IS THIS HOW WE TREAT OUR NATIONAL HEROES?
March 29, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom , Source
As of last Thursday, the fund that was launched by the Kaieteur News to benefit the children of the slain Courtney Crum Ewing had not yet reached one million dollars. This is surprising considering that there were large donations from a number of persons, including publisher of this newspaper, Glenn Lall.
A number of overseas-based Guyanese had also donated money. But where was the deluge of support for this fund from all those who went to the funeral of the slain man, those who were part of the protest vigil and the many more who were parroting the view that Courtney Crum-Ewing was a national hero who was killed because he was protesting against the People’s Progressive Party?
The government has made it clear that it had no part in the death of Courtney Crum-Ewing. The President went as far as saying that Courtney was more a nuisance than a threat. In other words, there was no reason for the government to have any motive for wanting him out of the way.
Unfortunately, poor journalism is now allowing another spin to be placed on the death of Courtney Crum-Ewing. There has been a claim that the President suggested that Courtney was a criminal. The President made no such suggestion.
What the President said was that Linden ‘Blackie’ London’s casket was draped with the national flag and the same thing was done with Courtney’s coffin. There are protocols involved in the use of the national flag. It is not acceptable for the national flag to be draped over the casket of any and every one. This is all that was being suggested.
The practice of draping a coffin with the national flag is a custom reserved for State funerals and military funerals. Neither Crum-Ewing nor ‘Blackie’ London was entitled to either.
Courtney Crum-Ewing was designated as a national hero by the Alliance for Change and this perhaps was why the national flag was wrongly draped over his coffin. He was designated a national hero, because there were those who felt that his death was politically orchestrated.
I have said before also that those making the claim that Courtney’s death was a political assassination have not produced one shred of evidence to support their claim. At his funeral, the claim was also made that it is naÏve for anyone to not believe that Courtney’s demise was related to his political activities.
Now if you are going to make such an assertion, at the least you should justify your contention. You should be able to explain why it is naÏve for anyone not to feel that Courtney’s death was political. Why is it naÏve for anyone to feel that his death was not related to his political activities?
When Courtney fell, there was a mad rush to claim him. The Alliance for Change rushed into the fray and said that he was wearing the AFC’s colours when he died. They claimed him. Never mind previous pictures on his Facebook page showing him in the same yellow jersey suggested that the jersey may have been more related to his support for the Brazilian football team.
Even though his family claims that he was not associated with any political party, on his Facebook page Courtney expressed his support for the AFC. In fact, it seems as if he had designated himself as the APNU-AFC representative in the Diamond area, going so far as to identity a building which he said would be the coalition’s office for the upcoming operations. There is no indication that this plan of his was ever approved by the coalition. He seemed to be a one-man show – doing his own thing in the name of the coalition.
Both parties should be wary of designating the late Courtney Crum-Ewing as a national hero. While it is said he died in the colours of the AFC, Courtney himself was highly intolerant of others having the right to wear their own colours. In one of his Facebook posts he indicates what he would do to anyone who comes near him dressed in the PPP’s colours. He also has disturbing views about East Indians. Is this the man that the opposition parties, promoting a national unity platform, want to hold up as a national hero?
But if they really care about Courtney, they would want to ensure that his family is taken care of. They should therefore lead by example, by giving handsomely to the fund started by Kaieteur News for his children. It is disappointing that despite the fact that so many persons condemned his death, and so many attended his funeral, yet one week after the fund started, there has not been an overwhelming pledge of financial support for the children of this “national hero.”
