but don't expect everyone will

S
@Spugum posted:

.........it's like being in a relationship with a woman you love and admire only to find out later that she isn't what you thought she was.

Yehhh, especially if it's found she got the same sexual organs, ow me laaawd!.

cain
Last edited by cain

Koolies are a divided crabdog fight up people.  Nevertheless, this should not mean that they should be hated by West African Guyanese racist hate. This does not mean that I support the naming of the street Gandhi. It means that the issue should not be used by antikoolie racist dogs as a way to antikoolie race hate the koolie.

Prashad
@Prashad posted:

Koolies are a divided crabdog fight up people.  Nevertheless, this should not mean that they should be hated by West African Guyanese racist hate. This does not mean that I support the naming of the street Gandhi. It means that the issue should not be used by antikoolie racist dogs as a way to antikoolie race hate the koolie.

aloo - how are you? what's the weather like at your end?

S

Gandhi renaming

Last Saturday Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s 152nd birth anniversary was observed at his statue in the Promenade Gardens. In attendance, as has become customary, was India’s High Commissioner to Guyana, in this case, Dr K J Srinivasa, who reflected on the Mahatma’s efforts to make the world a better place. A lawyer, politician and social activist who fought for social equality, peace and the end of British colonial rule in India, Gandhi is probably most associated in the popular mind outside his homeland with the practice of passive resistance. His non-violent methods of confronting oppression of one kind or another have inspired various leaders, the best known of whom is probably Dr Martin Luther King.

During the course of his remarks Dr Srinivasa expressed the hope that the Government of Guy-ana would consider renaming both the Prome-nade Gardens and Middle Street in Gandhi’s honour. This has undoubtedly taken many people in the society somewhat aback, if not the government as well, since it has something of the whiff of presumption about it. One could hardly imagine the American Ambassador to India, for example, proposing in a public context that Prime Minister Modi’s government should rename a street in New Delhi after a leading US figure.

Be that as it may, the Indian High Commis-sioner would have been well advised to dispatch one of his officers to undertake a little research before launching into his expressions of hope, or alternatively test the waters at an unofficial level first. Had he done so he would have discovered that in the first instance the Guyana government does not have the power to rename streets, etc; that is something which comes under the purview of the City Council. It is the case that the Mayor and City Council acceded to the erection of the statue some years ago, but the renaming proposition is an altogether different cup of tea. A more cautious approach might also have alerted Dr Srinivasa to the likelihood that his proposal could prove a source of contention, 

Guyana is a multi-racial society dominated at present by two large ethnic groups, one Indian, one African. While achieving some measure of equilibrium in the political sphere does not appear to be on the immediate horizon, the society has done rather better in the social and cultural realm – admittedly with some lapses. The renaming of streets and institutions in many countries can be a sensitive issue, and that is particularly the case here, where so much of our history is reflected in our nomenclature.

Much of Georgetown was created out of the front lands of the lower Demerara estates, which is why it retains quite a number of plantation names − which are not associated with the period of Indian immigration − or the names of their owners and former owners. In a general sense Guyanese, including Georgetown residents, have been very mature about the toponymy of their coastal strip, viewing it as a reminder of the world where their forebears laboured and suffered, and where their bones were finally laid to rest.

There have been comparatively few name changes in the capital, and only one on the grounds that a street had been named after a particularly offensive individual. This was the brutal Lieutenant-Gover-nor Murray, who oversaw the suppression of the 1823 rising which was put down with unbelievable barbarity. Since 1984 that roadway has been named Quamina Street, after the titular head of the revolt.

There have been a few other name changes over the years which do not fall into the Murray Street category. At the time of Independence, for example, a portion of High Street was renamed Avenue of the Republic, an amendment which the residents of the capital readily accepted, as well as the rechristening of the Parade Ground as Independence Park, which they did not. While Independence Park is acknowledged as the official name, most people still refer to the space as the Parade Ground, perhaps partly because it has never really looked like a park.

It so happens that the High Commissioner is asking for an area with painful historical associations to be renamed. It is connected to the 1823 East Coast Demerara insurrection, during which hardly any whites were killed, although they were subjected to a reversal of roles for a time. Even what was described as the major battle at Bachelor’s Adventure could hardly qualify as such; this was no 1763, when serious fighting took place. For all of that it was put down with unimaginable ferocity.

Some of those who were seized by the militia or military were executed on the Parade Ground by hanging, following a trial which hardly qualified for the name. A few of those who it was arbitrarily decided were leaders in their area were beheaded after death, and their heads placed on poles in the fort. Joshua Bryant, an artist who served in the militia and wrote an account of the rising, also illustrated it, and his most gruesome drawing depicts heads on poles by the sea.

The point about the Parade Ground is that it had once included what is now the Promenade Gardens as well. The land comprised 16 lots from Cummings-burg, and in 1812 was handed over to Lieutenant-Governor Hugh Carmichael by Thomas Mewburn on behalf of Thomas Cuming, as somewhere the troops and militia could parade and exercise. It was bisected by a path called Middle Walk, which has given its name to Middle Street. Those condemned in 1823 were taken down Middle Walk to be executed somewhere on this larger Parade Ground; it is not certain exactly where that was.

After the militia stopped mustering, the Parade Ground was left in a state of neglect, although it did boast an astronomical observatory. In 1843, a plan was put before the Town Council to create ornamental public walks on the Ground, but it did not meet with much enthusiasm. The historian James Rodway refers to a somewhat eccentric design with a temple at either end, which the Gazette newspaper wrote off as too much of a “supper tray pattern.”

There were other proposals as well, but the creation of a garden did not excite too much interest until the beach promenade was washed away in the course of this country’s cycle of erosion and accretion along the littoral. The city had once had a beach which had served the capital’s population as a place of recreation in much the same way as the seawall near the bandstand was later to do. As mentioned, it was referred to the beach promenade, hence the name Promenade Gardens.

The Town Council finally agreed to the creation of a garden on a portion of the Parade Ground in 1851, and a subscription list was opened, the Governor giving $500 to start it off, with the Council then augmenting it with a similar sum. Two years later, they agreed to ask Trinidad for someone from their Botanical Gardens to come here and lay out the Promenade Gardens.

In other words, this is a corner of the city with a history which is mirrored in its names. The Mahatma, good soul though he was, had no connection to this country, except at a very tangential level in so far as he opposed Indian indentureship in general. But for the residents of Georgetown, place names have significance and provide a direct link to our past. Gandhi has a statue, which is good, but even he, as the most humble of men, would possibly not have sanctioned having his name superimposed on those of the area around it.

Django

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