Guyana is as divided as ever

Oct 18, 2009 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Sometimes we think too much of ourselves and when reality hits home we suffer a big come down. That is when we argue that people disrespect us. Then we blame those among us for the disrespect.
On Friday when Shaheed Roger Khan came up for sentencing in Brooklyn New York court, in accordance with a plea bargain that he had reached with United States prosecutors, many things were made clear to me. Of course, in the run up to the sentencing many of my colleagues were prepared to bet their lives that Judge Dora Irizarry would not have accepted the plea bargain because of the evidence that surfaced during the trial of former Roger Khan lawyer, Robert Simels.
The evidence painted a picture of mayhem in Guyana, of murders untold and of Khan’s collusion with the Guyana government. The witnesses testified that a Government Minister actually collaborated with Khan to procure a piece of equipment that was illegal and one that had the capability of spying on telephone conversations.
It painted an image of massive drug deals and of drug cartels in Guyana; of a group that was more powerful than the government and of gun running. All these things were said to have been sanctioned by the Guyana government.
Many Guyanese felt that these statements were enough to influence the American judge to refuse the sentence agreed to in the plea arrangement. They were sadly mistaken.
Indeed, the judge said that she had heard the things but her concern was about what happened to the people of the United States. In her book, Guyana was not even incidental.
And when Mr Khan addressed the court before he was whisked off to begin his stint in jail, he addressed the impact his operation might have on the United States. There was no mention of Guyana. The country did not matter.
President Bharrat Jagdeo recently told a forum that Kaieteur News, with its penchant for the sensational, made a habit of highlighting the crime situation in Guyana. He said that such reporting and front page publicity were doing the country no good.
He may have a point if Guyana meant much to people in other lands but if the truth be told, most never heard of the country and often have to be reminded that an American, Jim Jones, had come here to kill more than 900 people. Then the foreigners would make a brief connection.
Guyana’s crime means nothing and I doubt that they even read the local papers online so they remain in the dark as always. A few who associate with Guyanese may hear some things and raise their eyebrows.
Former beauty queen, Shakira Baksh, now Shella Caine, the wife of famous actor Michael Caine, disowned this country. She told interviewers that she was Indian.
Guyanese who migrated would read the crime reports and may have second thoughts about coming home although I am still to find an overseas-based Guyanese who decided that the crime reports would influence his or her decision to come home.
I can say that the American authorities now have an image of Guyana as a drug haven. I have seen them target Guyanese who land there; I have seen them check and really check Guyanese coming out, perhaps searching for undeclared drug money rather than instruments of mid-flight destruction.
In recent days, I have heard of the number of drug arrests in the United States. It seems as if most of the people appearing in the courts in the New York area are Guyanese. There was this man, who ingested a large quantity of cocaine; another who had cocaine in travel luggage and of course, cocaine in wall plaques and picture frames and even in clothing that had been washed in the substance.
Guyana’s violent crime is insignificant, except to the Guyanese.
But there is something else. Khan’s relatives are convinced that Khan did a lot for the Guyana Government if one were to take their comments to the media seriously. They told the local press that whenever Khan is released the government should pay him a pension equal to what President Bharrat Jagdeo would get on his demitting office. They also said that Khan should be afforded security for the rest of his life in Guyana.
Why would they make such demands? Perhaps they know something that we the ordinary Guyanese do not.
But that apart, I could not help but note the deep divisions surrounding Roger Khan. People of East Indian ancestry see him as a saviour. They argue that he confronted the forces that were bent on toppling the Guyana government. Was there an effort to overthrow the government? I am not sure. In fact, I do not think so.
The people of African ancestry see Khan as a killer, as an animal who snuffed out the lives of black people. This division could not have been sharper than in the Brooklyn courtroom and again in the communities where there are large concentrations of Guyanese.
In Brooklyn, most of the Guyanese are of African ancestry. They have one view of Mr Khan. In a section of Queens called Little Guyana, the people are predominantly of Indian ancestry. They see Khan as a saviour who should never have been prosecuted.
This division is a microcosm of what Guyana really is—a country sharply divided along racial lines. We tell the world that we are Guyanese but the title means different things to different people.

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