Dear Editor,
Now that the US presidential and other elections are over for this American election cycle, Guyanese Americans need to review their participation and in-volvement in the process. Although there was a lot of excitement over the presidential candidate, and justifiably so, I did not observe a lot of involvement in getting out the votes for their candidate.
Politics is not a spectator sport; one cannot stay on the sidelines and expect positive results.
Involvement is important in order to receive better representation from elected officials.
And involvement requires more than simple registration and voting (although those two steps are crucial and must be undertaken even if nothing else is attempted). Guyanese should consider volunteering for campaigns and become donors to candidates so that they wield influence the way South Asian Indians and Israelis or other groups do.
In America, money talks. Big organizations also wield political clout.
So Guyanese organizations should consider forming a federation to speak with American politicians with a strong voice.
Next year, there will be mayoral elections in NY. Guyanese need to start preparing themselves to become involved in the process.
Since the 1980s, I have volunteered for the campaigns of many politicians, including the first African American NY Mayor David Dinkins and the first African American President-elect Barack Obama.
While others were cheering on the sidelines, I was working the phone, through my teachers’ union, or handing out palm cards, etc, imploring people to vote for Obama in battleground states.
Guyanese-Americans need to become more actively involved in the political process if they want their voices heard.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram