Stop Racist Burke’s Hate Crimes 

Rickford Burke, a member of the People’s National Congress,  living in New York, stated on the Sherrod Duncan show that his racist organization aims to use the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to perpetuate racist claims against Guyanese nationals living in New York City. This is a blatant misuse of an organization whose intention is purportedly to deal with racism. Burke, using the BLM movement as a facade, indicated that his organization will hold night marches in Queens to target, disrupt, and close businesses. He further went on to say that they possess the names and addresses of individuals who they intend to target. Those individuals and entities just all happen to be members of the Indo-Guyanese diaspora in Richmond Hills. 

Burke is well known as a racist who has been on a campaign for over a decade to sow division between the Black and Indian communities in New York. Burke has made numerous racist comments with the aim of inciting violence against Indian owned businesses and individuals in the United States. The Indian and Black communities currently enjoy a respectful relationship, free of race-based conflict and we cannot allow this poison into our communities. Burke’s racist poison cannot interfere with the close relationship of these communities nor hinder the ultimate objective, which is to eradicate systemic racism in the United States.

We call on the BLM movement to distance themselves from Burke and to repudiate his intention to use this noble organization to further race-based politics in New York City and Guyana. Burke’s goal is not only to incite racism but to divide communities. Burke will only bring disrepute to the valiant work the BLM movement has been doing. Many Indo-Guyanese not only marched alongside the BLM but also gave significant financial support. 

We, the members of the Diaspora, demand that law enforcement, public officials, and decent minded citizens raise their voices in unison against Burke’s threats to target and drive fear in the  Indo-Guyanese community. We demand that appropriate law enforcement measures are put in place to protect the lives and property of law abiding citizens. We demand that Burke be held accountable for inciting violence against people of Indo-Caribbean origin in the United States and that the New York Police Department investigate Burke for inciting hate crimes. We the members of the Guyanese Diaspora demand that our politicians take measures to stop Mr. Burke’s racial incitement and his promoting of violence within our communities.