Caribbean American Year in Review
For Caribbean nationals across the U.S., the year 2008 will most likely be remembered for the historic and unprecedented voter turnout in communities all across the country for the Nov. 4, 2008 election of President Barack Obama and of course the melt-down on Wall Street.
Many Caribbean immigrants saw their 401K`s and IRA`s evaporate as Wall Street crumbled while others had to kiss their jobs and homes goodbye.
It was truly a tragic moment and many continue to feel the repercussions, but the shining moment was undoubtedly the increase in political activism in this niche bloc for the 2008 Presidential election, in particular the election of President-elect Barack Obama. There is no doubt that Caribbean nationals across the U.S. can be a force to be reckoned with politically, should they stick together and rally as a bloc as they did in November, despite the fact that they were largely unrecognized for their effort.
Still the huge voter turnout, contribution of funds, the campaigning of Caribbean nationals like Marlon Hill, Gregory Smith and Elsie Dublin, and the work of Caribbean Americans, Eric holder, Jr. and Patrick Gaspard, helped to ensure that 2008 was a shining year of political empowerment of the Caribbean immigrant bloc in the U.S. And the BEST MOMENT OF 2008.
But beyond the obvious political triumphs of 2008, there are some moments that we feel stood out – both as shining ones and as ones that were extremely disappointing.
Here is a compilation of our best and worst for 2008 as well as our hopes for 2009.
Other Best Moments Of 2008
Beyond the political turn out, one of the best moments that was also historic for 2008 was the shattering of the 100-meter record by Jamaican Usain Bolt at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York in May. Not only did Bolt break the record held by his fellow countryman, Asafa Powell, before hundreds of Caribbean Diaspora fans, but it marked the beginning of his climb to claim the 100-m gold in Beijing in August of 2008.
Another proud moment was the launch of a movement to get Caribbean nationals their own category on the U.S. Census form, CARIBID. The moment marked the planting of a seed that will no doubt become a reality in the years to come. But most importantly, it has begun a push for empowerment and led to the appointment of two partnership specialists in the New York area to date and dozens of media interviews. No doubt something all Caribbean nationals can be proud of and lobby around, despite country or race.
Shocking U.S. Diaspora Incidents Of 2008
By far the most shocking and sickening moment of 2008 was the news that staffers of the psychiatric ward of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, left a Jamaican national to die like a dog on the floor of the institution. Esmine Green, 49, collapsed and died in June at the hospital while waiting in the ER for treatment.
As news of her origin breaks, several Caribbean leaders quickly use the moment to grab their two minutes of fame. But once the camera lights faded, so did their interest and compassion, leaving us unsure of what was more shocking – Ms. Green being left to die or the callous way the so called Caribbean leaders used the death to gain some attention while quickly dismissing it and moving on to the next `thing.`
As for poor Ms. Green, we’re still hoping for criminal charges to be laid in this case.
Another shocker came close to the end of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday, Nov. 28th.
Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old Haitian American was trampled to death by shoppers at a New York Wal-Mart store in Long Island, NY. The shoppers in their haste to get deals knocked the glass doors off their tracks and shattered them, while knocking Damour to the ground and running over him in a most disgusting and inhumane act.
Worse was the fact that Wal-Mart saw it only fit to issue a general statement even as those responsible went scotch free. So as Damour`s family mourned him at Christmas, the monsters who were responsible for his death were tearing in to their Wal-Mart Christmas presents.
We hope the Damour family wins their civil lawsuit against Wal-Mart and actually gets some glimmer of relief for their pain in this monstrous tragedy.
Disappointments Of The Year
No doubt the biggest disappointment of the year 2008 was the fiasco that was the Caribbean Diaspora conference, held in Brooklyn in June which is Caribbean American Heritage Month across the U.S.
The conference turned out to be a huge laughing stock as the New York Consular corp, along with their Caucasian-owned PR firm and the Office of Congressman Charles Rangel, failed to draw even the minimal of mainstream press coverage or fill an auditorium with Caribbean immigrants, even though several leaders were in town for the occasion.
So what was achieved from the thousands of hard-earned tax payer dollars the governments shelled out to fund this exercise? We are still trying to figure that out. But most of all we continue to await the accountability on this effort that is still missing in action.
Another big disappointment for 2008 was the stupid decision by the Caribbean Tourism Organization to move Caribbean Week from New York to Washington. Not only was the event poorly attended, but the event planning company hired to manage this event did such a lousy job that the poor CTO staffers had to turn around and pick up the slack.
Worse was the decision to pay big bucks to Allan Greenspan, the man many blame for the collapse of the U.S. economy, to talk to Caribbean tourism officials. What exactly they learnt from that drab conversation is still up in the air but was it worth the cost? Given the current state of the Caribbean tourism sector and the U.S. economy one would hedge their bet to say – NOT!
The arrest of a staffer at the office of New York Councilman Kendal Stewart and the subsequent freezing of funds usually earmarked for community organizations was also a major disappointment. Many groups can no longer access city funds because Stewart`s chief of staff stole money from a nonprofit program that was supposed to tutor public school children. As a result, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the city’s Department of Investigation began investigating a number of city grant recipients leading to a freeze that is now affecting innocent immigrant organizations.
New York Governor David Patterson`s failure to ensure the timely shipment of donations to Haitian victims affected by back-to-back summer storms was also a major disappointment.
Patterson, a Caribbean American by heritage, should be ashamed of himself, especially since it seems his office did not expect the outpouring of support from the Haitian community when it launched the effort.
Patterson has at least apologized for the delay and we hope that the donations have finally gotten to those Haitians who need it most and are not left to rot in a New York warehouse. That would be the bigger disappointment.
Source: CaribWorldNew.com
