The beginning of National Caribbean Heritage Month here in the U.S. begins June 1. When the news was announced that Vice President Kamala Harris would be heading to the Caribbean on June 8 for a meeting in the Bahamas with Caribbean leaders, it struck me that this meeting, one of several that she has already participated in, is a clear example of the cultural and personal ties that exist between some of our prominent political figures and Caribbean nations. For the first time in history, our second-most powerful politician, the vice president, has direct ties—via her father’s family—to Jamaica.
To kick off the celebration, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight her, along with other key Caribbean American figures in the Biden administration and Congress.
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Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.
Before introducing some of our Caribbean American leaders, first, a little background on National Caribbean Heritage Month:
The Institute of Caribbean Studies’ (ICS) effort to establish National Caribbean American Heritage Month (NCAHM) began in 1999 with an outreach to President Bill Clinton asking for the recognition of August as National Caribbean American Heritage Month. This resulted in the first White House Caribbean American Community Briefing being held at the Clinton White House in 1999. Meanwhile, a now-defunct, ad-hoc group of Caribbean Americans led by Doreen Thompson organized efforts to get June declared as Caribbean Heritage Month in Washington DC. ICS joined forces with the ad-hoc group in June 1999, but by 2000, the group dispersed.
In June 2000, ICS took on the mantle of leadership in Washington DC, changed the name to National Caribbean American Heritage Month, and organized events in June under that banner. Efforts to engage the White House were fruitless. In 2001, ICS was joined by the TransAfrica Forum and the Caribbean Staff Association of the World Bank to organize events during June, promoting recognition of June as National Caribbean American Heritage Month, and the momentum slowly began to build. In 2004, the efforts gathered steam, when an Official Campaign for June as National Caribbean American Heritage Month was launched upon the tabling of a Bill in the US Congress by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, with language provided by ICS Founder and President, Dr. Claire Nelson. ICS worked with the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee to galvanize support for the Bill from organizations across the country and also organized events on Capitol Hill in recognition of June 2004. The Bill was reintroduced and passed the House in June 2005, and the Senate in February 2006.
A Proclamation making the Resolution official was signed by President George Bush on June 5, 2006.
By now, everyone who is paying even the least bit of attention to our vice president knows that she is the daughter of immigrants and that her father, economist Donald Harris, is Jamaican. What people here may not realize is that the Caribbean media regularly covers her as they see her as one of their own. The announcement of her upcoming trip to the Caribbean is being reported in every Caribbean media outlet, which I’ll be writing about next Thursday.
This photo of baby Kamala sitting in her great-grandmother’s lap is posted frequently. Her father detailed the family history in a post entitled “Reflections of a Jamaican Father.”
The Jamaica Gleaner reflects on the pride the vice president’s visit has ignited:
“For the past month or so, her name has been ringing in Orange Hill, where her dad is from,” he tells The Sunday Gleaner, adding that the entire area has been looking forward to this happening.
“The man in the street, all of us. She is one of us. For me, it is kinda hard to swallow it all, but it is something that is gonna shift the goalpost for Jamaica, but more so for St Ann, and I will narrow it down to Brown’s Town,” Harding said. “Every second person you meet is talking about Miss Harris of Orange Hill. A she a go be the next vice-president inna ‘Merica.”
Harris commented on those ties in her face-to-face meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
In addition to the vice president, one of the most prominent Caribbean faces in the Biden-Harris administration is that of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who was appointed to that position on May 13, 2022. What you may not be aware of is her background and powerful resume, some of which was posted in the White House announcement of her appointment:
Karine Jean-Pierre is currently the Principal Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President. Karine is a long-time advisor to President Biden, having served in senior communication and political roles in the Biden Administration, the Biden campaign, and to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama Administration.
Prior to her role on the campaign, she served as Chief Public Affairs Officer for MoveOn.org and an NBC and MSNBC Political Analyst. Jean-Pierre served as Regional Political Director for the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Obama-Biden administration and as Deputy Battleground States Director for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. She served as Southeast Regional Political Director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, Deputy Campaign Manager for Martin O’Malley for President, Campaign Manager for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Initiative, and Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Legislative and Budget Affairs for two members in the New York City Council.
Her website explains how she has come to better understand her Haitian roots through documentary film and how “Later, she worked at the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics and pushed major companies like Wal-Mart to change their business practices. While working in New York, Jean-Pierre served as Press Secretary to Congressman Anthony Weiner, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Director of Legislative and Budget Affairs for two City Council Members, respectively, in the New York City Council.” To understand who she is, pick up a copy of her autobiography, “Moving Forward.”
Moving over from the administration to Congress, Democrat Steven Horsford of Nevada was elected chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in Dec. 2022 and sworn in in Jan. 2023.
Loop Caribbean reported on both Horsford, whose mother is Trinidadian, and on Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York, whose parents are Jamaican. The piece also pointed out that key CBC founders, Charles Rangel and Shirley Chisholm, were Caribbean Americans as well.
Horsford referenced his roots in a press statement on the treatment of Haitian migrants in 2021:
“In recent days, footage from the Southern border has shown shocking and unacceptable treatment of Haitian migrants. Our nation has an obligation to treat all migrants with dignity and respect, regardless of where they came from or how they arrived,” said Congressman Steven Horsford. “The people of Haiti have endured unimaginable suffering and political turmoil in recent years, and they deserve our compassion. I echo the call of Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty, who has asked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to launch a full investigation into the recent actions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and provide humanitarian assistance to those in need. I am proud to be the son and grandson of Caribbean immigrants, and I will always work to make our nation a welcoming place for refugees.”
He spoke of his deep ties to immigration concerns when he was running for Congress, stating that “immigration is about family”:
My mother came to the United States at 12 years old from Trinidad with my grandmother. While my grandmother pursued the “American Dream” and worked hard, my mom went to school.
But because of a broken immigration system, after my grandmother got sick, my mom wound up overstaying her work visa and became undocumented. She’s now a legal permanent resident.
So when I hear the stories of moms and Dreamers and families who are worried about keeping their families together, the thousands of people in Nevada who are worried that we have a broken system, know that you are not forgotten. Know that we are fighting for you and your family.
New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke is spearheading a cause dear to the hearts of many Caribbean Americans: a resolution to exonerate Jamaica’s first national hero, Marcus Garvey:
“The world deserves to know the truth about Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the truth about Black history,” said Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York.
“I was raised under the teachings of Marcus Garvey,” added the first vice-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I was raised to believe that we must come together to do the necessary work to improve our communities. And I was raised with the Garvey commitment to social service, including an abundance of faith in God.
“It’s time to reclaim Garvey’s legacy and accomplishments as a human rights activist before Congress, America, and the world,” Clarke continued.
She said the resolution “exonerates Garvey of his unfounded charges and calls upon President Biden to recognise and denounce the racist smears against him and his legacy.
Clarke, who is from Brooklyn, New York, is proud to represent the community that helped raise her:
She is the proud daughter of Jamaican immigrants and takes her passion for her Caribbean heritage to Congress, where she co-chairs the Congressional Caribbean Caucus and works to foster relationships between the United States and the Caribbean Community. Clarke is a Senior Member of both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Committee on Homeland Security. Clarke has been a member of the Congressional Black Caucus since coming to Congress in 2007 and today chairs its Immigration Task Force.
As the Representative of the Ninth Congressional District of New York, Congresswoman Clarke has dedicated herself to continuing the legacy of excellence established by the late Honorable Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman and Caribbean American elected to Congress. In the 117th Congress, Congresswoman Clarke introduced landmark legislation, which passed in the House, the Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6). This legislation would give 2.5 million DREAMers, temporary protected status, and deferred enforcement departure recipients a clear citizenship pathway.
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Switching to another arm of the government—we find another Caribbean Clarke, first name Kristen.
Assistant Attorney General Kristin Clarke’s appointment as the first Black woman to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice garnered attention in the Caribbean press. More background from her DOJ bio:
Assistant Attorney General Clarke began her career as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division through the Department of Justice’s Honors Program. In 2006, she joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she helped lead the organization’s work in the areas of voting rights and election law across the country. Ms. Clarke worked on cases defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, presented oral argument to the D.C. District Court in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, and has provided testimony on federal and state voting rights legislation. In 2011, she was named the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where she led broad civil rights enforcement actions. Under her leadership, the Bureau secured landmark agreements with banks to address unlawful redlining, employers to address barriers to reentry for people with criminal backgrounds, police departments on reforms to policies and practices, major retailers on racial profiling of consumers, landlords on discriminatory housing policies, school districts concerning issues relating to the school-to-prison pipeline and more. In 2015, Ms. Clarke was named the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations founded at the request of John F. Kennedy. There, she led the organization’s legal work in courts across the country addressing some of the nation’s most complex racial justice and civil rights challenges.
Clarke talked about her beginnings in an address to Howard University students:
I want to tell you about my explorations into my purpose; my journey into law and civil rights.
To set the scene, my parents immigrated to Brooklyn from Jamaica a few years before I was born. They wanted their kids to have access to better schools and greater opportunities than what they had in the Caribbean. I grew up in Starrett City, the largest public housing complex in the nation – in Brooklyn, New York. At home, the rules were simple: discipline, working hard in school, making the most of any opportunity that might fall your way.
That drive – and a lot of luck – got me a seat at a boarding school in Connecticut. The campus was unlike anything I had ever experienced, full with opportunity and possibility.
During my junior year, my teacher loaded my classmates and me into a van and drove us to a courthouse in Hartford, Connecticut. That day, they were hearing arguments in a landmark school desegregation case.
I mean, I grew up in public housing in Brooklyn, I had never been inside a courtroom before. But, right away, I felt the power of the space. The arguments presented by the lawyers, the evidence of ongoing segregation, the judge in the Black robe with the power to decide whether to breathe life into the goals underlying Brown v. Board of Ed. It was enthralling. A spark was lit. I began to dream of what it would be like to become a civil rights lawyer, dedicated to the fight for justice. I spent a summer in college working alongside a public defender, helping to provide counsel to the poor. While the lawyer spent much of the day in court, I spent the day issuing subpoenas, interviewing witnesses and helping to develop a defense strategy. At this point, my purpose felt crystal clear.
I knew I wanted to be a civil rights attorney.
This was just a brief look at a few Democratic Caribbean heritage politicians and administrators in our government—there are lots more, some of whom I’ll be adding to the comments section below, along with the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
