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From the rice fields of Guyana to a Brevard County bench

By Jan Pudlow
Senior Editor

Relegated to ride the steamer in the lower deck with livestock and poor people of Guyana, cow dung splattered on his beautiful mother’s orhni headdress.

While his mother took the indignity in stride, A.B. Majeed describes an anger that “burnt in me.”

Judge Majeed Majeed was only 10 years old on that trip from Anna Regina to visit an uncle who lived on an island in the Essequibo River. Peeking up the stairs, he saw the nice, polished seats reserved for the upper class.

Tugging at his mother’s hand, Majeed asked why they couldn’t sit in the empty seats upstairs, rather than squatting with the cows and sheep down below.

“I understood then and there that I wanted to be in first class, and the only way to do it was to get an education,” Majeed said. “That was the birth of my quest.”

Majeed’s transformation from the son of a subsistence rice farmer in Guyana to a Brevard County judge, and former president of the Conference of County Court Judges of Florida, is a journey filled with gratitude for the help he received along the way.

“The whole economic injustice got me at an early age,” Judge Majeed recalled. “I would see people working in offices wearing ties and sitting in the shade, making a better life than us in the fields, working in the mud and rain. I could not understand the dichotomy.

“As I got older and got into the law, I saw how economic issues play a great role in the wars we fight. Even in America, where one of the biggest problems was segregation, the court struck down segregation because of the commerce clause.”

As Judge Majeed now tells his 14-year-old son: “The great equalizer is to get a top education.”

Getting an education was very difficult for boy from a poor family in Guyana in the ’50s. There was no high school in Anna Regina, so families would scrape together about $22.50 per month to send a child to the high school in Georgetown, the capital city.

But Majeed’s parents only had enough money to send an older brother, not Majeed, the youngest of four brothers. At a family meeting, that lucky older brother, then married and living in his own house, told their father he would chip in so Majeed could go to high school. Finally, in the mid-’60s, a government office was converted to the first high school in Anna Regina.

“It was like opening a door to heaven to me,” Majeed said, describing how mornings before school he woke early to tote water in buckets from the village artesian well and milk the cows, at his home without electricity or running water.

“Had I not gone to high school, I would be a dirt farmer today. My whole mental concept of my abilities changed. I began to dream impossible dreams,” Majeed said.

One of those “impossible dreams” was to come to America. Majeed said he was intrigued by Americans’ “way of life, their economic capitalism, their democracy, and their freedoms.”

But he was unable to get a student visa to attend college in the United States.

“When I applied for one, I was denied, because my parents lacked the resources to guarantee that I would not become a public charge on the U.S. government,” Majeed explained. “This was a stringent requirement of the U.S. embassy.”

Stepping in to offer help was Michael, an American Peace Corps volunteer serving in Anna Regina, who called his mother back home and asked if they would help sponsor Majeed so he could go to college in the United States.

Ruth Billington, now 96 and living in a retirement home in Willoughby, Ohio, remembers that call like it was yesterday, and Majeed still visits her and calls her “Mom.”

“I was perfectly happy to sponsor A.B. He came and went to school at Howard,” Billington said. “He didn’t come with any money, but he had jobs. We offered to be supportive, but I never had to spend any money on him. I am very proud of him. To be a judge is an honor, but to be a brown-skinned Muslim judge is another thing. I am just terrifically proud of him.”

Graduating magna cum laude from Howard University in 1972, Majeed’s classmate was Peggy Quince, who would go on to become the first black female justice of the Florida Supreme Court. They both followed the same path and went to law school at Catholic University.

“At Catholic University, there is a special wall where the names of those law school graduates who became judges are inscribed on a wall. My name and Peggy Quince’s name are on that wall,” Majeed said.

“I took my son and daughters there, and when I saw my name I cried, because I wished my parents could have seen it,” he said, choking up with emotion.

After graduating from law school in 1975, Majeed became a U.S. citizen, and, eventually, his parents came to the United States, too.

Patriotic words flow freely from the lips of Judge Majeed, Florida’s only judge from Guyana and East Indian descent: “America loved me to dream dreams I could never dream. America loved me to make those dreams come true.”

After serving as an assistant state attorney in Brevard County, he ran for judge in 1992. While he lost the election, he made many friends campaigning and was appointed to the bench by Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1993.

Daily, as a county judge, he sees “human tragedies because of the economy.”

He sees the courtroom as “the confluence of all the tributaries in a major river, and they come to us. It makes me very compassionate, and I like to fashion remedies outside the box.”

He gives the examples of ordering defendants to donate food to a soup kitchen or dog chow to an animal shelter, and show proof that they have done so. Or, he asks people to write essays about American heroes, such as Clarence Wolf Guts, who died at 86 in 2010, as the last surviving Oglala Lakota code talker from World War II, who helped defeat Axis forces by transmitting strategic military messages in his native language the Japanese and Germans couldn’t translate.
“I want the people who come before me in court to see that life is not all about them. And I want them to see that America is full of kind and generous people. I try to change people’s minds in a simple way.”


Judge Majeed says he is proud of his humble roots and believes it helps him be an understanding judge.

“I know from where I sit on the bench and where the defendant stands at the podium is a very short distance,” he said.

At 65, he knows Florida law will force him to leave the judge’s job he loves when he turns 70, and he may then run for a state Senate seat.

But it is in the court of law, he says, that most clearly exhibits the phrase, “We, the people.”

“We the people,” he notes, are the first words of the Constitution, and the last words given by jurors when they reach a verdict.

“Whether a citizen is guilty or not does not come from the state seal hanging over my head or the flag in the courtroom or from police power. It comes from the words, ‘We the people,’” Judge Majeed said.

“To me, that is the essence of democracy.”

Whenever someone stops him in the courthouse and asks him how he’s doing, Judge Majeed has a standard reply he delivers with a smile: “I’m living the dream.”

Replies sorted oldest to newest

And dem Cunumunu and Lamatas on GNI want to go back to Burnham Days!!!!!!  Not even a bloody High School in Anna Regina?????  I hope People will appreciate the wisdom and talent of the PPP Govt.

 

Congrats to brother Majeed. Guyana IS PROUD of you.

Nehru

Nehru,

No one can deny that new schools were not constructed under the PPP Gov't. New Roads were built and a host of other good things  that is expected by any Government.

 

 However, as the trinis will say "IT'S THE CORRUPTION BOY"!! Under Basdeo Panday in Trinidad, he built a new airport when he was the PM, but the corruption was too much. Just like the PPP, contracts were given willy nilly to "the boys",  theft and kickbacks was rampant. So what did the Trinis did, including some of Bas colleagues, they combined themselves and  ensured that he was voted out. Not only was he voted out but some of his Ministers were charged for corruption.

 

When can we such thing in Guyana?

 

Nehru this is not about being against the PPP this is about being for a respnsible and clean Gov't for the most part. The elctorate has spoken in Guyana and they have made the PPP Gov't a minority Gov't hence the PPP should have taken steps to correct the state of corruption and wholesale thieving by the comrades from Freedom House.

 

Buddy Nehru you are no fool and you are aware that evry rope has an end.

Chief
Last edited by Chief

So ALL including the Opposition have to tackle the problem of CORRUPTION and JAIL/HANG those who are GUILTY. Talking and talking will do nothing whether they are in the Opposition or in Power.

Nehru

Nehru,

 

You cannot be serious, on one side of your mouth you are saying that illegal constitution by the dictator Burnham is all good on the other side of your mouth you are saying to hang the corrupt Gov;t officials.

 

The constitution that you are praising is an obstacle to prosecute the guilty ones.

Chief
Originally Posted by Nehru:

The Constitution PREVENTS the Opposition from DESTROYING the PROGRESS of Guyana.

PNC constitution good for Guyana then? Now the tables are turned. The shoe is on the other foot. Leh dem wear am an bear am bhai! Ting na regla fuh dem! Dem na want fu see pragress. Let dem go ah Corentyne and see pragress. Skeldon moe bright dan NA. Ask Yujii and de Chief.

FM
Originally Posted by Nehru:

And dem Cunumunu and Lamatas on GNI want to go back to Burnham Days!!!!!!  Not even a bloody High School in Anna Regina?????  I hope People will appreciate the wisdom and talent of the PPP Govt.

 

Congrats to brother Majeed. Guyana IS PROUD of you.

How many new/prominent high schools did the PPP build in the 20 yrs that they are in power? Burnham days were better. Students got a better education. You know that so don't try to BS your way out of this.

FM
Originally Posted by Bruddaman:
Originally Posted by Nehru:

And dem Cunumunu and Lamatas on GNI want to go back to Burnham Days!!!!!!  Not even a bloody High School in Anna Regina?????  I hope People will appreciate the wisdom and talent of the PPP Govt.

 

Congrats to brother Majeed. Guyana IS PROUD of you.

How many new/prominent high schools did the PPP build in the 20 yrs that they are in power? Burnham days were better. Students got a better education. You know that so don't try to BS your way out of this.

You have to be blind and stupid.

Nehru
Originally Posted by Nehru:
Originally Posted by Bruddaman:
Originally Posted by Nehru:

And dem Cunumunu and Lamatas on GNI want to go back to Burnham Days!!!!!!  Not even a bloody High School in Anna Regina?????  I hope People will appreciate the wisdom and talent of the PPP Govt.

 

Congrats to brother Majeed. Guyana IS PROUD of you.

How many new/prominent high schools did the PPP build in the 20 yrs that they are in power? Burnham days were better. Students got a better education. You know that so don't try to BS your way out of this.

You have to be blind and stupid.

Fleas in QC. They can't maintain a school that was given to them because they thief out the money.

FM

“We the people,” he notes, are the first words of the Constitution, and the last words given by jurors when they reach a verdict.

“Whether a citizen is guilty or not does not come from the state seal hanging over my head or the flag in the courtroom or from police power. It comes from the words, ‘We the people,’” Judge Majeed said.

“To me, that is the essence of democracy.”

Congratulations to Brother Majeed on his accomplishments and achievments.

 

Mitwah

Brother Majeed, all Guyanese from all walks of life everywhere are proud of you. I know that Floridians love to invite you to all kinds of functions to impart your wisdom to them. We celebrate all your achievements not only as a Judge but also an avid cricketer. May Allah Bless You.

FM
Originally Posted by BGurd_See:

Congratulations, I hope he don't bring Guyanese bad habit to the bench and let off them drug lords when they come up for trial. 

If you don't have anything good to say about Judge Majeed, shut you raa* up. You don't even know the man. Unlike you, he is an outstanding and respectable Judge in the USA.

FM
Originally Posted by Dondadda:
Originally Posted by BGurd_See:

Congratulations, I hope he don't bring Guyanese bad habit to the bench and let off them drug lords when they come up for trial. 

If you don't have anything good to say about Judge Majeed, shut you raa* up. You don't even know the man. Unlike you, he is an outstanding and respectable Judge in the USA.

Drugee  is just being himself as usual; a loathsome cretinous wretch.

Mitwah
Originally Posted by skeldon_man:

Congratulations to Your Honor Majeed. Glad all that hard work finally paid off.

It's great to see a Guyanese make it good.  Congrats to the man.

 

Imagine if he was Hindu, Chief would be referring to him a "chammar coolie".

FM
Originally Posted by Dondadda:
Originally Posted by BGurd_See:

Congratulations, I hope he don't bring Guyanese bad habit to the bench and let off them drug lords when they come up for trial. 

If you don't have anything good to say about Judge Majeed, shut you raa* up. You don't even know the man. Unlike you, he is an outstanding and respectable Judge in the USA.

He has Guyanese blood flowing through his veins and seems to be affiliated with the aFC elements based on how they fawning over him. You never know, he might be strategically positioned to help their cause given their foray into drug runnings and ezjet/pepper sauce man.

FM

Baseman your children children will be born as low lives.

 

 

Hindus are wonderful human beings and the Hindu system has differenc t class with folks like Baseman being in the lowest class .

Chief
Originally Posted by Chief:

Baseman your children children will be born as low lives.

 

 

Hindus are wonderful human beings and the Hindu system has differenc t class with folks like Baseman being in the lowest class .

And you are already one.  Don't wash your stink mouth on my kids, they are not arguing with you.  Muslims are wonderful people except katahars like you.

FM
Originally Posted by Chief:

Baseman your children children will be born as low lives.

 

 

Hindus are wonderful human beings and the Hindu system has differenc t class with folks like Baseman being in the lowest class .

Ok Chief,

 

Cut this nonsense out once and for all. Hindu Scripture does not have different class of folks. Stop this anti Hindu propaganda once and for all.

 

Now if some people in India support a system of injustice that was started by some dishonest folks to divide people according to different classes then than it is a different matter. You seem to defend Islam while piling up misinformation about Hinduism.

 

In places like Pakistan the Ahmadiyyas are persecuted. That is real class difference. Please post on their persecution.

 

I have noticed that you also love to call Hindus by using the term chammar. Please stop it now.

FM
Originally Posted by baseman:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Baseman your children children will be born as low lives.

 

 

Hindus are wonderful human beings and the Hindu system has differenc t class with folks like Baseman being in the lowest class .

And you are already one.  Don't wash your stink mouth on my kids, they are not arguing with you.  Muslims are wonderful people except katahars like you.

The old testament clearly state that your children's children will inherit what you sow.

iF YOU CONTINUE WITH YOU STUPID ALLEGATIONS THAT BECAUSE i AM MUSLIM i SUPPORT TERRORISTS then you are lying so if you are a lair then your grandchildren will be liars. Your children will be bigots just like you. Chip donj't go far from the block.

Chief
Originally Posted by skeldon_man:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Pandit Mitwah please educate Yugi.

Chief don't ask Mitwah to join your fight.

 Chief is doing fine on his own. I don't feel like fighting to day.  I am making beef and barley soup to serve at the soup kitchen today. 

 
Mitwah
Originally Posted by skeldon_man:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Pandit Mitwah please educate Yugi.

Chief don't ask Mitwah to join your fight.

Mitwah is a good human being and is a stonrg follower of Hinduism. He's learned and asking him to educate a few is not asking him to enter into any battle.

As Mits rightly pointed out Iam capable of dealing with the haters.

Chief

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