Let us use our pens to put forward letters of unity

Aug 17, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,            
Over the past several years I have noticed that your daily “Letter Column” publishes letters written under the pen Vishnu Bisram frequently. Your daily is not the only one to publish the filth this man writes as political fodder and disguising himself as an astute pollster. He’s a more frequent writer in the state controlled Chronicle and at one time had a column with your competing daily – the Stabroek News. Mr. Bisram came to my attention out of an article I saw back in 2008 when I was doing research on what percentage of Caribbean people will vote for then Senator Obama.  The article was written by Paul Sanders for the Caribbean Daylight Newspapers the website where I found the article is http://www.topix.com.
One was further directed to the website http://propagandapress.org which is currently down as of the time I penned this letter. The full story behind Mr. Bisram and one Nala Singham can be read on this site. I abandoned my research for the moment and focused on the topic of my missive today-Vishnu Bisram and the North American-Caribbean Teachers Association.
First let me set the record clear on the organization he proclaims he’s the head of – the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA). Simply put, it does not operate as a recognized organ representing teachers who are of Caribbean ancestry and only serves Mr. Bisram of South Richmond Hill, Queens New York.
This character has paraded himself for far too long as an objective voice in the political arena. He may be an educator, but not the kind welcomed anywhere with his racially skewed polls. True pollsters and surveyors allow themselves public scrutiny and because they purport to do a public exercise, always make sure that their organ is a reputable one that can withstand any litmus test – as is the case with Gallup, Quinnipiac and other pollsters. Mr. Bisram’s NACTA is nothing but a farce.
I have nothing to lose or gain by exposing this fraud of a pollster. I am no fan of the PNC, Mr. Green, or Dr. Jagan, Sr., and many of the PPP top brass. (As a matter of fact anyone who has been in Guyana’s politics for the past 45-50 years is fair game for they collectively contribute to the lowly post our nation enjoys.) However, as someone who loves this
country dearly and would give my life to see its integrity preserved, I take offense with such lies being spewed in the name of “freedom of expression.”
Mr. Editor, you owe it to your readers to investigate every letter writer that sends a letter into your daily. Just like you and your reporters must verify and properly investigate every news article before publication. I cannot see why is it you continue to publish this man’s lies and those of many others like him.
I worked as a teacher’s assistant for several years in New York City (1993-99) I worked out of Medgar Evers College, City University of New York (CUNY) under the guidance of Mrs. Barnes-Harrison and Mr. M. Chance who were my Director and Supervisor respectively. Dr. George Irish, a prominent pollster and researcher working out of Medgar Evers and Dr. Obesegun Awolabi, Professor of History and Politics can all verify my work at the school.
Both during and after my tenure I have never heard of the North American-Caribbean Teachers Association, or the names Vishnu Bisram or Nala Singham, not even once. Dr. Irish, who I mentioned here, is well connected to many organizations serving the Caribbean Diaspora and I worked with him on several matters and I would have been exposed to such an organ had it existed.
I can never recall the name Vishnu Bisram being mentioned in matters pertaining to the Caribbean community during my tenure and after. (Not even during the tension filled days of the Gavin Cato riots).
He came to life in the dailies of Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago and coincidentally his ascension coincides with the Basdeo Panday leadership of the UNC party of Trinidad and the Jagan leadership of the PPP of Guyana; which indicates where his interest lies.
How come this man has not done any polls in Caribbean territories that do not enjoy a majority Indian population? Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana are the only two CARICOM states with a predominance of Indians in their population and it is here Mr. ‘Boogeyman’ Bisram works. He has published nothing in Jamaica, nothing in Barbados, nothing in Belize, not a word in any of the smaller territories.
Let me put it in a nutshell for you and the readers. This man is a racist and his letters should not see the light of day. He serves only to divide Guyana along racial lines. When Guyana needs unity this ugly man appears with his poisoned pen and starts authoring all manner of trash and you and the rest of the independent dailies give him air.
You’re charged with reporting the facts and allowing public discourse as a newspapers but as an editor along with the publisher it is your journalistic responsibility (and what you owe the reader) to investigate claims made by anyone. You set yourself up for liability suits when you publish blatantly dishonest accounts by Bisram and others.
I have spent several years painstakingly researching the NACTA and not a single umbrella organ has been affiliated with this organ. A check of the site http://www.ei-ie.org/northamerica/en/affiliate.php produces no listing of NACTA but lists other agencies such as the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU); American Federation of Teachers (AFT); and also American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and not a single mention of Bisram’s NACTA. This site has listed its contact information and also has over fourteen affiliates listed within its sphere.
I have searched public records and spent some money trying to unearth credible information on Bisram’s organ and always the same thing- zero, zip, nada, nothing. If Mr. Bisram’s NACTA was such a credible polling organ and associated with teachers from North America and the Caribbean why does this site have no information on his organ? Before penning this letter (like any I write) I decided to research one last time to make sure I crossed my “Ts” and dotted my “Is” and ran the name Vishnu Bisram and NACTA and I got nothing I can call credible.
His name is linked to the UNC at the following site: http://geographicalmedia.com/north-american-caribbean-teachers-association/related. In trying to be impartial in my research and objective, I decided to also check with the New York Federation of Teachers’ website http://www.uft.org and I find no mention or affiliation giving Bisram’s NACTA any credence. I called Verizon’s directory assistance number and asked for a listing of telephone numbers to this organization none. I checked the domain host www.godaddy.com and found no listings for NACTA. I searched all the known domain hosting sites and nothing. I even called the New York City information hotline number hoping to learn about this organization and found nothing.
In your August 15, 2011 edition Mr. Bisram has once again exposed his narrow thinking and his lack of professionalism and/or morality. You are also culpable in this matter by publishing his recent letter. He has mentioned names of supposed rape and murder victims when earlier he said it was against his morality to do so and it would violate “doctor/patient confidentiality.”
I wonder how he suddenly managed to find it easy to provide the names of victims of the crimes he speaks about! Have you, Mr. Editor, investigated any of his claims beyond scanning them to make sure that you’re protected from any suit that might arrived out his rumblings?
I don’t think so. Here is a man hiding behind a cloak as a pollster but he is really a negative propagandist whose only modus operandi is to further divide this nation. He is hell bent on keeping in the fore atrocities of the past. Again I am no friend of those entrenched in Guyana’s dirty politics of yesteryear or today. I am a concerned Guyanese and my children read the newspapers and ask me questions. I owe it to them (you too Mr. Editor) to provide them with the truth about this nation. When my children of mixed heritage, my friends from all over the globe, and my family born outside of Guyana read what Bisram states, they will get very negative impressions of Guyana.
I do not believe in censorship and I understand you’re trying to provide the readers with fundamental exposure but please stop and investigate the claims made by so many letter writers for I do it and I wonder how you come about publishing them.
Mr. Editor if Mr. Bisram wants to bring attention to the atrocities committed under the PNC’s 28 year tenure that is good. He should gather the evidence and do so objectively. In doing so he should also investigate what role (if any) his beloved PPP played in many of these evils.
I was once told when you point a single figure accusing others of wrongdoing take a good look at the three that are pointing back at you and one up at you. I believe that Guyana’s past needs to be buried since neither PPP nor the PNC wants to unearth the evils they visited upon our beloved nation.
I call for all and sundry to stop with the scare tactics and let us focus on building a Guyana for all. Let us use our pens to put forward letters of unity and encourage our young to learn the lessons of the past in order not to repeat them. What Mr. Bisram, Mr. Green and others are doing is engaging in self-serving debates and each sees the issue through his own rosy colored lens.
As someone not tarnished by the evils of Guyana’s politics, I beg that maturity on all fronts prevail. I highlighted Mr. Bisram because he is a fraud but yet still enjoys considerable freedom to shovel his filth upon a new generation of thinkers. Mr. Editor I am not within the decision making arm of your publication, but I sincerely ask you to please investigate these claims being made by Mr. Bisram, Mr. Green and others.
You owe us (your readers) that much. Just like I have provided sources for my information and provided names that can verify my tenure at Medgar Evers College, Mr. Bisram needs to provide us with credible and reputable people who can verify NACTA truly exists and has done work to promote “UNITY” within the Caribbean and not just sing the praises of Indo-led governments of the only two CARICOM states with a majority Indo population. It is time that these lies and unfounded claims stop and you, Mr. Editor, along with your publisher, hold the key and responsibility to stop them.
In closing, far too many astute thinkers and authors have given Mr. Bisram fodder to continue to spew his lies and filth. Even this letter writer has contributed with this missive. I call on all wishing to address Mr. Bisram’s lies to stop and let him hear the loud bang of silence as no one pays him anymore attention.
As long as writers respond to him, he will feel utterly justified in visiting the kind of havoc he hopes to achieve on a nation struggling to free itself from the shackles of division and emerge a true democracy. Instead of responding to Mr. Bisram, let us all ignore him no matter how angered we are by his potent lies and rewriting of history.
It is obvious his tenure at any academic institute of learning was a waste of his parents’ money, for education serves to enlighten and not blight one’s mind. Finally, as the United Negro College Fund (UNFC) likes to say “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” and Mr. Bisram has surely wasted his let us not waste ours directing our attention in his direction.

Tyrone L. Talbot

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