Dear Editor,
Tears came to my eyes as I read that the world has lost Senator Ted Kennedy. I say the world because his kind of legislation benefited many countries. We called him ‘Ted’ because he was like the common man, who although he came from a family that is treated like royalty, served with humility and spent his time with ordinary people. He mingled more with the poor than the rich. And his contributions to mankind are unmatched by any other American. He was a great servant of the people.
I had been reading about the Kennedy family and Ted’s work in the Senate long before I came to America in 1977 as a student. His advocacy for student financial grants and low interest loans helped so many, including me, through college. I supported his presidential campaign in 1980 and was disappointed he did not win. I first met him in 1989 at the Global Convention of People of Indian Origin in NY where he was the keynote speaker. He was at his best and he was moved to help restore democracy to Guyana because of the cries of so many Guyanese and the leadership of GOPIO.
Several Guyanese lobbied GOPIO to appeal to Senator Kennedy to take an active interest in human rights abuses in Guyana. The late Hassan Rahaman, Veka Lalji, Dr Baytoram Ramharack, Vassan Ramracha, Vishnu Bisram, Ramesh Kalicharran, etc, wrote to Kennedy urging his intervention in Guyana. Several Guyanese also sought the help of the late Ron Brown, who was at one time manager of Kennedy’s office in Washington and at the time Chairman of the Democratic Party. In NY, Dev, myself and few others met with Chairman Brown at the GOPIO meet and pleaded for his assistance to ensure free and fair elections in Guyana. Brown got results. Kennedy issued a statement condemning human rights abuses and calling for free and fair elections in Guyana. Kennedy also apologized for what took place against Dr Cheddi Jagan and said America had unfinished business in Guyana. The US had played a role in the ouster of Jagan and the coming of the PNC to power. Kennedy urged the Bush administration to take steps to ensure democracy returned to Guyana. This led to the Carter visit and the mechanisms that were put in place for first free and fair election in 24 years. Kennedy’s press release was followed by several others from Members of Congress including Elliott Engel and Stephen Solar, both of whom were lobbied by Mahadeo Persaud and Vishnu Bisram and other stalwarts of the anti-dictatorial movement. Both congressmen held Kennedy in high esteem. I recall both congressmen saying that if Teddy issued a statement calling for free and fair elections, that was enough for them to do the same. So, Teddy got the ball running on Guyana and today we enjoy democracy because of his humble intervention to correct what he accepted as a historic wrong committed on the nation by his brother President JFK, during the 1960s.
The world will miss Ted Kennedy. No one was more influential and respected than him in the Senate when it came to passing laws. He would disarm critics and get them to co-sponsor his bills. As one report noted, “he was a steadfast champion of the working class and the poor, a powerful voice on health care, civil rights, and war and peace.” He led a tireless march for justice, fairness, equality and opportunities for all, regardless of background.
The family’s statement following Teddy’s death is apt. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.”
Thank you Senator Kennedy for what you did for Guyana. We will never forget you.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
Condolences to the family and the American people. He was an oustanding liberal-democrat.
I am not familiar with Ted Kennedy’s involvement in Guyana, but if it is the Ted kennedy that I know of, I am not surprised. He is truly one of America’s greatest sons.
Humility, integrity, honesty, and racial equality, are qualities that are bereft of Guyanese politicians.
Again ! Will no one rid me of the idiocy of Vishnu Bisram ? – ‘His (Kennedy) contributions to mankind are unmatched by any other American .’ No wonder you are a professional student. And why does he keep referring to himself in the third person ?. Is he Bob Dole ?!
Porg…there’s a time for everything under this sun ! if u did not stop here while u were passing ,,, same as me ,, u would not have to worry abt de bile that yuh puttin in yuh blood ,, with ur anger induced by de farce dat is Bisram ,,,,,,,
i was goin to do a piece on Ted ! in his reformation from JFK’s indiscretion ,, but who could blame him when he was not thinking of BG relative to human rights abuse ,, when he engineered the plot that took out the father of the nation ! only to realise ,,, sadly he was not around to see the disaster of a whole people ,, by his hand !…. which is why Ted felt totally responsible for JFKs ,,decision ! which is a reminder that we were ,,, an still is to AMERICA ,,, just a sardine !….
Well what a great man. Well, well, he must have been surely a greatly disappointed man; that his call for free and fair elections did bring down an unelected dictatorship but not bring true democracy to guyana…instead that he was blinded by the hypocracy of those who wrote to him about the PNC and now condone an elected dictatorship.
My thoughts exactly. You can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. We just changed one for another.
The contributions of Walter Rodney in dismantling the Burnham dictatorship has never been recognized by the P.P.P. or its supporters and this is not surprising. It’s not surprising because the contributions of Afro-Guyanese in building Guyana have also been given short shrift by the P.P.P. and its supporters. This very letter writer made the most clumsy, indecent and obscene attempt to show similarity of the dehumanizing system of slavery with that of indentureship. Now we are reminded at Senator Kennedy’s death that Guyana would have still been under the yolk of a dictatorship had it not been for the efforts of mainly Americans and Indo-Guyanese. All the Afro-Guyanese lives lost during the Burnham dictatorship were insignificant. The minimization of African achievement continues to be part of the devious plan of marginalization, victimization and humiliation. Keep on underestimating us at your own peril.
Bora, I would agree Bisram goes overboard with Kennedy helping overhrow the Burnamite dicattorship. But why bring in race into an otehrwise nice little homage ? Do we have to elaborate evry little thing for you ? Bisram said “many” Guyanese. Doesn’t this include Afros ? It may be that the circumstancse at the time meant that only Indos penned the letter to Kennedy. Isn’t Ron Brown an Afro-American ?
And then the usual, I would go so far as to say intellectually lazy, haste to tack on the mantra about “the devious plan of victimization, marginalisation, etc” of Afros in Guyana. You read about it in SN, right ? So it “GAT TO BE TRUE ” right? Yaaaawn….
….”elected dictaorship” ! condonation of !! not true democracy !!!
if he was a greatly disappointed man abt GUYANA ! he certainly didn’t seh suh bfoe he expired ! at least to anyone’s knowledge ! but in a pea-pod it would sound like Ted prabably felt like de convict hoo seh…..
” it is a lil mo decent crime ” !….. fuh “thinkers” de lesser of two evils !…..
evan thomas, what exactly is an “elected dictatorship”? you people only bandying words around because y’all hate the govt. if you want to see dictatorships check out zimbabwe, north korea, burma….
Quibian you are living in Canada. You won’t know what a “elected dictatorship” was even if jump up and bite you.
Guyana needs resident teachers to teach in it schools, not adjunct professors like you and the others who ran to another land because you couldn’t take the heat.
Ted Kennedy has fought for justice for immigrants
By Stabroek staff | May 26, 2008 in Letters
Dear Editor,
It is disheartening to learn that American Senator Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with brain cancer with the prospect of successfully battling it almost to zero. Kennedy has a special place in my heart and in the hearts of almost every Guyanese. Kennedy has played a dominant role in immigration reform since the 1960s that has helped hundreds of thousands of Guyanese to gain legal status in America. He is largely responsible for the restoration of democracy in Guyana and I am sure they would join me in offering special prayers for this great soul to overcome his illness.
I remember in 1989 Kennedy addressed the global convention of people of Indian origin at the Sheraton in Manhattan; many prominent Guyanese including Ravi Dev, Dr Jagan, Dr Baytoram Ramharack, Ramesh Kalicharran, Yesu Persaud, one of the Kissoon’s (furniture giant) boys (I don’t remember his first name), and myself were attendees at the convention. Dev and I assisted with the planning and organizing of the week long convention. Joey Jagan brought his father to the opening banquet. Dev, Ramharack and I had placed the issue of human rights abuses in Guyana as a priority for debate and discussion. And later on, Dr Jagan and I appealed to Dr Thomas Abraham, chairman of the convention, to raise the issue of fraudulent elections and human rights abuses in Guyana with Kennedy. Abraham did. Also, we urged Abraham to raise the matter with the late Ron Brown who was then the first African American Chairman of the Democratic Party; Brown had previously served as Manager of Kennedy’s office in Washington. Shortly after the convention, Kennedy called for the restoration of democracy in Guyana and that got the ball rolling down a faster lane that would lead to the first free and fair election in independent Guyana. The National Democratic Institute and the Carter Center took a deeper interest in Guyana. More members of Congress, with intense lobbying from our small group in NY, issued statements calling for free and fair elections. The late Arthur Schlesinger (my Doctoral History Professor) issued a statement on Guyana. The Bush administration (Papa Bush) was pushed into pressuring Desmond Hoyte to free the country. Thank you Senator Kennedy. Without your timely intervention, we might still be languishing in Guyana with fraudulent elections.
Kennedy is one of the most effective legislators in America’s Congress. Although a Democrat, he has a knack of working with Republicans; they respect him because he is an honourable man. He means what he says and speaks from the heart. Since his first day in Congress in 1963, he has fought for justice for immigrants and his efforts have led to the passage of laws beneficial to immigrants. Over the last two years, he has been in the forefront to grant a limited amnesty to illegal aliens.
As one columnist penned: “Kennedy has been the most respected Democratic senator for so long that no one comes close to his influence. He has also been one of the most energetic, always prodding and pushing his colleagues, undiverted by any other political ambitions or concerns since his one failed presidential campaign ended in 1980. On issue after issue, but particularly on civil rights, health care, labor law, Vietnam and Iraq, immigration or education for the poor, Kennedy has set the direction for his party and mobilized the necessary support. Even when the cause seemed lost, that bullhorn voice summoned Democrats to battle — and more often than seemed plausible, they achieved at least some of their goals.”
America cannot afford to lose a 76 year young Kennedy. He has a lot more to offer the US, Guyanese and the world. I hope the Bush administration would boost funding for research to find a cure for cancer and that no effort would be spared to assist Kennedy to live longer than what the doctors say.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram