Dear Editor,
On May 27, Mr Rickey Singh made a vitriolic attack on me in the Stabroek News, in response to my letter criticizing the editor-in-chief/publisher, Mr David de Caires, and his newspaper for pursuing an anti-black agenda. The baleful machinations behind the publication of my letter notwithstanding, I stand by my contentions and cede no ground to those who would pervert human nature in their exercise of prejudice.
Singh, an apologist for the PPP, penned a letter characterized by hypocrisy, which conversely epitomizes his own circumstance. He claimed that I am racist for denouncing Stabroek’s anti-black posture; that I have an “enormous personal ego;” that I spew “rabid racism”; that I offered no evidence to support my criticism, and that he has personal knowledge that Mr de Caires made no deal with the PPP government in exchange for the restoration of government ads to his newspaper – all a maze of hyperbolic hot-air.
Despite his loquaciousness, he did not address or contradict any of my assertions. Let me be clear, I condemned what I believed to be an anti-black agenda. I did not condemn Mr de Caires, his race or him because of his race. I mentioned as a passing fact that, like my grandfather, he is Portuguese Guyanese. This constituted or intended no offence. Mr de Caires knows that I have incessantly expressed concern over the agenda of Stabroek News.
I jocularly note Singh’s arrogant claim of a monopoly on the facts of Stabroek’s presumed dealings with the government.
He has perennially disparaged Afro-Caribbean leaders.
His latest attack echoed President Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP talking points. Of interest, is his investment in another attack on me, as well as the PPP/C’s obsession with me, to the point where the Chronicle routinely makes me the focal point of its partisan ‘phantom letter’ dialogue.
But is this PPP epigastric distress not inexplicable? I have spoken out forcefully against discrimination and subjugation of Afro-Guyanese and others of all races. But specifically, the ‘eye-pass’ of Blacks by racists, intellectual liliputians and those of an insular posture, must stop!
Rickey Singh has ascended a haughty, moral pedestal, from which he attempts to selectively lecture me on political morality, but he must first clean out his own closet, lest his shaky clutch on the moral precipice from which he makes judgments about others erodes.
Racism is the innate belief that one race is superior or inferior to another and the materialization of that belief in a social system in the form of separatism and segregation, and mistreatment or condemnation of an individual because of their race or ethnicity. The imposition of ethnocratic politics in a multiracial, multicultural society, like Guyana, is a most vile manifestation of racism. An individual who conforms to the latter philosophies is racist.
I challenge Rickey Singh to quote one word from me or aspect of my life, where I have condemned another race, practised racism or promoted racial superiority. I have and will always reject racism. So I welcome a debate on racism, the emergence of a PPP ethnocracy, the various anti-black agendas, and the marginalization of the African Guyanese collective.
Any African Guyanese, who denounces racism and the pursuance of anti-black agendas, is automatically branded a ‘racist.’ Are we to remain silent in the face of this evil? This hypocrisy strengthens my resolve to fight this scourge. I am not afraid of labels. History will show that the African collective fought and died for its causes and beliefs. It is this indomitable will and resilience that brought an end to slavery.
I am Guyanese of mixed ancestry; mainly African, Indian and Portuguese, who considers myself Black. If, by Rickey Singh’s standards, I am branded a racist for condemning racism and for rejecting an anti-black agenda, then so be it. Intolerance has always yielded denial, psychological role reversals and the diminution of its denunciation.
Of course I advocate for those whose ‘perspective’ I share; the indigent and casualties of discrimination and injustice. I rise to defend the Chief Magistrate of Guyana, Ms Juliet Holder-Allen, impenitently. She is my friend. Her removal from office was unjust and unlawful. I deplore the fact that her appeal has not been allowed to proceed.
There is nothing inaccurate, Mr Singh, about my representations that Stabroek News attempted to trivialize the press conference at which she accused the government of racial discrimination. What was inaccurate was the pathetic excuse by the editor who claimed that he did not cover the story immediately because Ms Holder-Allen said nothing new – a patent falsehood.
The Chief Magistrate proffered that her press conference was in pursuance of President Bharrat Jagdeo’s imputation on TV, that she had done something wrong. She was perfectly right to challenge President Jagdeo’s comments. It is disingenuous for Stabroek News to claim nothing new was offered.
In my judgment, were she not an African-Guyanese woman, the story would have received wall-to-wall coverage. When the government pulled ads from Stabroek, they mounted a continuous campaign in protest because it was a grave injustice, which I condemned as well. So why then isn’t the unconstitutional removal of the Chief Magistrate and the denial of her due process rights, not worthy of continuous reporting?
Further, ever since the publication of the editor’s note to my letter on May 24, Ms Holder-Allen has written the editor challenging his contentions and objecting to his condescension. However, Stabroek has again refused to publish her letter. Why is it that this newspaper cannot demonstrate the professional responsibility of publishing a letter by the Chief Magistrate which seeks to correct the record? It is disrespectful and negates the obligation to professional integrity.
Moreover, I stand by my contentions that the opposition march of May 15 was not covered by Stabroek. Instead, the paper obscurely reported that the PNC held an “unlawful procession despite no police approval.” Subsequently it published an editorial on May 18 that sought to criminalize the participants and denigrate the Afro-Guyanese constituency of the PNCR.
This editorial was harshly condemned by many Afro-Guyanese leaders. Rickey Singh or the Stabroek cannot tell the African Guyanese collective what should or should not offend it. They must know their place! The professional course for Stabroek was a rapprochement with this collectivity, not more arrogance.
With regard to the suspension of the licence of Sharma TV Channel 6, I maintain that the story was diminished by Stabroek, apparently for political reasons. Its editorial on the matter, which came days later, was a fable, a tortuous denunciation of President Jagdeo’s unlawful act.
Now that Singh has presumptively found his moral compass, he must comment on the revelation by a US Federal Judge that Roger Khan’s death squad has killed over 200 persons; the torture of individuals by certain GDF officers and the Defence Board’s failure to release the report; and the
matter of the Bell helicopters.
He must also comment on the Buddy’s Hotel scandal involving a $178M taxpayer loan, the scandal surrounding the privatization of the Sanata Textile Mill Company, the infiltration of a drug cartel into the police force, the emerging scandal regarding the construction of the Marriot Hotel, the imprisonment of Mark Benschop for five years without a trial, the murder of journalist Ronald Waddell, etc.
Furthermore, Singh, in his letter, also asserted that I have in the past been “contemptuous and dismissive” of PNCR Leader, Robert Corbin, and had stated that I did not support Vincent Alexander’s bid for the leadership of the PNCR at the last Congress. He then attempted to lead readers into speculating about my political ambitions. This is another regurgitation of PPP talking points.
I am happy to note that I am independent minded enough to criticize any leader, of any race, across the political continuum, be it PPP, PNCR or AFC. But can Rickey Singh say the same?
His rising to Mr Corbin’s defence is hilarious. As much as I have had serious disagreements with Mr Corbin, his failures pale in comparison to those of the corrupt PPP. So Singh’s attempt to be a wedge driver is pedestrian at best. As a common enemy, my message to him is – mind your own business!Yours faithfully,
Rickford Burke
Editor’s note
1. We repeat: Stabroek News did not make any deal with the government for the return of advertisements; the coverage of the PNCR march was not made into an obscure story; and we have given expansive coverage to the Channel 6 issue. If Mr Burke does not think so, he must be reading a different paper from the Stabroek News.
2. We also repeat: The Sunday editorial of May 18 was not about ‘denigrating’ the African constituency of the PNCR; it was mainly about the rising political temperature for which the PPP/C was equally blamed, and the counter-productive tactics of the main opposition party in the context of the government’s current problems.
3. With regard to a letter sent by Ms Holder-Allen: There was an e-mail communication from the former Chief Magistrate, but the file was empty save for words to the effect that it was hard to keep a good man down. There was also no attachment. We can only recommend that she send the letter again.
