Guyanese Online

 May 26, 2019  Columnists, My Column -By Adam Harris

Most people in Guyana today know nothing about May 26, 1966. They simply were not around. I was and I remember the day as if it were yesterday. For starters, I was born when this country was still a British colony.

I sang God Save the Queen and Britannia Rule the Waves, Britons shall never be slaves. And like many my age, we sang lustily not knowing what we were singing. The rulers were white. There was the Police Commissioner, the Governor, the principal of my school and to my eyes, the people working behind the counter at the commercial banks.

Buildings all flew the Union Jack. As Boy Scouts we mounted that flag, sometimes incorrectly. I still remember being corrected that a broad white band marked the top of the flag. To fly it upside down was to indicate distress.

• Note: See Video below of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Guyana in 1966. just before Independence.

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