Essay 703

From The Miami Herald…

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Bush declares June Caribbean heritage month

After President Bush announced June as Caribbean-American Heritage Month, South Florida's Caribbean communities said they hoped the act will be more than symbolic.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Ask the Rev. Ouida McDonald why there needs to be a Caribbean-American Heritage Month, and the Lauderhill resident looks no further than the person who has consumed much of her ministry these past few years: Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Born in 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, Garvey became the leader of one of the largest black movements in the United States, black nationalism. It promoted self-sufficiency among blacks.

“He impacted so much in American history,” McDonald said.

Still, the contributions of Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero, and other Caribbean nationals are often discounted or overlooked in U.S. history textbooks.

“When people talk about the immigrant experience in the United States, they often talk about the Polish, the Italians and the Irish,” said Clarie Nelson, president and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Caribbean Studies. “Caribbean people have long been coming here.”

President Bush on June 5 signed a proclamation declaring June Caribbean-American Heritage Month. U.S. lawmakers earlier this year agreed to create the month following years of lobbying by the Caribbean community. On Monday, the White House will further acknowledge the month with an invitation-only reception in the Indian Treaty Room.

“For centuries, Caribbean Americans have enriched our society and added to the strength of America,” the president wrote. “They have been leaders in government, sports, entertainment, the arts, and many other fields.”

In South Florida, where Caribbean nationals -- estimated at nearly 400,000 -- make up one of the fastest growing segments in the community, McDonald and others hope not only to highlight those contributions but to keep the spotlight on the ongoing struggles. One example: the decades-old fight to exonerate Garvey, who was sentenced on charges of mail fraud in New York in June 1923. Paroled four years later, the discredited leader was deported to Jamaica. He died in London in 1940. But June isn’t only about paying homage to Caribbean heroes.

“The month is about bringing visibility to our presence, and contributions of our presence so we can begin to articulate our own vision of America,” said Nelson, whose group led the Capitol Hill lobbying. “It’s about giving us a voice.”

Caribbean magazine publisher and journalist I. Jabulani Tafari and others hope fellow Caribbean nationals use that voice to bridge differences among themselves and their African-American counterparts. He hopes the month doesn’t become one more tool that divides an already divided community.

“If Caribbean history month can make the Caribbean island people love each other better and realize the similarities to propel them to greater Caribbean unity, then that would be great,” said Tafari, who also advocates Garvey’s exoneration.

“Garvey was about the same mission on behalf of all of us, black people,” Tafari said. “Whatever you conceive yourself to be, a Barbadian, Jamaican or American, we still all face the same challenges, discrimination. We face the same oppression and our solutions had to be the same.”