BB-32-h-4
[Editor’s note: The numerous typographical errors in these meeting notes have been corrected.]
Deborah Touchette
July 1, 1978
Jean M. Singh
w/ Marceline [Jones], Sharon [Amos], Deb T.
– We met her the night Mrs. [Viola] Burnham was speaking on the street in Prashud Nagar, when she was saying things this little woman who is about the size of Sharon Amos and has the same personality, would yell out things in agreement of what was being said by the speaker, both Cde. [Forbes] Burnham and Cde. [minister of State in the Ministry of National Development Robert] Corbin; after the meeting we introduced ourselves and said we would like to talk to her about the project, she said she would be happy to talk to us so…
– she said she and her husband were both very active in the party, often they would not get home until after 12:00 or two AM in the morning. She said she like to cook and clean house, but she never had time to anymore.
– Marceline told her about the woman who had visited our project, woman who was formerly a headmistress.
– Sharon told her about the harassment Peoples Temple was receiving in the press, told about black elected officials.
– Marceline told her about adopting children of all races, and not really knowing what impression was until she adopted a black child.
– Jean agreed that the racism was really what was dividing our nation
– she felt if [Cheddi] Jagan and Burnham could ever get together, then the racism would come to an end, and there will be solidarity politically
– she noted in most nations there is one party, then there is the opposition which is really opposite, but in Guyana the opposition is of the same mind, but with a different approach
– she told us a little history of how the Africans were brought over first and made to be slaves, but when the Africans started to revolt against slavery, they brought over East Indians and would not let them work in the same areas so that the Africans could not tell the East Indians how they were being exploited.
– They set up boundary lines so that there would be no communication and so the East Indians never knew what was going on with the blacks, and this is when the racism really began, and they have, the explorers worked at keeping people separate for as long as they ruled.
– Then when Jagan split with Burnham, he started using the racism to get the votes and even today in the more rural areas, she and others will talk to people and they will say they know what Burnham is doing is right, or that racism is wrong and when somebody from the opposition comes and talks to them again, then there are won over to the other side because they play on the racism.
– She told us of a program they are now doing with the children
– they are having classes to teach the children the basic things about their country and what is happening politically in the country now
– she noted the things written on the blackboard in some pictures that Sharon showed her of the school in Jonestown about the PNC and the PPP, she thought it was good that we teach our children what each of them stands for, what the flag means etc., they should know this at a young age because, she agreed with Marceline that the children of today are the future of tomorrow
– she said they are setting this program up in the schools, but not as extensively as they are in the PNC office, because people get offended, especially if the child’s parents belong to the opposition, they might not learn the words to the party battle song, or the more detailed things about the PNC itself, but they will all learn the basics about both parties
– Sharon told her more detail about the press attacking PT and basically as a socialist group in the US we faced a lot of attack
—–
BB-32-h-5
– I told her about the attempts on your life and children’s life
– we told her how they attacked the characters of people like Dr. Martin Luther King.
– She was upset by the attacks of PT and moaned or shown signs of deep hurt when I told her about the assassination attempts.
– Before we left, she told us that she heard anyone talking bad about the PT, she would defend us, and she would like to come up and see Jonestown, although it would not be until after the referendum.