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 understanding 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 ninth Congressional District in Brooklyn, informed Caribbean Life completely. “However properly 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 total breadth of her vitality and keenness that it grew to become 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 mentioned Harris’s “persevering spirit is what has so profoundly resonated with Caribbean-Individuals, and the American individuals at-large.
“As America faces this nice inflection level, and its individuals start to deliberate on their selection that may determine the trail our nation takes on the a long time forward, there isn’t any 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,” mentioned 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 delight in casting my poll in her identify come November, and I’m immensely grateful that she could have offered myself and tens of thousands and thousands extra Individuals the possibility to play our half within the historical past she is creating,” she mentioned.
Earlier this week, a newly-formed digital group known as Caribbean Individuals United in Assist 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 twenty first 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 advisor Ernest McD. Skinner.
Vincentian-born Atiba-Weza, the group’s convenor, informed Caribbean Life that Caribbean Individuals United in Assist of Kamala Harris for President includes people who’re residing in numerous states, and that members anticipate 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 mentioned. “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 vital disruption to the well-being, amongst different nefarious utterances by Trump and the MAGA forces,” he added. “A Harris victory will avert that. We anticipate that Vice President Harris will likely 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, informed Caribbean Life that Harris is “competent and has the {qualifications} for the place.
“I really feel assured that she will win,” mentioned 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 individuals,” she added. “Kamala Harris has immigrant roots. All immigrants, together with Caribbean-Individuals, ought to assist and vote for her, if they will, within the Presidential Elections.”
Felix, a Grenadian-born public highschool instructor in Brooklyn and adjunct professor on the Style Institute of Know-how (FIT), State College of New York (SUNY), additionally informed 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 only some,” Felix mentioned.
In its 248 years since independence and 46 presidents, he mentioned the US has “by no means had a head of state to characterize girls, who’re the bulk.
“Girls, particularly girls of shade, are nonetheless paid lower than males, and the Supreme Courtroom not too long ago repealed Roe v. Wade, which now provides the state management over a girl’s physique,” he mentioned. “Because the US grapples with problems with gender equality and reproductive rights, Harris’s candidacy affords a pivotal selection for all Individuals, together with Caribbean-Individuals.”
Atiba-Weza mentioned the mission of Caribbean Individuals United in Assist 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 mentioned the group has 4 main aims: Fundraising, Consciousness Constructing, Voter Registration and Flip Out The Vote.
Skinner, a Trinidadian native, residing in Brooklyn, informed Caribbean Life as properly, that “voting for Trump agenda is inimical for us.”
“I hope she (Harris) wins,” he mentioned. “She’s in a honey moon interval; she’s energizing the bottom. I hope that continues to construct. I hope Democrats will likely be energized. I hope we are able to proceed to construct that momentum popping out of the conference.
“I’m hoping that the election is not going to 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 function within the civil rights motion in the USA and the worldwide pan-African motion.
“I’m encouraging individuals to vote, registering and vote,” Skinner continued. “I’m speaking to younger individuals and inspiring them to try this. It’s incumbent on us to end up in our large numbers to ensure Kamala Harris develop into the forty seventh President of the USA.”
Final week, the 2 strongest Democrats in the USA Congress threw their full assist behind Harris because the Democratic Celebration 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 executed a very spectacular job securing the vast majority of delegates wanted to win the Democratic nomination,” mentioned 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 assist behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Schumer mentioned that when he spoke with Harris, she mentioned “she needed the chance to win the nomination on her personal, and to take action from the grassroots up, not high down.”
Jeffries, whose eighth Congressional District in New York encompasses giant focus of Caribbean nationals in Brooklyn and Queens, mentioned Harris’s candidacy has “excited and energized the Home Democratic Caucus, the Democratic Celebration and the nation.
“She is prepared, she is keen, she is ready to energetically and emphatically lead America into the longer term,” he mentioned.
After President Joe Biden introduced that he is not going to search re-election, Jeffries described him as “some of the achieved 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 financial 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 mentioned.
“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 ceaselessly grateful.”
An growing variety of main Democrats, together with former Speaker of the Home of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, have additionally thrown their full assist behind Harris.
Pelosi expressed her “enthusiastic assist” for Harris’s marketing campaign, including that Harris has “immense delight 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, mentioned Biden “has served our nation with integrity, a way of character, and a way of at all times placing nation above self, and as we speak was no exception.
“I do know as we speak’s choice needed to be troublesome, however I be a part of him in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris,” he mentioned.
After saying that he is not going to search the presidential re-election, Biden mentioned he’ll absolutely assist Harris for the Democratic nomination.
“My very first choice because the get together nominee in 2020 was to select Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” he mentioned. “And it’s been the most effective choice I’ve made. At this time, I wish to supply my full assist and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our get together this yr.”
In the meantime, Harris mentioned she was “honored” to obtain Biden’s endorsement, describing the president’s choice to not search re-election as “selfless and patriotic act”.
Stressing Biden’s patriotism, Harris famous that Biden was “placing the American individuals and our nation above every part else.”
“I’ll do every part in my energy to unite the Democratic Celebration — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his excessive Mission 2025 agenda,” she pledged in an announcement.
