letters of may, 2002

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• key for colour of text:

green text is text of the letter.
white text is my reply or correspondence initiated by me.
cyan text is an inserted note.

• letters are separated by grey lines.
  

12 may 2002
a member of the old site sent this to me responding to an e-mail that another visitor sent to me
in response to this:
"I am sure I am not the first one to quickly send you an email after viewing
your site and I so sure it's what you want, isn't it? For a mere second I
thought you were someone like me, who share the same views about Guyanese in
America, you know, those stuck up bitches and dregs of society you may be
unfortunate to come across at your local West Indian store, but I am so glad I
am not, because navigating through your site proved to be nothing more than a
waste of time because you have no background and no topic. In one word, your
views and site SUCKS! That's American attitude for you with a bit of Guyanese
raw pride.
Who the hell are you to be the judge of Guyanese people? Why are you so bitter?
Are you lacking at home and else where that should count that you seek to make
up for it by being a cynic? You described yourself as many thing but could that
be that you are right about one thing: that you are seventeen and can't think
for your self, yet? Or because you, my cynical atheist, are going through ....
what's that American word .... yeah ..... teenage rebellion? A teenage identity
crisis?
Don't be the judge here for Guyanese in America or Americans, you don't know
nothing about nothing to even have an opinion, and yes you are generalizing. You
want to change the world? Go look in the mirror first and heal yourself before
talking a whole lot of crap.
Sarita"

first of all, i must make it clear that this person's views, as all views, must
be respected. she believes in something. however, i need not agree with the
content of her ideology.
manager, i, ratm/god, have been a member of your site from the days of adam and
eve. i am not a person to completely throw out or ignore a different theory. so
if your's was... i would still be here unless i found your being irritating to
me. i agree with many of the things your beliefs hold dear. but i will find some
argument or problem to put forward to you, as you very well know. i am in full
support of your site, and this new one is massive. but getting down to what i
really want to do: blast this simplistic letter.
- first: she seems to be sure about alot of things. such a sure person would be
sure that her own time, being wasted, would refuse to waste more time writing
you a letter.
-"That's American attitude for you with a bit of Guyanese raw pride."--- has
american attitude become universal without me knowing?
-"Who the hell are you to be the judge of Guyanese people? " having the ability
to judge gives him the right.
-"you don't know nothing about nothing to even have an opinion"--- this upset
female should take her own advice if she sees this as true.
-"Go look in the mirror first and heal yourself before talking a whole lot of
crap. "--- isn't this excellent advice for someone mature to have the views
above?

17 may 2002
this is a letter i sent to the guyana chronicle
When push comes to violent shove.

Dear Guyanese,
In this time, one can expect a few murders by the gang of bandits every day. It has come to the point of tremendous disgust, despair, fear and anger.
I read a letter recently sent to the Chronicle, and I agreed that by now our angers should be at levels unprecedented, and we should express these angers.
We _must_ begin to defend ourselves. I'm sure that 12 persons "in the area" could destroy two murderers who, if allowed to escape, will eventually kill their age in Guyanese -- men, women, and children -- wantonly, without shame, guilt or hesitation.
Guyana has an army. Guyana has no war. Guyana has a band of criminals that are killing citizens. Why isn't the army being used to bring the criminals to justice ("justice" defined later)? Not a lot of people have confidence in the police, because their morale is low, they have limited resources, and mainly because they brutalise Guyanese to show their power as criminals with licenses.
Now, the army, I would firmly believe, holds a mentality different from the police. The army is our national defence -- a group not sliced by race, wealth, or gender. The army maintains, I hope, values and logic that transcend the material or temporary, the mundane or underhanded. Why isn't this force being used to create perimeters around, or posts at, the areas where the bandits were and where they are believed to be, or will be? Or why isn't this force being used to simply hunt down and consume these killers? Is this not possible? What could possibly weigh more than so many Guyanese lives? This Guyanese national defence force _must_ be used to capture, dead or alive, the entire gang.
Now, the punishment; justice. The murderers should be treated as national enemies, terrorists. Why not torture (impalement sounds, and looks and even smells good), and then hang the entire gang? We can't afford the electrocution; I'm sure the Guyanese public, from the tip of Anna Regina, to the Guyanese-Brazilian residents would rather have the electricity used to power their televisions to see the hanging.
It's likely that the rich countries that are usually satisfied with just exploiting Guyana might feel obliged to step in and call us inhumane, and condemn the executions. How dare we be independent! So, we'll have to call it a "War On Terror" then we should be ready to initiate.
It's sad to know that some people might actually believe that the murderers are freedom fighters. Now listen, that pretend racism that suddenly appears during elections usually costs a few buildings and stolen items, but this unmerciful killing of Guyanese, every single day, is unacceptable, repulsive, and mortifying. I ask all Guyanese to think as Guyanese, and not as blacks and browns, as the murderers would like us to think of things! Freedom fighters? The only freedom attained from the string of murders is the freedom to plunder, to take material from their victims' corpses. How can these rats use the word freedom -- one of our most valued and treasured concepts, the universally desired state-of-being -- to justify their shameless, greed-driven, bloody massacres? These are criminals! In fact, they seem to be doing this not just for money anymore; it appears they have an obsession with murder, at the expensive of unsuspecting families -- the hard-working father; the female prison guard, this woman who works to live. Work. These are men who don't want to work. What freedoms could they possibly be fighting for by killing people? By shooting them, taking what they haven't earned, then running away. Besides, who'll enjoy these freedoms if we're all in coffins with the bullets still warm in our fresh skulls?
These people aren't freedom fighters. They are greedy materialists, who have seen enough movies to know that you're "cool" when you're a "gangsta", who don't realise that they'll be paying the price of greed with their lives, who are so indifferent as to appeal to race, and concepts they don't even understand to gather a following. Please, be a Guyanese to judge these people, not a black man, or a brown man. Use your most unbiased and virtuous character to conclude if these people should be allowed to continue.
These people aren't brave. The Guyanese who bites the murderer's throat, causing a gape, and such, an unfixable fatal collapse, is brave. The Guyanese men and women -- who leave their homes to work and school, all over our nation, every day, knowing that they could be killed in another movie-style shootout -- are brave.
These criminals think they are actors in the usual American "hard life for the thug in the ghetto" movie. This is isn't a movie, and you'll be punished when you're caught. If we're all lucky, capture and punishment will come instantaneously one after the other -- credited to the police force, of course.
I beg the police to begin earning, and encouraging, the trust and respect of the Guyanese people, and not beat it out of us. Show the criminals that you are to be respected and beat _them_ to the pulp that "tried to attack you".
I beg the media not to be politically or economically driven in their practices. I beg that the controllers of the media look past the profits and personal desires, towards Guyana as a home, as a nation of righteousness, and not as a market of gullible consumers who may quickly buy your politics, your discrimination, and your hate.
I beg the government to use the army!
I beg the group of criminals to at least show mercy towards your brother. At least spare a man's life; anything else you take would be so insignificant.
Many, many things are wrong. How did they escape in the first place? How is it possible for them to still be rampant? How can the people who want the riches without the responsibility sip cocktails, and virtually ignore everything, as ferociously as the murders themselves?
So disturbing are the daily executions of Guyanese, that my hand trembles as I write.
Stay strong Guyana.

G.U.M.
guyanatruth.tripod.com

someone e-mailed me about this letter. see that here (may 2002, page 2).

may 2002 -- page 1 | page 2 | page 3