Can we have an accurate answer on the Indian Repatriation Fund?

Dear Editor,
No one would disagree with Nigel Bacchus that “We must reject the demons of racism”, as published in another media (Nov 28) in his response to human rights activist Dr. Vishnu Bisram (Nov 27), a reply to Hamilton Green on funding the cost of Burnham’s National Cultural Centre.
Poor editing hampers the clarity of the letter.
Bacchus’s missive lacks substance, content, and evidence to conclude that Dr. Bisram introduced the demon of racism by posing a query to Green. Bacchus makes an allegation without merit, and he should have been ignored. Freedom of expression does not include that of uninformed and unjustified accusation without evidence and taken out of context.
Anyone would be saddened to read something lacking content and context, and that is an egregious misrepresentation of what was penned by Dr. Bisram.
On what basis did Bacchus form his allegation? He said he formed the conclusion after speaking with Hamilton Green, whom Bacchus also revealed was his history teacher’s only subject that the former PNC honcho passed at GCE. I know Green quite well; I was a victim of his misgovernance and abuse.
Bacchus should ask Green about the victimization of critics and those who pushed back against PNC racism, forced National Service, violence against opponents, beatings at Eve Leary and Brickdam, disappearances, rape, and murders.
Bacchus should also ask Green about the X-13 Plan; racial violence against Indians; the 1960s race riots; the Wismar Genocide of Indians; the murders of Shirley Field-Ridley, Vincent Teekah, Father Darke, and Walter Rodney; the shooting of Prof Josh Ramsammy; the beating (every bone destroyed) of boxer Lennox Blackmore; planned kidnapping of Dr Clive Thomas, among other atrocities.
Anything Green says or writes must be taken (not with a grain, but with a pound, of salt).
If Bacchus wishes to learn recent history from an African source, then he should speak with those who have credibility and integrity, like Eusi Kwayana, a true Elder, and Prof Clive Thomas, himself a victim of Green and the PNC.
Bacchus would also learn a lot from Indian stalwarts like Moses Bhagwan and Prof Rupert Roopnarine.
Bacchus writes that it “is the demon of racism” for Dr. Bisram to merely ask Green how he would feel if funds of his ancestors were used to build a cultural centre in an Indian community like Port Mourant. How is that question dividing the country? What intellectual skill was used to reach that conclusion?
Is it not racism to confiscate the Indian Immigrant Fund? Does Bacchus not find it racist when Green questioned the amount of the Indian Fund that contributed to the building of the Cultural Centre? Doesn’t Bacchus find it racist to use the Indian Fund to construct a Cultural Centre in an area surrounded only by non-Indians, and which was not accessible to Indians? Why not confiscate the funds of others and use them to build the centre? Is it not racist to decorate the same Cultural Centre without Indian cultural symbols, not even a plaque with the words “built by Indian Immigrants Fund”?
Is it not racism to confiscate land that was used by Indian farmers to build the Cultural Centre?
Contrary to what Bacchus said he learned from Green, the PPP was split into two racial camps when Burnham made a play for the leadership while Dr. Jagan was jailed. Green backed Burnham. His move failed.
Initially, the split was not completely along racial lines, but eventually everyone took a side based on racial solidarity with the two aspiring leaders. The 1955 split was largely by race, and the 1957 elections were fought along racial lines (apan jaat) — vote for ‘your Mattie’. Burnham lost the election, and he proceeded to rename his faction PNC.
Dr. Bisram’s letters on the Indian Fund are devoid of elements of racism, and it is pertinent to ask what amount of the Repatriation Fund amounted to 5%. On the other hand, Hamilton Green’s missives and Bacchus’s conclusion are biased and have the elements of racism.
We all must raise our voices against the types of racial bias and racism penned by Bacchus and Green, and the whitewashing of history being promoted by both Bacchus and Green.
I won’t be surprised if the editor of the other media house does publish this response.

Sincerely,
Leyland Chitlall Roopnarine
PNC victim