President: Avoid racists

President George Maxwell Richards warned about self-interested racists as he addressed the Maha Sabha’s Indian Arrival Day Dinner at Crowne Plaza Friday night. Richards said: “We must decide not to court hostility and contribute in any way to divisions within our communities by mindlessly following the urgings of those on whose agenda self-interest has a place of prominence.” Dubbing war to be an end result of racial prejudice, he queried whether the country was on a war footing as daily news might suggest.

He instead urged people in their interpersonal relations to build on the successes that we had so far achieved. We should recall, he said, the things we had done well together, such as those shown by the musical group Pantar and the involvement of Krishna Soogrim Ram Tassa Drummers in the hitherto Afro-centric Best Village competition. “Young peope across racial barriers are exhibiting works of art together; our people are playing music together.” He said that he was aware of concerns that the sanctity of religious festivals was being lost by the participation of non-Indians, and he urged that utmost respect be shown to religious rites. Richards hailed local  novelists and other agents of our culture, whose works told us we were not an ordinary people.      
 
“Their works record our ability to overcome the most dire circumstances including assaults on our human dignity and provide guideposts for the way ahead to future successes for all our peoples.” But he warned: “We cannot know this if we allow ourselves to be mired in the wrongs of the past and in preoccupation with the stubborn prejudices of the reactionary few.” From presentations at the recent Inaugural Symposium of the President’s Committee on Self Discovery, he observed: “What was abundantly clear is that we make wrong assumptions based on our own parochial and uninformed assessment of matters, which only help to create or exacerbate fissures in our society.”

While we must deal with any current challenges, he said, we should be careful not to be like Don Quixote, fighting imaginary windmills. “We do not necessarily lose our identity as distinct groups when certain inevitable shifts take place in our cultural characteristics because of new conditions that arise in places where we live.” He said culture is not static but is redefined and adjusted at different stages because of changed conditions. “This is not cause for alarm.” He told attendants that India itself has a strong tradition of diversity that spanned 3,000 years. Richards said local East Indians should have no fear about their continued role in the development of this country.

“Such a fear, wherever it may seek to show itself, can only tend to adversarial attitudes that do not make for the growth of a progressive nation.” He hailed the East Indian qualities of thrift, diligence, entrepreneurship, and family life which could serve us all well. “I hope you will redouble your efforts to work side by side with others who came in circumstances that may or may not be similar.”