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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bajans, Guyanese and the Politics
of Hate
Dear Editor,
It is finally
happening. Guyanese immigrants in Barbados are now being
murdered. The attack in which
Christopher Griffith was killed, and Seelochanie Samuels
wounded, was not merely the work of bandits. It was an
anti-immigrant political killing. Apparently, Griffith was
an advocate for the Guyanese community. For many Guyanese
this might be a surprise, because, after all, we are all
West Indians, and on top of that, Barbados has this image of
being an island Paradise. Political violence
is not supposed to happen there. Barbados is supposed to be
the Singapore of the Caribbean – highly globalized, high per
capita GDP, and outranked only by the OECD countries in the
UNDP’s Human Development Index.
 Various agencies,
organizations and activists should begin to plan a response
to Prof. Matthews’ comments on the effects of violence on
our communities
Dear Editor,
Professor Lear
Matthews, of Guyana, working in the United States, has
pointedly drawn attention in Stabroek News to the widespread
violence prevalent in Guyanese society, a land where he grew
up in another kind of atmosphere. The title of the
article is ‘Social violence and mental health consequences:
Coping with the crime situation in Guyana.’ He has sounded
an alarm without raising his voice. Although he had at the
time commented on a major massacre, Jonestown, he points
with concern to Lusignan and Bartica. Since the publication
of his views, some of his statements bear repetition. Among
many things he writes, "Whatever the source of this
unprecedented assault on the citizenry, or the strategy
employed to curb it, the resulting stress and anxiety
permeate the fabric of the society and force individuals and
communities to contemplate ways of coping with what has
become a perennial public health issue."
Dr. Randy Persaud‘s Absurd
Allegations
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.
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