Latest update May 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 26, 2017 Letters
Dear Editor,
The US justice system is one big ocean of brazen injustices, unashamed ignorance and transparent contradictions. The so called “Department of Justice” is built on the outrageous reality that the USA has the highest per capita incarceration in the world. Although we have only 5 % of the world’s population, we top the world’s prison population with 25 % of that total. Worse yet, the US incarcerates a disproportionate ratio of minorities- 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that 1 in every 3 black men go to prison in their lifetime.
This staggering reality is further complicated by the fact that this country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, has led the world in making incarceration a leading industry by itself. Perversely, the multimillion-dollar prison complex is one of the fastest-growing public private industries, with Wall Street investors, having its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order and internet catalogs. 95 % of people charged with crimes plead guilty in the US, an inexhaustible supply source.
Richmond Hill, or Little Guyana, is a microcosm of these manifestations and contradictions. Most residents have felt the brunt of injustice, discrimination and oppression at every level, from top to bottom. Immigration raids on homes and businesses, livelihoods disrupted and families torn apart, undocumented children taken out of schools, the police issuing tickets to meet daily quotas, the City issuing sanitation tickets or invading homes issuing housing and building violations, traffic maids ticketing for expired meters, state and federal agencies harassing residents or the FBI overreaching minor infractions to major crimes are unfortunate, common realities.
The government has now utilized the unfortunate trait of the “crabs in a barrel mentality” that diminishes most West Indian Americans from other groups living in the US in making star out of rats, equating each with the other, whether spelled backwards. Ed Ahmad received a 2 year sentence for robbing financial institutions of $50 million, using 162 properties to carry out his mortgage fraud scheme and ruining thousands of their savings, hopes and dreams. Ahmad blatantly refused to comply with the plea agreement that kept him from a 10 year prison sentence, paying the US government $29,000 of the almost 3 million dollars in fines he received at the time of sentence, and refusing to pay even the stipulated $500,000 before the date of his sentencing.
However, his plea to only a conspiracy and attempt to commit a felony was still accepted. Indeed, had Ahmad not violated the terms of his bond by pledging an encumbered property and filing questionable tax returns, he would have totally avoided jail time despite all of his crimes.
John Sampson, once the NY State Senate Majority Leader, received 5 years by the same Judge Irizarry for obstructing justice, although he was acquitted on other counts. Ahmad was a key witness in the 2015 trial against Sampson, but was criticized by the Judge for being referred to by jurors to Daily News reporters as “dirty.” She said she couldn’t understand “why the government is giving such short shrift to a blatant breach of the cooperation agreement.” Sampson stole the comparatively meager sum of $188,500.
Community and civil rights leader attorney Albert Baldeo received 18 months for advising immigrants that they had an American constitutional right not to speak to investigators who were questioning whether they made campaign contributions to his campaign, to be elected to represent the Richmond Hill community over some of the issues he often championed against the government. Baldeo’s independence and efforts as a fearless and tireless advocate got him elected to the position of District Leader, but he became a thorn in the establishment and institutional politics that marginalized the less fortunate. A coercive instruction from the Judge to his deadlocked jury made sure he was convicted of obstructing an investigation into the use of his own money to finance his campaign.
Many jurists and experts have trouble comprehending why Baldeo was arrested and charged, and what was his underlying federal criminal conduct, while others blame it on the same dirty politics that sent others like Dr. King, Gandhi and Mandela to jail before him. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Mayor DeBlasio, Governor Cuomo and thousands of politicians and candidates did worse than Baldeo, but have never been prosecuted. Baldeo’s case has created a dangerous precedent where the FBI can now invent a crime, and carry out witch-hunts to take down citizens for “conspiring and obstructing” them without any basis in the criminal statutes.
Glen Hirsch, a white lawyer who benefitted as a co-conspirator with Ahmad, received a non-custodial sentence, although he did not testify against anyone. Instead, he was ordered to receive gambling counseling by the Judge instead. Again, why have top US prosecutors like Preet Bharara refused to prosecute violent offenders, drug traffickers, the Wall Street banks, investment and insurance power houses and terrorists likewise? These shortcomings reflect adversely on the integrity and uniformity of our justice system and demand Congressional investigation and hearings. Ahmad’s mortgage fraud and real estate shenanigans are not unique to the Richmond Hill community, and a large majority of real estate, mortgage and insurance personnel are guilty of the same crimes throughout the USA.
Moreover, the government is destroying morale in communities by sending an obvious message that if you cooperate and snitch against others in your community, instead of fighting your charges on the merits, that you will be treated like royalty in our new “nation of rats and snitches.” They are encouraging communities to spy on each other, report, fabricate, distort and earn brownie points-to avoid jail. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are no longer American priorities.
One community activist who has featured in the records of some cases is Vishnu Mahadeo, Chairman of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Corporation. Newspapers, including the NY Post, recently carried front page stories of his pending indictment with his former boss, State Senator James Sanders a few months before his cooperation with law enforcement began. While his countrymen fell, Vishnu Mahadeo now talk of being the Mayor of Richmond Hill. Indeed, Darmin Bachu, the lawyer who sits on his board, and with whom he shares an office, was indicted for tax crimes, grand larceny, criminal possession and fraud recently. Vishnu Mahadeo is the new American the administration wants as its proud poster boy.
George Anderson
Listen what Ring Fencing means to your foot table!
May 20, 2024
(CWI) – The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel has announced the squad for the upcoming T20 International (T20I) Series against South Africa. This significant series, preceding the ICC...Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News – The media in Guyana stands at a crossroads. The path it chooses will have significant... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – After 13 years, the 14 independent member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]