Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Fanning Racial Divisions Will Distract Belizeans
Fanning Racial Divisions Will Distract Belizeans
Garinagu and Mayas of southern Belize, for example, are not by coincidence and have deep historical roots not yet
effectively addressed.
We the people have to be very careful that this concentrated emotionally divisive national response does not distract
from the bigger picture of our national development. When reactive emotional responses take root, individually or
collectively, genuine listening, critical thinking and the objective analysis of all angles of facts and information can
get lost, and the truth blinded.
Ironically, it is the lack of understanding, awareness and goodwill, the lack of respect and connection with our
common humanity and the rush to judgement of others that form the seeds of discrimination, sexism, and racism.
These very qualities have prevented true nation building and have kept our nation torn by political, religious, social
and ethnic divisiveness.
Through mediation, Mr. Myles and the Maya Leadership can still reconcile and resolve this issue peacefully. They
ought not to allow this to drag on for long.
What this incident reveals is that there is still need for dialog towards genuine respect for all cultures in Belize. We
havent yet begin to heal as a nation as political divisiveness continue to cloud many nation building issues. Our
nation is yet to articulate a common vision and long term plan derived from the people. There is a paucity of
leadership while political parties are engaged in narrow destructive ego games. Political discourse have remained
destructive, immorally distorting of truth and bearing of false witness against others: most embarrassingly poor
examples for our upcoming generation.
While we try to resolve these and many other issues, we have to check our proverbial small change. We might be
grossly distracted by the noise around to avoid looking at more pressing issues such as Belizes burgeoning and
unsustainable debt, unresolved unfounded Guatemalan claim, increasingly fractured democracy, discriminatory
justice system, lack of accountability in the management of public finances and resources, the paucity of leadership
to nurture a robust democracy, and so many other issues.
The need to heal our racial divide speaks to the failure of such institutions like our archaic churches that have
remained uninspiring in their hollowed sepulchre of increasingly alienating European traditions and deities. It was
their role to nurture peace, and to inspire love and community, respect and the foundations that fuel the human
spirit through these challenges. They cannot even attract the youths.
Our education system also has not effectively prepared our youths to engage in critical national development issues
either. Many still graduate without the awareness of Belizes history, our Constitution nor understand how we are
governed. As a result, many are rendered emotionally vulnerable to whims and fancies of slick politicians who can
easily sway their decisions. A more dynamic education could have also nurtured more cross cultural experiential
learning opportunities for it is the lack of such in depth understanding that have a number of leaders (hardly exposed
to the lives and culture of others) ingrained in a condescending discriminatory ego-filled behaviour against others
who they view as lesser beings.
It is the gross lack of understanding about indigenous rights, as well as the rights of Afro-descendant people
nationally and internationally, including its historical roots and objectives that is also causing a rift in the nation.
There is need for a serious discussion about this, but people must take the initiative to also do their own research
about our common oppressive histories and current trends.
We cannot continue to fan discrimination against each other as Belizeans. Rather we need strategies and actions for
bridging gaps, for healing and for appreciating one another. The intent to continue to divide and conquer us as a
people is from a much bigger source. As Belizeans squabble, there are international interests for continuing to own
more of our land and resources while we prevent our own fellow Belizeans from living as they wish. When hundreds
of thousands of acres of Belizean land are granted to foreign entities in concessions or for ownership, for example,
no one seems to mind. Certainly those blocks of foreign-born owned lands are totally out of bounds for any Belizean.
In this global play of huge stakes, if we as Belizeans continue to fan the seeds of division and continue to assault our
own fellow Belizeans, we shall perish together. As the saying goes, Its not about the noise around the market,
check your change. Check? Dividing Belizeans against one another is a game that the colonizers played well to
achieve their selfish objectives.
There are big people who feel hurt that the rights of the Mayas are constitutionally and internationally recognized
and affirmed. They have their greedy interests. As they seek to continue to undermine plans for indigenous
management of resources, they seek to set up native Belizeans to fight against each other. While they seek to
hoodwink us, others are working to dominate and play footsie with our natural resources, our economics, our
public finances, our governance and eventually all of us. Those who speak out, they want to hush.
Just check around your towns and cities, for example. Who owns most of the resources? Who are becoming richer?
Who are becoming poorer? We have to rise above the jealousy, the deceit, the alienation of one group against the
other and see the big picture of what is happening to our nation. Lets stop the quarrel and channel our energies
resolving the bigger picture. Lets heal and unite, all of us. The power is in our hands. We the people. Belizeans.
Respect!