140,000 Guyanese immigrants in New York City

Jun 12, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
With reference to your article initially reported in the NY Times captioned, “140,000 Guyanese immigrants in New York City,” we wish to comment on a few issues.
There are more Guyanese living in the New York area, but they have not participated in the civic and political process as other groups have. They have one of the lowest participation rates in the Census and Community Surveys counts, and also in exercising their fundamental right and duty to vote, perhaps a residual fear they brought to America. Consequently, they have not assimilated as they should, and many still consider political and civic participation as either meaningless or morally wrong.
It is little wonder that there is no Guyanese who has ever been elected to the City Council or State legislature. They may forever have to lament the fact that one of their own, Attorney Albert Baldeo came within an unprecedented 500 votes, or 0.5% to win a State Senate seat in Queens and almost defeated a 20-year incumbent and then Chairman of the Queens Republican party Serf Maltese in 2006. A State senate district consists of over 325,000 constituents, and that would have given them political and economic recognition they need and deserve so badly in the USA, which caters only to those groups who position themselves on the political map.
Unfortunately, while many ethnicities like Italians, Jews, Hispanic, Irish and African American communities shared and appreciated Baldeo’s visionary leadership and inspirational motivation to rise to such an unprecedented challenge by voting for a Guyanese immigrant, his countrymen should have embraced such an effort by coming out in proportionately greater numbers to take their community over the top. They may never get that chance again.
Some never left the rum shops to come out and vote, believing that such a goal was not achievable, while others remained selfish and narrow minded in sticking to an agenda of accumulating material wealth in the USA.
Like what Mr. Totaram alluded to, some unfortunately just leaned back in their chairs and refused to, or discouraged others to get involved in a movement that did not offer them any personal benefits, instead of motivating other Guyanese of the significance of voting in a country where your only chance of empowerment comes through political recognition and acceptance of the kind that Albert Baldeo has led their fight for. There is nothing like proxy representation. You have to elect one of your own to get a meaningful voice.
Albert Baldeo won the District Leader’s seat to become the only elected Guyanese in the area’s history in 2010, but was targeted by the political establishment soon after with charges which stemmed not only from a witch hunt and selective prosecution, but were never brought before in City Council elections, nor against establishment candidates.
Roger Singh
Civil Rights and Justice Center (Queens Chapter)

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