Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter titled, ‘The Rodney commission report should be released without delay,’ (SN, February 21). It was signed by the Justice for Walter Rodney Committee and persons associated with the WPA. One person is Mr Rohit Kanhai. He is, I believe, the publisher of a newspaper in the New York tri-state area called the Caribbean Daylight.
I stand quietly with the persons who signed this letter. In similar vein, I say that our newspapers should always make public, opinions from the general public.
Let me explain. In August of 2005, the Walter Rodney 25th death commemorative event was held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located in Harlem, New York City. I covered the event for the ‘Guyana under siege’ website.
At that event, I had the honour to meet Mr Eusi Kwayana, who was generous enough to sign his name to my copy of his, The Morning After, a timely and informative commentary on the explosive situation in Buxton, shortly after 2001.
As I spoke briefly with Mr Kwayana, Mr Rohit Kanhai intervened. I immediately asked why his newspaper did not generally publish articles from members of the public. His response was: “No one has anything new to say.” If I recalled correctly, Mr Kwayana objected, “No. You should publish and let the public decide.”
The Caribbean Daylight has its own brand of news, and its few selected persons whose opinions it publishes. While the business community in the Richmond Hill, Queens area have supported this paper tremendously, the interests of the people of this area are almost never reflected in this paper. Their money is good, but not their opinions.
I hope the Caribbean Daylight would embrace those persons it has for too long ignored. I speak from personal experience. Many years ago, when I first came to the US and studied journalism, I, like other students, was required to get reports published in local newspapers.
As I was new in the US, I knew not where or to whom to turn. Someone mentioned the Caribbean Daylight and I naturally asked for assistance. To date, I got no response.
I kept the returned receipt from the postal service all these years, evidence of receipt of my letter. I did so because I was the only student in my class who had no report published that semester. It is time for the Caribbean Daylight to publish writings from members of the public. I believe that Dr Rodney would have liked that.
Yours faithfully,
Rakesh Rampertab