Dear Editor,
May I add my heartfelt thank you to what must surely be an outpouring of the same, for the extraordinary, daily, and balanced reporting of the news. It saddens me that this, the most prized of the Guyanese new outlets for a balanced view of all things Guyanese, must put to bed its last issue for lack of funds.[1]
Others will more eloquently express their appreciation for a job, consistently, exemplarily, and bravely done for decades, despite the politics of the day. It is a pity that today’s and tomorrow’s youths will not know that balance, unless another set of conscientious and brave souls take up the cause. I am reminded of the importance of the news to move us and possibly change the trajectory of our lives.
It was an iconic photograph in the newspaper that made me conscious of other children my age, advocating for their rights to the point of pain and death in South Africa. It was a photograph by Sam Nzima of Mbuyisa Makhuba running through a street in Soweto carrying the limp body of Hector Pieterson, with Hector’s sister, Antoinette running alongside him. Hector had been shot and killed by the South African Police. He was 12 years old. This image woke me from my slumber of privilege to global citizenry at the age of 16. I did go to South Africa, and I did meet the relatives of the teenagers in that photograph. This is the power of extraordinary journalism. It can change the way we see ourselves, it can make us question, It can make us brave.
We need our news reported without the murky lens of personal agendas, fears and vendettas.
Our children need the truth. I pray that the last issue of Stabroek News births something even better for this generation.[2]
Thank you a thousand times over.