Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke on Wednesday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the USA in November’s Presidential Elections.
“I’ve had the privilege of realizing Vice President Kamala Harris for a few years, and of working alongside her on plenty of points near each our hearts throughout her tenure in the USA Senate,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the largely Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, advised Caribbean Life solely. “However effectively earlier than my first alternative to take action, I had already heard a lot on her distinguished character and the dignity with which she carries herself, in addition to, in fact, our frequent Jamaican heritage.
“But, it was not till I stood by her facet and felt the complete breadth of her power and fervour that it turned clear to me that she is a person who really embodies the ethos of Caribbean resilience that defines our tradition and neighborhood,” Clarke added. “She is a girl who has been pushed again, but nonetheless pushes ahead.”
The congresswoman stated Harris’s “persevering spirit is what has so profoundly resonated with Caribbean-Individuals, and the American folks at-large.
“As America faces this nice inflection level, and its folks start to deliberate on their selection that may resolve the trail our nation takes on the a long time forward, there is no such thing as a doubt in my thoughts that Vice President Kamala Harris is the chief we have to steer us by way of this pivotal motion, and in direction of the longer term so many are relying on,” stated Clarke about Harris, whose father is retired Jamaican-born economist Dr. Donald Harris.
Clarke described Harris as “a joyful warrior, unafraid to reject hate, and unapologetic of who she is and what her story says.
“I’ll take nice satisfaction in casting my poll in her identify come November, and I’m immensely grateful that she may have supplied myself and tens of hundreds of thousands extra Individuals the possibility to play our half within the historical past she is creating,” she stated.
Earlier this week, a newly-formed digital group referred to as Caribbean Individuals United in Help of Kamala Harris for President started strongly pushing for the election of the primary Caribbean-American Vice President in in the USA.
The Steering Committee of the group, which was shaped on Jul. 22, includes members who’re primarily New York residents.
The seven-member Committee includes former New York Metropolis Council Member Una S.T. Clarke, Congresswoman Clarke’s mom; New York State Senator Kevin Parker, consultant for the predominantly Caribbean 21st Senate District in Brooklyn; Former Suffolk County, Lengthy Island legislator Jacqueline Gordon-Davy; school administrator and neighborhood activist Sherrill-Ann Mason; educators and neighborhood activists Martin Felix and Fadhilika Atiba-Weza; and political guide Ernest McD. Skinner.
Vincentian-born Atiba-Weza, the group’s convenor, advised Caribbean Life that Caribbean Individuals United in Help of Kamala Harris for President includes people who’re residing in numerous states, and that members count on Harristo be elected the forty seventh President of the USA of America on November 5.
“We’re at inflection level within the historical past of this nation,” Atiba-Weza stated. “We can’t afford one other Trump presidency. His statements and proposed insurance policies pose existential threats to the safety of the nation, as we all know it.
“Immigrants are threatened with important disruption to the well-being, amongst different nefarious utterances by Trump and the MAGA forces,” he added. “A Harris victory will avert that. We count on that Vice President Harris might be elected to the White Home.”
Jamaican-born Una S.T. Clarke, the primary ever Caribbean-American girl to be elected to New York Metropolis Council, advised Caribbean Life that Harris is “competent and has the {qualifications} for the place.
“I really feel assured that she will be able to win,” stated the trail-blazing Clarke, an elected New York Metropolis delegate to the Democratic Conference in Chicago subsequent week. “When all of us put our heads and hearts collectively, it turns into simpler.
“I didn’t go into politics for politics’ sake however to make a distinction for all folks,” she added. “Kamala Harris has immigrant roots. All immigrants, together with Caribbean-Individuals, ought to help and vote for her, if they’ll, within the Presidential Elections.”
Felix, a Grenadian-born public highschool trainer in Brooklyn and adjunct professor on the Vogue Institute of Expertise (FIT), State College of New York (SUNY), additionally advised Caribbean Life that “sure moments in historical past underscore the significance of voting and collaborating within the electoral course of.
“The US has but to elect a girl as head of state, regardless of the worldwide precedent by many Caribbean international locations that Trump and others refer disparagingly – Haiti, Dominica, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, to call just a few,” Felix stated.
In its 248 years since independence and 46 presidents, he stated the US has “by no means had a head of state to characterize girls, who’re the bulk.
“Girls, particularly girls of coloration, are nonetheless paid lower than males, and the Supreme Courtroom lately repealed Roe v. Wade, which now offers the state management over a girl’s physique,” he stated. “Because the US grapples with problems with gender equality and reproductive rights, Harris’s candidacy gives a pivotal selection for all Individuals, together with Caribbean-Individuals.”
Atiba-Weza stated the mission of Caribbean Individuals United in Help of Kamala Harris for President is “to empower the voice of Caribbean Individuals within the USA, and to mobilize and encourage our communities to elect Kamala Harris in 2024 as President of the USA, fostering a way forward for inclusive and strategic management and illustration.”
He stated the group has 4 major goals: Fundraising, Consciousness Constructing, Voter Registration and Flip Out The Vote.
Skinner, a Trinidadian native, residing in Brooklyn, advised Caribbean Life as effectively, that “voting for Trump agenda is inimical for us.”
“I hope she (Harris) wins,” he stated. “She’s in a honey moon interval; she’s energizing the bottom. I hope that continues to construct. I hope Democrats might be energized. I hope we will proceed to construct that momentum popping out of the conference.
“I’m hoping that the election won’t be as shut,” added Skinner, whose political activism was influenced by the late Kwame Ture, previously Stokely Carmichael, a Trinidadian-born American activist, who performed a significant position within the civil rights motion in the USA and the worldwide pan-African motion.
“I’m encouraging folks to vote, registering and vote,” Skinner continued. “I’m speaking to younger folks and inspiring them to try this. It’s incumbent on us to end up in our huge numbers to ensure Kamala Harris develop into the 47th President of the USA.”
Final week, the two strongest Democrats in the USA Congress threw their full help behind Harris because the Democratic Occasion nominee for President of the USA.
US Senate Majority Chief Charles “Chuck” Schumer and US Home of Representatives Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, each New York Democrats, endorsed Harris.
“Vice President Harris has completed a really spectacular job securing the vast majority of delegates wanted to win the Democratic nomination,” stated Schumer at a joint, nationally-televised information convention with Jeffries in Washington. “So now that the method has performed out, from the grass roots, backside up, we’re right here as we speak to throw our help behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Schumer stated that when he spoke with Harris, she stated “she needed the chance to win the nomination on her personal, and to take action from the grassroots up, not prime down.”
Jeffries, whose 8th Congressional District in New York encompasses massive focus of Caribbean nationals in Brooklyn and Queens, stated Harris’s candidacy has “excited and energized the Home Democratic Caucus, the Democratic Occasion and the nation.
“She is prepared, she is keen, she is ready to energetically and emphatically lead America into the longer term,” he stated.
After President Joe Biden introduced that he won’t search re-election, Jeffries described him as “one of the crucial completed and consequential leaders in American historical past.
“In lower than one time period, he rescued the nation from a once-in-a-century pandemic, introduced the economic system roaring again from the brink of recession, enacted consequential laws for on a regular basis Individuals and saved our democracy by defeating the Insurrectionist-in-Chief,” he stated.
“America is a greater place as we speak as a result of President Joe Biden has led us with mind, grace and dignity,” Jeffries added. “We’re eternally grateful.”
An growing variety of main Democrats, together with former Speaker of the Home of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, have additionally thrown their full help behind Harris.
Pelosi expressed her “enthusiastic help” for Harris’s marketing campaign, including that Harris has “immense satisfaction and limitless optimism for our nation’s future.”
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Caribbean-American Steven Horsford has lauded Biden and endorsed Harris.
Horsford, the son a Trinidadian immigrant mom, who represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, stated Biden “has served our nation with integrity, a way of character, and a way of all the time placing nation above self, and as we speak was no exception.
“I do know as we speak’s determination needed to be troublesome, however I be a part of him in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris,” he stated.
After saying that he won’t search the presidential re-election, Biden stated he’ll totally help Harris for the Democratic nomination.
“My very first determination because the celebration nominee in 2020 was to select Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” he stated. “And it’s been the very best determination I’ve made. Immediately, I need to provide my full help and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our celebration this 12 months.”
In the meantime, Harris stated she was “honored” to obtain Biden’s endorsement, describing the president’s determination to not search re-election as “selfless and patriotic act”.
Stressing Biden’s patriotism, Harris famous that Biden was “placing the American folks and our nation above every thing else.”
“I’ll do every thing in my energy to unite the Democratic Occasion — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his excessive Venture 2025 agenda,” she pledged in a press release.
