By Felicia J. Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 30, 2015: On July 1, 2015, a Hispanic gunman opened fire on Pier 14 in the Embarcadero district in San Francisco, California, and 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was killed after being shot in the back. Since the, Donald Trump has used every opportunity to speak up for Steinle, called for an end to funding for sanctuary cities and insisted all undocumented immigrants, especially those from Mexico, should be deported because they are simply killers and murderers and rapists.
On July 24th, Marilyn Pharis, 64, a veteran in Santa Maria, Calif., was savagely raped and hammered to death. Victor Aureliano and Martinez Ramirez were arrested for that murder. Again Trump has used Pharis’ murder to make his case for why all undocumented immigrants should be sent packing.
So much so that it has triggered racists attacks against immigrants, even naturalized US citizens.
On October 20, 2015, a black immigrant police officer born in the CARICOM nation of Guyana, South America, was murdered in cold blood by a black man in East Harlem. Officer Randolph Holder, Jr., 33, was shot to death allegedly by Tyrone “Peanut” Howard, 30 who now faces first degree murder and robbery charges.
Officer Holder, with five years of experience under his belt, personified the typical immigrant success story.
He was born in Lodge, Guyana to a father who was a cop and whose own father was also a cop. His mom passed away at the age of 17, leaving the young Randolph to take care of his siblings.
When he migrated to the US 12 years ago, after being sponsored by his dad, he took a job as a security guard like most new immigrants often do. Then like most immigrants, not satisfied with the status quo, he joined the police academy and graduated as a cop.
During his five-year career he amassed 125 arrests and rose to an elite plainclothes anti-crime unit in a dangerous pocket of northern Manhattan. He was in line to make detective when his life was snuffed out in an instant by an American-born man who had stealing and doing drugs since he was 13 years old. Twenty-eight times in all.
He had also served jailed time – twice! On October 20th he stole again – this time a bicycle, carried a weapon and whipped it out and did not hesitate to shoot Holder in the head.
Then took off running too as the black officer lay dying!
Trump said nothing. He has said nothing since. Not a peep! Not a single word! Yet he continues to harp on the killings of Steinle and Pharis.
The reality is that in 2014, nearly a quarter of the NYPD’s most recent class was born outside the United States. The recruits hail from 49 countries, with the Dominican Republic leading the way as the most popular birthplace.
The second most popular birth country is Guyana, with 11 recruits and eight hail from Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2015, 22 percent were foreign- born and speak a combined 22 languages. These are the people putting their lives on the line daily for New Yorkers across the city.
In recent months, several have lost their lives including Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. Yet not a single peep from Trump et al.
All lives matter –not just White lives Mr Trump! It’s time you end the duplicity if you really want to present the United States and all the people. All criminals should be punished not just immigrant-born criminals.
The writer is CMO of Hard Beat Communications, which owns the brands News Americas Now, CaribPR Wire and Invest Caribbean Now.
