Dear Editor,

Dr. Randy Persaud, a man of letters I am assured, uses the opportunity of the tragic shooting of two Guyanese immigrants in Bridgetown to make the presumptuous claim that it is racism as instigated by Dr. Kean Gibson and Rickford Burke and BARBADOS UNDERGROUND, more so than anti-immigrant sentiment or garden-variety crime that is responsible. (He examines Freddy Kissoon participation also, but decides to absolve him.)

The police investigators in Barbados may want to study Persaud's allegations for clues as to who the perpetrators are. Better yet, the Guyana authorities could employ Persaud's line of reasoning to the task of solving the dozens of murders that traumatize that benighted country.

But in all seriousness, this Persaud article is as Goebells-like as any that has ever issued from the pens of the special breed of sycophants who prop up the crooks who run Guyana.

Persaud must be familiar, as I am, with the hate-filled Blogs and Chat-groups such as GUYANA UNDER SIEGE and ‘OurGuyana@YahooGroups,' Guyanafriends.com, etc, that entertain certain Guyanese communities in North America. He would also be familiar with some of the purely ethnic organizations like the INDO CARIBBEAN COUNCIL of New York that vigorously promote and defend the Guyana government, even to the detriment of those of us who may not be avid supporters of the ruling party nor belong to the ruling race. But I am not aware that he has ever sought to link the supremacist rhetoric and activities of these groups to violence against Guyanese immigrants in North America. So how come this mealy-mouthed analysis applied to the situation in Barbados?

This question fills me with the greatest of unease as it indicates Persaud's embrace of a policy (some would say program) of exclusive dictation of the parameters and pace of political discourse in Guyana, and now apparently the remainder of the Caribbean.

I am charging that a group that now holds state power, or is closely connected to those who hold power in Guyana is bent on convincing black people in Guyana and the international community that they have nothing to complain about; that they never had it so good; that there is no government effort to discriminate against them; that it is their leaders who mislead them and are the cause of all the problems, especially ethnic tension and hostility…. All this as we witness a continuous assault to restrict black participation in national life by a government that all the while studiously denies it. Long-standing subventions to a tertiary educational institute run by black unionists are removed, no plausible explanation proffered; European Union funding of projects in mainly black communities-in-need is vetoed, no plausible explanation proffered; Karan Singh is rehabilitated to once again head the national Water Authority and promptly fires 23 black employees replacing them with East-Indians, no plausible explanation proffered; and so it goes, on and on.

But Persaud informs us that pointing this out is a "racialized construction of the political climate in Guyana," "in contradistinction to objective reality" and a false "impression that the PPP government is deliberately victimizing the Afro-Guyanese population." Which means, language involving vaseline that cannot be uttered in a public forum.

Then there are the killings. This terrible wanton taking of life and repulsive tallying of the dead into ledgers of "Who killed whom, and for which side;" but here the explanations are profuse, oft times venturing into the realms of the absurd. Yet the solutions evade us, and the bogie-men continue to kill with impunity.

It is as if the distress and outrage felt by most Guyanese and our brethren in the Caribbean is of no consequence, as if it couldn't possibly exist because those in power officially deny it exists, so any who continue to claim discomfort must be viewed as suspect, or worse. The reality is in the propaganda.

Persaud says he asked the editor of BARBADOS UNDERGROUND to prohibit the utterances he (Persaud) identified as offensive. This admission in itself informs us of his arrogance. Readers should be aware that Guyana government functionaries and leading apologists are now actively addressing Caribbean governments and newspapers not only to deny black allegations of wrongdoing by officialdom, but also to demand the suppression and blacklisting of spokespersons for black causes. (This effort has already largely succeeded in Guyana).

Persaud's letter, which I hope is carried in every Caribbean newspaper, especially those in Barbados where he attempts to besmirch the people of that nation, demonstrates this desire to muzzle Guyanese dissidents at home and abroad. Oliver Hinckson the political prisoner and Gordon Moseley the restricted journalist know first hand that the standards for freedom of expression may not be applicable to dissident black voices. Rickford Burke too finds himself the subject of the most orchestrated campaign of vilification that the Guyana state has put together since the time of Walter Rodney.

Where is Persaud going with this stuff? On the surface the premise is so ludicrous, so gratuitous, that one is tempted to dismiss it merely as the good doctor, in the words of the TV judge Judy Sheindlin, practicing "Peeing on our leg and telling us it is raining," keeping his hand in, so to speak. But does his muck-raking in Barbados have a more sinister purpose? Are we now witnessing the export of the disgusting politics of ethnic smear, mistrust, triumphalism and retribution from Guyana, a failing society limping along at the back of the pack in smelly rags and vile temperament? Is the rest of the Caribbean to be infected by what ails us? I hope not.

Max Hinds — New York