By GHK Lall
The rise of Hakeem Jeffries to Democratic Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives has much significance for Guyana’s PPP Government. In time, this development could come to mean more than the usual bark and blisters of local politics. For Hakeem Jeffries could turn out to be a big pain in the head (and other select places) for the leaders and fundamentalists of the PPP. Because of his new clout, Jeffries could emerge as a PPP problem that just would not go away, one that provokes serious embarrassments for government and leaders.
As House Democratic Leader, albeit a minority one in the American scheme of parliament, Jeffries would not be some isolated voice crying in the wilderness, and struggling to gain attention and traction. His would be a presence that wields tremendous influence, and especially given where he hails from, whose interests have been whispered in his ear, and whose cause, fears, and plights he has made his own. After all, they are his own people, and they are doing poorly in staggeringly rich Guyana. Also, he has a huge contingent of the same people-siblings, parents, and extended relations-woven into his political constituency in Brooklyn. Their interests are his own; well, he would be less than political astute should he ignore their cries and petitions.
Discrimination, be they imagined or exaggerated or concocted, is still one of the hottest of hot button issues, and can make the reputation of a rising politician with ambitions. Further, if those claims of discrimination are real, and are part of a bigger sinister program (and I assert that they are), then Hakeem Jeffries would have found a bread-and-butter issue that helps his people, and keeps him in front of the cameras. This is the worst possible news for the PPP Government and its leaders. Rep. Jeffries is not somebody that they can readily belittle, or dismiss, at will; though that will not stop the government’s brigade of willing hands and artful voices to seek to diminish his efforts on behalf of Black Guyanese, and to mock him in the process.
Personally speaking, I think that that would be a miscalculation and going about the issue of discrimination in Guyana against Black Guyanese in the worst way possible. Why give more visibility and more vitality to Rep Jeffries, his message, and his priority? Why unleash a full court press to steamroller a politician of some power and influence, and succeed only in helping him to register his concerns more resonantly? I remind the brain trust in the PPP that publicity is publicity, and there is no such thing as bad publicity when the cause is a righteous one. My preference, which I recommend to Guyana Government leaders, is that it is better to find ways to work with him, than to go to the mat with him over the predicament and precarious state of Black Guyanese. He has a lot of groundings on the Black discrimination score on his side.
New York City is still the media capital and a material part of the American power center. The United Nations is there. The last thing that the PPP should desire to do is to go to battle with Democratic Leader Jeffries. He has the Attorney General of New York; it is highly likely that he would have the Black Congressional Caucus in his corner (the ones from Texas duly noted); he could possibly count on other Black and non Black groups to lend moral support publicly. Moreover, Jeffries is sure to have a guy like Al Sharpton watching from the wings, and not missing a beat on things Guyana, especially Black Guyanese things. He is not one to let such things pass unaddressed.
The President and Attorney General of Guyana may dismiss some of the Americans I identify as rabblerousers and troublemakers, but they do so at their own risk, plus that will not deter Americans, only draw them more into the fray, and possibly more of them. Additionally, since we have flung open the door to any and all foreigners to intrude in our domestic affairs, then that genie is out of the bottle, and can’t be forced back inside. It is now open season for everyone to pronounce with conviction and authority on our internal matters. Once we roll out the welcoming mat to one, we have to accept all; and this is regardless of whatever weights are attached to their efforts.
The pundits and propagandists and purists in the PPP may shout and scream at people like me, at objecting and truth telling Guyanese located here. The reality is that even the little that has been put on the public table here has contributed to extreme anxiety and agitation to both government and its fundamentalists. Some things just can’t be covered down, not when they are so pervasive. Taking that into consideration, imagine how much political dandruff and grief that Jeffries, as Democratic Leader in the House, can deposit on the PPP Government’s head. If there is good faith, deep, and wide engagement of Black Guyanese and their leaders, then all of this could be avoided. I humbly urge it on the President and PPP Government to at least give it a try, a fully genuine effort.
