Dear Editor,
The Sunday Stabroek editorial of October 8, 2023, titled “Diaspora politics,” evinced willfully ignorant and malicious propaganda from the autocratic PPP ethnocracy and its racist enablers.
The editorial pronounced on the Washington Conference on Guyana, which has obviously traumatized the racist regime without speaking to a single organizer or delegate to determine the conference’s objective, strategy or outcome. Rather, it postulated from odious rhetoric and malicious propaganda emanating from the most mendacious people in the PPP.
The unprecedented intellectual laziness and appalling paucity of knowledge, facts and accuracy, which characterized the editorial, is the epitome of unprofessional and reckless journalism.
The editorial falsely stated that Democratic Leader in the US Congress, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, was “appointed’ Minority Leader in the House of Representatives… and that “prior to his most recent appointment, he was the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).”
Nowhere in the Caribbean region will one find editorial writing that is so uninformed and riddled with misinformation. Leader Jeffries was elected Minority Leader, not appointed. Second, he was not Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) prior to his election as Minority Leader. He was actually Chairman of the “Democratic” Caucus in the House of Representatives. He was never Chairman of the CBC.
The editorial’s falsities continued. It claimed that “Mr Rickford Burke of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy was presumably not unmindful of the opportunity an association with him (Leader Jeffries) would present, and clearly established a relationship. The connection became apparent in the Congressman’s statements in 2021 and last year which harmonized with the position CGID was promoting.”
This misinformation inevitably found its way in to the editorial because the writer consumes extremist hogwash disseminated by racists. One would think that the writer would confer with me before writing about the origins of my relationship with Leader Jeffries. The truth is that Leader Jeffries and I have been friends for over 23 years – way before he entered politics. I was honoured to be part of his first political campaign. This ignorance vindicates my contention that the writer did absolutely no research.
The presumptuous lie that I set out to establish a friendship with Leader Jeffries because of his leadership advancements in Congress diminishes the credibility of Stabroek News; albeit it is dangerous politicking to advance the propaganda narrative of the PPP axis that only they alone should benefit from relationships with powerful people – the result of their ethnic supremacy complex which motivates their hegemony.
The editorial pompously asserted that “while Mr Burke is a talented lobbyist, his perspective in relation to this country’s party politics fall at the extremist end of the spectrum and are counterproductive at a minimum, if not potentially destabilising. As it is, he will have to face a criminal charge should he return to Guyana.”
First, CGID and I are prepared to be destabilizing if that’s what it takes to end PPP racism. Second, it is disrespectful to African Guyanese for Stabroek News to claim that our struggle for equality, equal rights and justice, an inclusive democracy, inclusive growth and justice is “extremist.”
Is it extremist to condemn the Guyana Police Force for persecuting African Guyanese political enemies of the PPP, and using cybercrime laws to suppress dissent and free speech?
Is it extremist to condemn the bulldozing of the African Guyanese homes at Mocha, Hill Foot and other areas?
CGID is an American organization, not a Guyanese organization. We conform to US laws, and not the double standards by racists, who make it “taboo” to expose their racism. We will dismantle their defense mechanisms and speak to power.
The editor’s audacious claim that if Mr Jeffries, who as an African American understands the struggle against racism, now sounds less like Mr Burke, and more like Ambassador Lynch, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, it is because he now has “wider access to information”, is wild speculation and an insult to the Congressman and his staff.
How dare the writer suggest that the second most powerful African American politician in America is unaware of the facts?
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ambassador Lynch who called for inclusion and inclusive growth, are executive branch officials who practice American diplomacy. Leader Jeffries and Members of Congress Yvette Clarke, Hank Johnson and Albio Sires, who called for an end to discrimination, directly represent the voices of their constituents. They speak truth to power, not nice words to appease racist governments.
It is disgraceful for the editor to endorse the PPP regime’s propaganda that I “will have to face a criminal charge should he return to Guyana” for the views I express on my talk show. I cannot be charged with a crime in Guyana for exercising my rights under the US constitution. The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has no jurisdiction over my speech.
Moreover, the Attorney General of Guyana wrote the US government in an effort to silence me, and the Justice Department rejected his allegations.
In conclusion let me educate Stabroek News that the vast majority of African Guyanese and other non PPP supporters embrace the positions CGID and I have taken regarding the PPP government ‘s discrimination against Blacks. We are therefore undaunted by their racist labels.
I will continue to boldly speak truth to power and work to dismantle the PPP racism in Guyana. Stabroek News should join this noble cause, and stop being an apologist for racists.
Yours faithfully,
Rickford Burke
President
Caribbean Guyana Institute for
Democracy (CGID)