American help with election reform

May 12, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I read that the United States has offered assistance with electoral reforms. Surely, this is in jest. I say this because of what is happening in America right now. It is not in isolated pockets of the country, but almost throughout its vast supposedly democratic expanse. My fellow Americans must fix their own house first, before they would be in a position to offer electoral reform help to anybody, especially a mentally backward place like this.
Editor, my first words to the Americans can be understood even by morons: fix your own house first. A century and a half after the Civil War, voting rights in America are still under siege. Yes, advances have been made, but there always have been found ways to go around them and hamstring them. And the perception and reality are the Black American voter is always the one who is hogtied from effectively exercising their franchise. The reality is that just over a short year ago, in the quaint pre-November election era, there were a mere 35 bills that sought to restrict voting access in 15 states; while as of March 24, 2021, lawmakers in 47 states have tabled 360 bills with restrictive voting provisions (“Lawmakers in 47 states have introduced bills that would make it harder to vote, CNN April 21). It is worth emphasising the astounding disparity that one-year later displays: 35 restrictive bills in one state versus 360 such voter suppression bills in 47 states. It is over 10 times the number of restrictive and involving across almost the entire United States of America. And it is these same Americans, with a rather barefaced Ambassador, Excellency Sarah-Ann Lynch, who take the pole position in waving the flag of electoral help. Jesus’ words apply: heal thyself first.
To my fellow Americans I say: better to leave things alone, since the three main objectives have been achieved; Oil, Venezuela and a puppet government. Stop any further meddling in the internal affairs of Guyana, it is not welcomed. I don’t look upon it as nobly intended, but more like gifts from Greeks, for which I hope that the Hellenists would pardon me.
I would humbly recommend to the America Ambassador to fix black people and the voting reforms-long delayed, long diluted and long humiliating – that they so urgently need. Fix that first, Excellency, and then come here and extend a hand with much-needed electoral reform. We have a very tainted system, so tainted hands only add to our troubles involving little brown and black people, who are mentally sluggish that it appears as though the whole world has to carry them on its collective back, and all the time, too. It is damning that over a hundred and fifty years after the Civil War that certain vaunted American freedoms are still up in the air for the lesser people, still enslaved in some ways. Rather than America seeking to heal the world, it should examine its soul.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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