Guyana Observer News

IT IS GROSS HYPOCRISY TO CHANNEL MARTIN LUTHER KING VERBALLY WITHOUT DOING SO SPIRITUALLY AND IN ACT

Sunday, 07 February 2010

By Robin Williams

Sample Image

A well known defender of the PPP regime produced a letter lauding the civil rights activities of Reverend the Doctor Martin Luther. In this process he quoted Martin Luther King's comment that "I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.”. In a nation where the Auditor General's report and reams of evidence suggest massive corruption, nepotism and all sorts of skullduggery in and among the Political elite and state agencies, I would argue that a true tribute to the memory of Martin Luther King would be an admission of these facts. That while the Government of Guyana and its Ministers beat on their chest and postulate about crime and the rule of law, we are witnessing the greatest purveyance of the very things they rail against occurring unimpeded under their very noses.

What would Martin Luther King think of the PPP Government's effort to under mine the established tradition of judicial process that an acquittal verdict rendered by a jury is final. Under American Law, a jury's acquittal decision is normally final. It cannot be appealed by the prosecution because they do not like the decision or because it went against their visceral expectations. The question is, Who would Martin Luther King think would be the likely candidates to have their acquittals by a jury appealed by the current administration in Guyana, given the current social order in the country? This is not a question about quantum physics. About the only time the PPP regime seem to disagree with a judicial order in favor of a defendant, is when that defendant happens to be of African Guyanese extraction. The effort to change the law to facilitate state nullification of acquittal verdicts by juries is just another piece of ammunition the PPP seeks to add to its arsenal of political weapons to use against its perceived political and ethnic opponents. In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King expounded that "Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. It is great to expound on the virtues and activism of Martin Luther King. It is a much harder task to attempt a few steps in his mocassins when you are part and parcel of a power structure whose policies he would be adamantly against.

The writer of the letter dripping of hypocrisy in its praise of the activities of Martin Luther King, and the slew of pundits spinning uncontrollably on behalf of the current regime, share the modus operandi of accusing those who speak out against the excesses of the regime of fomenting and inciting violence by their actions and words. Martin Luther King was similarly cautioned by clergy men who described some of his activities as "unwise" and "untimely". For the past five years or thereabouts these politically "clergymen" of Guyana have been pinning targets on the backs of those whose comments they do not like, by accusing them of inciting violence. Pinning targets on their backs yes, because Ronald Waddell was assassinated immediately after being accused of the very same thing. It is ironic that the only situations where suspects are not arrested and charged or killed in the process of an arrest or escape attempts, or where rewards are not offered for information that helps to solve the crime, are those in which the victim is black or a political opponent of the regime in power. One does not have to speculate deeply to discern the motivations behind the despicable linkings. Martin Luther King, in responding to his "clergymen" critics wrote, "You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative". Like the Clergymen who were angsty about Martin Luther King rocking the boat in which their prestige and comfortability were unaffected by the social pathology inundating the lives of those he led and on whose behalf he was prepared to go to prison or even die,the replicas in Guyana exhibit an Orwellian revolutionary psyche in the their expressions, opinions and postulations. They have become deaf, dumb and blind to the abuses they would be shrilly denouncing, if the leadership and leanings of the regime in power in Guyana had a different ethnic origin than the one they currently serve.

You should not verbally channel Martin Luther King unless you have the gumption or are prepared to channel him spiritually and in actuality. You cannot be a fan of Martin Luther King and defend or remain silent when activities like extra judicial lynchings were going on under the regime you serve. That is hypocrisy. You cannot be a fan of Martin Luther King when you are part of a power structure that enables a two tier justice system and social order in which some people are more equal than others. That is hypocrisy. You are prostituting the memory of Martin Luther King when you laud his activism and struggles for equal rights, while imposing your reality on the social existence of people struggling for the very vision that drove him. You cannot be on the inside looking out, and lay claim to be an objective examiner of the issues and claims of a minority group. That amounts to the most blatant example of ethnic hubris. Martin believed that quote, "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it".

To those who claim that democracy came to Guyana in 1992, and that all of us should be enraptured as they are by the mere symbolism represented by this change, we say in the words of Martin Luther King, " No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". When everyone in Guyana, from those at the metaphorically political mountain top, to those languishing at its base, are equally exposed to a polygraphic assessment of their suitability for the position they occupy, then we will be satisfied. When the very old who have worked and struggled to build Guyana can look forward to retirement benefit package that assures their comfortability as the one legislated for a President with considerable less service than them does for him, then we will be satisfied. When Guyana evolves to a point of equality where you cannot predict the ethnic and political affiliations of the residents of, say a Pradoville, then we will be satisfied. Until then we will continue to struggle for the holy grail of true democracy and equality in all spheres of our social existence, all of which are non existent in the Guyana of today.

Add comment

JComments

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Our Staff

M.Benschop
Publisher
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

A. Reteymyer - Editor in Chief

Sharda Dasrat - Editor

Our Contact Address

USA OFFICE
4710 Church Avenue,
Brooklyn New York.
Tel: 718-462-2020

GUYANA OFFICE
313 East Street
Georgetown
GUYANA
Tele: 011-592-227-8057
011-592-227-8113
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mission Statement

The Mark Benschop Foundation was officially launched in March 2008 by its founder and chairman Mark Benschop and other concerned Guyanese and well wishers in the United States of America. What started as a small operation geared toward helping those in need has grown so large that they were forced to move their offices to a whole building in East Street where the vast amount of people responding to their generosity could be accommodated.

Foundation Membership Form

Application form for any person applying for membership in The Mark Benschop Foundation.

Please download and print out the membership application form and send completed form to our office nearest to you.

Download Membership form.doc

Don't be left out! Join the Movement of Change for a better Guyana

Do your part to rid Guyana of the racial and backward politics that is slowly taking over the country. Join us in giving hope to the people of Guyana regardless of their ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

Visitors Counter

You are visitor # 5889138 . Thank you!

Online Radio

Latest News

Contribute to our Website

Anyone wishing to contribute articles or letters to The Guyana Observer News, can email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Are you looking for the best prices in town, Realiable service and door to door pick up and delivery? Then contact Williams Caribbean Shipping today. Mention that you saw this ad on our website and receive a 10% discount!