Dear Editor,
BROOKLYN is bedazzled by the black, brown and beautiful Guyanese neighbourhoods, beaming with their rich, cultural heritage and booming with the business of ancestral tastes and cuisines. Bars are also stocked with Demerara beverages and beers. Bakeries ensure that bread, buns and other delicacies are available, so that the tongue is still savoured by the Berbice hospitality. Many were born from Burnham’s brutish period with banned goods and beckoned their chances for betterment by migrating.
Today, they are happy that they made the right choice and ran for their lives from the tyranny of the dictator. They are overwhelmed that the PNC is not in power and the PPP/C Government is working in the interest of all Guyanese, unlike the straining reign of PNC selfishness.
Brooklyn is also beautified with buildings which house families with close ties with their motherland while brightly lit with the brilliance of bookworms at academic institutions, bookies at the races, blonds and brunettes for beauties, and broads, and yes, bums, too, who beg. A Borough for political bureaucracy, Maduro’s fantasy for Essequibo is not lost, as the breeze, from Crabwood Creek to Charity, blows all across to Brooklyn with President Ali’s theme, ‘One Guyana’. Guyanese overseas are committed to their loyalty to this nation, and have pledged not to give away any blade of grass or curass which belong to their country. They are supportive of President Ali’s handling of the situation, and complying with the progress from the ICJ process, while at the said time, praising him.
Brooklyn is also belittled with bandits, bad influences for crime and big-timers for bigshots. There are the braggards who boast about everything to impress while depressed with nothing to back-up. Fearful of returning home, failures fly on failed fortunes and continue to daydream in a foreign fairyland. Rent, romance and rum ruin many as they rummage through the garbage, with baggage on their shoulder, to manage a livable package while unable to book a passage to Cheddi Jagan International Airport. Many express dissatisfactions with their way of life, and are hoping that one day they will find it possible to return to their land where their navel strings are buried, especially on learning of all the good things the PPP/C government is doing!
Brooklyn is bombarded with many who are sold on the idea of becoming rich overnight. But as the cold weather unfolds, blooming flowers wither, and braving your way in the snow is the reality show rather than basking in the sun at 63 Beach. When the bills pile up and the brows are knitted, Tiger Bay looks brighter than Bayside or Broadway. Baseball and basketball cannot replace the game of bat-and-ball at Bourda. Merely thinking about it becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Brooklynites’ honour was battered and bruised when they became knowledgeable of the attempted election 2020 rigging by the PNC. The Ranger became a stranger and cannot dare show his face again. These Guyanese do not like when the PNC try to make them look like fools! They want to know, why can’t the PNC play fair like the PPP/C?
Brooklyn was the sight of delight last week when President Ali bowled bouncers, and the likes of a Burke or Benschop were beaten and couldn’t battle with him as they ran for cover while cowering. He shunned his presidential position to mix and mingle with the man in the street like an ordinary citizen. Guyanese from all walks of life rushed to hug and kiss the man of the moment, as others shook hands and patiently waited to have their pictures taken with him. President Ali was heartfully welcomed with open arms, as people fell on each other just to be seen with him. It wasn’t just a social, Facebook or Kodak moment, but a real opportunity to meet a humble man, who has sacrificed so much to bring Guyanese out of the miseries administered by the crafty PNC Party. As the PNC leader was shedding bitter tears at this touching and tender moment, other members were listening to the noise of silence to drown out the sound of joy reverberating from across the Atlantic Ocean. Guyanese can differentiate the distinction between a real PPP/C Party and a surreal PNC Party.
Brooklyn, being part of the Diaspora, which is referred to as Region 11, sent a message of hope, harmony and happiness to the PPP/C, and a motion of hopelessness, haplessness and heaviness to the PNC. Burnham’s soap opera is crumbling as the episodes lose their value, and the end is inevitable as the writers run out of scripts for the dying actors who are bleeding profusely. The turning tide has ushered in a feeling of redemption, and Guyanese in the land where people live the American dream, are awakening to the smell of oil, which is boosting Guyana’s economy, boasting the country’s development, and bragging the pride of a nation. This has broken the ego of a hurt PNC Party, berated their standard, and bashed their faith. These Guyanese are aware that the PNC is running helter-skelter, hurling abuse at each other and heading towards a cat and not a dog fight.
Brooklynites realise that the PPP/C, led by an energetic, enthusiastic and educated President Ali, is a Party better than the rest. They know that the best is yet to come from this Party, and joining hands with winners can fulfil the American dream in Guyana, while following losers will see them remaining in a land that is foreign to their habitat. President Ali’s meet-the-people tour in Brooklyn is bad news for the Burnhamites, Burke and Benschop. His informal visit was not to berate the Opposition but simply to spend quality time with those he regard as his own people. As a family man, he loves to band with all Guyanese whom he regard as his own ‘kith and kin’, regardless of colour, race, gender, religion or political affiliation. President Ali is genuinely non-discriminatory, and the people love and adore him in Brooklyn.
Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall
