Dear editor,

ALL eyes are on this Tuesday’s elections in the US – for the presidency, congress, governors, state legislatures, other state-wide officers, mayors, councillors, other local officials. Guyanese Americans are concentrated mostly in New York and Florida with clusters in New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and a few other states. NY is the hub. How involved are Guyanese Americans in this or other elections and in politics in general in the US? Their political participation is minimal, with some of them (about 50 per cent) voting but hardly involved in campaigns and political activism.

Generally speaking, Guyanese Americans are not politically inclined or civic-minded. Only a handful of us, inclusive of this writer, are civic-minded, attending community meetings, or are engaged in political activism or donating to campaigns. Very few are actively involved in political campaigns and fewer seek elective office. Their turnout rate in voting is also very low. Thus, it is not surprising that Guyanese do not have much influence in American politics except in rare cases, as when they lobbied American politicians for the 1992, 2015 and 2020 Guyana elections that determined the outcome in all three.

With Guyanese not being a homogeneous group, their political involvement or engagement varies by ethnicity. Afro Guyanese seem more politically involved than Indians. Place of residency also influences political involvement. Afros seem more politically inclined in Brooklyn than Indians in Queens or the Bronx. There are Afro-Guyanese elected to office but no Indos.

Guyanese are ethnically concentrated according to geographic residency. Most Indo-Guyanese are clustered in Queens — the border of Brooklyn — the Bronx, and with some dispersed on Long Island, Staten Island, New Jersey, and elsewhere in cities in Florida, etc. Most Afros are concentrated in Brooklyn, parts of Queens, and towns in Georgia and Maryland and a few other states. But the two groups are settled in their own distinct communities with little social interaction, except for some national festivals such as Phagwah or Independence Day celebrations and shopping in Richmond Hill. The two groups live and socialise apart, not different from Guyana. In fact, they are more segregated in America than in Guyana. Indos have not been vested with positions of political power, whereas Afros have held elective office. Issues pertaining to Indos are not attended to (given resources) by American politicians, whereas Afros interests are attended.

It is not known how many Guyanese (born in Guyana, born in America, legal residents, illegal, foreign students, visitors) are in the US. Indians were among the first to leave the country. In the early years in the 1960s and 70s, some 85 per cent of Guyanese foreign students and all emigrants to the US were Indians and the number gradually dropped to about 60 per cent today as other ethnic groups also began leaving Guyana in droves from the 1980s. The census figures of Guyanese in America is not accurate because some half of the Guyanese population is not counted. The Guyanese-American population is estimated to be over 750K (60 per cent Indians, 30 per cent Africans, seven per cent Mixed, two per cent Amerindians, one per cent Portuguese and Chinese) based on annual trends from 1966 onwards.

Guyanese have been coming to the US after the 1965 Immigration Act that outlawed discrimination against people on account of race and nationality.
Indians were precluded from coming to the US prior to 1965; some were allowed in as students and through agricultural schemes and their participation in the world war. During the 1960s, a few hundred Guyanese (mostly Indians) came annually as students. The numbers increased after independence in 1966 because of discrimination in employment, political discrimination and ethnic repression. Many Indo-Guyanese (and a sprinkling of Afros) also came to work on sugar and other agro production (as chemists, pan boilers, harvesters, etc) beginning in the 1960s in the South, through which they obtained green-card sponsorship. The number of Guyanese emigrants increased to a few thousands during the early 1970s (about 7K) who came annually as students, visitors, etc. through family sponsorships. Once in the US, nurses, medical workers and some other skilled immigrants got employment sponsorship for green cards. Baby sponsorship (if you had an American-born child), was also allowed. Those who joined the armed forces also got green cards.

The massive wave of Guyanese emigration occurred during the period of repression during the late 1970s and continuing through 1992, numbering over 30K a year, but not all to the US. They left legally and ‘backtrack’ to get to the US and Canada and other countries. During the 1980s to now, over 12K came annually to the US. Some also came ‘backtrack’ through Canada and other territories, including through Mexico; the actual number to the US would exceed 15K annually during the 1980s to 2015. The US encouraged the departure of Indians, giving over 30K visitors’ visas between 2012 and 2015 to facilitate the defeat of the PPP in 2015. The ‘backtrack’ flow had been reduced significantly after 2015 as other countries tightened their borders and because of economic problems in many of them. Many Guyanese were deported from several countries, including from the US and Canada, back to their homeland. Guyanese also crossed over the border illegally and legally to Venezuela, Suriname, and Brazil since the 1980s and from there to elsewhere. Emigration of Guyanese of some 30K has continued till this day. This writer came to the US in 1977 to pursue higher education at a time when varied social, religious, sports, and cultural institutions were being established among Indo Guyanese, and I participated in many activities from then to now. Guyanese neighbourhoods were being established through their clustering in residences in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens in the late 1970s and grew in size thereafter through chain migration. Today there are established Guyanese communities and institutions. There were a few political groups during the 1970s relating to Guyana’s politics but none oriented towards American politics. This writer joined with other student activists to found a group that championed free and fair elections in Guyana. Because we were not citizens, we were not involved in American politics in the early years of the Guyanese presence. We were more interested in the freedom of Guyana and almost every Guyanese was caught up with earning a living and establishing themselves in a new society and acquiring a home with little time to engage in civic or political activities, or even to be bothered by activism to liberate Guyana. Later, during the 1980s, attention was paid to involvement in American politics as a few of us who were political scientists and community-oriented activists focused on the importance of being civic-minded and politically active in mainstream American politics. We recognised that without Guyanese involvement in American politics, pressure would not be applied to the Guyana dictatorship by American politicians.

We hosted seminars during the 1980s and thereafter to sensitise Guyanese about political participation. Yet in 2020, Guyanese, Indians in particular, have not exhibited much activism in politics. Their role has remained very submissive and minimal to some of them voting of about 50 per cent. Very few Guyanese attend political meetings or financially contribute to campaigns. And fewer volunteer on campaigns. This writer volunteered on political campaigns going back to the 1980s and hardly encountered Guyanese in political activities.
Guyanese Americans manifest a resistance to acculturating into American society. This is a result of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds. They cannot relate with mainstream (White) American culture which is not appealing to them. They feel at home socialising among their own. And there are Guyanese institutions that accommodate their presence. They are alienated from mainstream activities and by extension, politics. And because of political issues in Guyana, that is the principal reason why they find themselves in America, they avoid politics. They find little honour in politics with their experience from Guyana; and thus, they avoid politics except when their leaders from Guyana visit America. Guyanese come out in their numbers to greet, hear and interact with the leadership from Guyana. Indians in Queens show up in packed halls to meet the PPP leadership. And Brooklyn-based Africans do the same when the PNC leadership visits. The two ethnic groups hardly patronise each other’s political functions. There is virtually no inter-group political interaction to empower each other in America although Black candidates from Brooklyn are known to seek campaign funding from Queens.
America has been their home since the 1970s. Guyanese are not returning to live in the former homeland. They need to become more civic and politically minded. Tuesday’s elections is critical for their presence in America and also for relations with Guyana. They must come out in their numbers and cast ballots. And where practical, they should join the campaigns. A few Guyanese are seeking elective office.

Community and civic leader Ashook Ramsaran lamented the minimal participation of Guyanese in mainstream American politics. Ramsaran, President of Indian Diaspora Council International, noted that “despite their arrival in the USA starting in the mid 1960s and being a substantial potential voting block in various districts in Queens, particularly so in Richmond Hill, Indo-Guyanese have significantly trailed other recent immigrant groups politically, such as the Punjabi and Indian communities who are making rapid strides in political consciousness.” There are two Indo-Guyanese who have been appointed or elected district leaders: Taj Rajkumar and Richard David in Queens. On the other hand, says Ramsaran, Afro-Guyanese in the USA have made much more progress in politics at the federal, state and city levels. He points to “Shirley Chisholm (former US Congress member) and Helen Marshall (former Queens Borough President) who are notable examples. Others include state senator (Roxanne Persaud) and state assembly member (Alicia Hyndman)”. Ramsaran advises that “Indo-Guyanese must take bold actions on this front to achieve political representation in order to be a fully established community.”

Yours truly
Dr Vishnu Bisram (Pol Scientist)