Dear Editor,
It has been 60 years since February 16, 1962, brought back to memory by the opening lines, ‘were some who ran one way, were some who ran another way, were some who did not run at all, were some who will not run again’, in Martin Carter’s poem ‘Black Friday 1962’.
In the month of February 1962, I was a young boy visiting what was known as Seaman’s Ward at the Public Hospital Georgetown to see Keith, my uncle, who suffered from a severe form of Keratoconus, a condition which made him very short-sighted, but, as he suggested, the finest presage of an unusual life. He had been suspended from the PPP in March 1956, by General Secretary Janet Jagan, “For placing yourself above the party and indicating that you will not be bound by Party decisions should these conflict with your principles”.
The reason for my hospital visit that day, was to see Keith, suffering from the gunshot of a British 303 rifle to his right hip, received on Black Friday in Robb Street, George-town. As result of his shortsightedness, he was among those, in his brother’s description, ‘who did not run at all’. He was proud of being suspended from the party for his principles; but based on reports in the newspapers of events in Guyana, it appears that these days, there are no principles, either personal or public, for which one can be suspended or expelled from some organizations in the dear land of Guyana.
Yours sincerely,
Keith H. Carter MD.
