January
Mayor Eric Adams has filed a US$708 million lawsuit towards 17 constitution bus and transportation corporations in Texas. The lawsuit seeks to get better all prices New York Metropolis has incurred in offering emergency shelter and providers to Caribbean and different migrants transported to New York Metropolis by the constitution bus corporations within the final twenty months.
Most of the migrant and asylum seekers arriving in New York from the Southern Border of the USA are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Final week, Adams issued an govt order limiting how buses of asylum seekers being despatched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott might arrive in New York Metropolis.
For the reason that spring of 2022, Adams mentioned Abbott has admitted to facilitating the transport of greater than 33,600 migrants to New York Metropolis with out having the businesses transporting these migrants pay for continued care in violation of New York’s Social Companies Legislation.
The mayor advised a press convention that the lawsuit seeks to recoup the tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} incurred to take care of all these people, prices transferring ahead for any of these migrants nonetheless in New York Metropolis’s care, and prices for all those that are transported to New York Metropolis from Texas sooner or later as a part of Governor Abbott’s plan.
February
Brooklyn Democratic State Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie on Tuesday as we speak joined colleagues, healthcare staff, and labor leaders in a large rally in Albany urging Gov. Kathy Hochul and State College of New York (SUNY) Chancellor John B. King, Jr. to reverse course on the proposed closure of SUNY Downstate Hospital in Central Brooklyn.
“Our neighborhood, our individuals, walked previous fridges with useless individuals in them; we had medical doctors who had coronary heart assaults, and you’ve got the temerity to inform us you need us to go; how expensive you!” Myrie, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica and who represents the twentieth Senate District in Central Brooklyn, advised the vociferous rally in Albany.
“We wish you to serve,’ and we serve; and, for that, we get a slap within the face,” added Myrie, flanked by colleagues, healthcare staff, and labor leaders. “After I had COVID, Downstate saved my life, and also you inform us Downstate has to shut.”
“We reject this plan!” he declared. “And don’t come to Central Brooklyn for votes as a result of that is an election cycle. You’ll hear from us till justice is completed.”
March
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams introduced final Thursday a US $741 million funding in an estimated 80,000 human providers staff employed by non-profit organizations with a metropolis contract as a part of a brand new cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
The mayor mentioned the human providers workforce—which is overwhelmingly female, with 66 % women and 46% women of color—stays on the frontlines of town’s most urgent points because it delivers very important providers throughout housing, meals entry, well being providers, and asylum seeker providers, amongst different areas.
The Adams administration’s funding in a brand new COLA represents a essential step in direction of delivering pay fairness throughout race and gender for a workforce that gives lifesaving providers throughout town.
With Thursday’s announcement, the administration has invested over $1.4 billion in wage enhancements for the human providers sector thus far.
“When issues get robust, we should spend money on our most valued asset: the people who find themselves on the frontlines fixing probably the most urgent points going through our metropolis,” mentioned Mayor Adams.
April
Dr. Lisa Millsaps-Graham – who, together with her husband, Hashim Muhammad-Graham, P.E., on Saturday coordinated a School and Vocational Profession Honest along with the Brooklyn Canarsie Lions School and Vocational Profession Planning group – says that the occasion “showcased a concerted effort to deal with the rising wealth hole in Brooklyn communities.”
Dr. Millsaps-Graham advised Caribbean Life on Tuesday that the occasion, held at P.S. 227 on East 83rd Road in Canarsie, Brooklyn, was themed “Advancing My Future.”
She mentioned the initiative, “keenly supported” by Brooklyn Canarsie Lions Membership President Jean Joseph, “aimed to lift consciousness, elevate, and equip neighbors with the required instruments to safe and maintain private and generational wealth via greater training and profession development.”
“Regardless of enthusiastic responses from tons of of Eventbrite registrants, who resonated with the imaginative and prescient via flyers, commercials, or private invites, the occasion noticed a turnout of solely 25 %,” Dr. Millsaps-Graham mentioned. “These attendees have been handled to a wealthy and numerous program.”
She mentioned the occasion featured over 40 vendor tables, representing establishments such because the State College of New York (SUNY), the Metropolis College of New York (CUNY), Traditionally Black Faculties and Universities (HBCUs), non-public faculties, commerce colleges, and vocational options, “catering to a variety of academic aspirations.”
Might
The New York For All coalition, elected officers, neighborhood members, and allies on Tuesday rallied and held a press convention on the Million Greenback Staircase to name for the passage of the New York For All Act (S987 Gounardes / A5686 Reyes).
The coalition mentioned all New Yorkers, no matter immigration standing, need to lead open lives, take part of their communities, and supply for his or her household with out intimidation.
The New York for All Act presents protections that assist make this potential by prohibiting all native regulation enforcement and state businesses from conspiring with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) or collaborating in its cruelty.
“With solely weeks left of the legislative session and the looming 2024 presidential election, it’s extra essential than ever to enact New York for All to guard our communities and preserve households collectively,” the coalition mentioned.
“With the ‘New York for All’ Act, we now have a chance to guard immigrant communities, create a fairer justice system, and guarantee true public security for all,” mentioned State Sen. Andrew Gounardes. “By prohibiting native regulation enforcement from conspiring with ICE and Border Patrol, we permit mother and father to attend parent-teacher conferences, go to the grocery retailer, or go to public hospitals with out worrying their household might be torn aside by deportation.”
June
Jamaican-American lawyer Janice Robinson gained in a large landslide considered one of two Civil Court docket Choose seats in Brooklyn’s sixth Municipal Court docket District within the New York Democratic Main on Tuesday evening, beating fellow Jamaican-American lawyer Kenneth Gayle within the two-way race.
In response to the New York Metropolis Board of Elections, with 98.51 p.c of scanners reported, Robinson acquired 10,820 votes, or 72.27 p.c, to Gayle’s 3,910 votes, or 26.12 p.c. There have been 241 write-in ballots, or 1.61 %.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn resident Robinson, who has been a civil litigator for over 20 years, advised Caribbean Life that she brings “a wealth of expertise to the desk.”
A lifelong Brooklynite, Robinson was born to immigrant mother and father from Jamaica. She mentioned she bought her first style of public service work when she was “volun-TOLD” to assist on her uncle’s marketing campaign within the 58th Meeting District in Brooklyn. Her uncle, former New York State Meeting Member Nick Perry, is now the USA Ambassador to Jamaica.
Robinson mentioned she can also be “service-minded” and offers again to the neighborhood each via her work and as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the primary Black sorority.
As a civil litigator in Brooklyn, working for main insurance coverage corporations for over twenty years, Robinson mentioned she has seen the bench’s demographics slowly altering to change into extra numerous.
“The bench ought to try to mirror those who seem earlier than it,” she mentioned.
July
After leaving her submit on Might 31 as town’s prime lawyer, Barbadian-born former New York Metropolis Company Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix shared with Caribbean Life a farewell e-mail she had written to staffers.
“For over two years, I’ve had the consideration of serving because the 81st Company Counsel,” mentioned Justice Hinds-Radix. “Main one of many most interesting regulation places of work within the nation and contributing to the betterment of town has been the privilege of a lifetime.”
Throughout her Metropolis Council affirmation listening to, she recalled that she had pledged to uphold the mission of the workplace, “which is to guard and defend the pursuits of the Metropolis of New York.
“Collectively, we now have fulfilled that promise with excellence and integrity,” she mentioned, stating {that a} major precedence throughout her tenure was to strengthen the workplace “to assist us extra successfully perform its mission.”
Justice Hinds-Radix mentioned that she was gratified that, after intensive efforts advocating for the division, she and staffers had secured and applied wage and advantage pay will increase to handle important retention and hiring points.
“This system we created to spend money on our bar examination retakers has been phenomenally profitable,” she mentioned. “It has considerably elevated cross charges and offered further attorneys for the workplace.”
She mentioned creating two new authorized divisions — Ethics & Compliance and Threat Administration — fortified the workplace’s capabilities and offered further sources for all metropolis businesses.
August
The 2 strongest Democrats in the USA Congress final Tuesday endorsed Caribbean-American Vice President Kamala Harris because the Democratic Get together nominee for President.
US Senate Majority Chief Charles “Chuck” Schumer and US Home of Representatives Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, each New York Democrats, endorsed Harris, the daughter of retired Jamaican-born economist Dr. Donald Harris.
“Vice President Harris has carried out a very spectacular job securing nearly all 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 help behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Schumer mentioned that when he spoke with Harris, she mentioned: “She wished the chance to win the nomination on her personal and to take action from the grassroots up, not prime down.”
Jeffries, whose eighth Congressional District in New York encompasses a big focus of Caribbean nationals in Brooklyn and Queens, mentioned Harris’s candidacy has “excited and energized the Home Democratic Caucus, the Democratic Get together, and the nation.
“She is prepared, she is prepared, she is ready to energetically and emphatically lead America into the longer term,” he mentioned.
September
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams and the Brooklyn-based West Indian American Day Carnival Affiliation (WIADCA), organizer of the large Carnival Parade on Brooklyn’s Jap Parkway, have strongly condemned the capturing on the extravaganza on Labor Day Monday.
“The West Indian American Day Parade is a joyous occasion that celebrates the multitude of cultures and variety in our metropolis. However as an alternative of permitting all to take pleasure in a momentous event for our metropolis, a gunman turned as we speak’s celebration into tragedy when he senselessly fired into the group, hitting a number of revelers,” mentioned Adams and WIADCA New President Roger Archibald, an lawyer, in a joint assertion Monday evening.
“The NYPD is investigating this incident, and we’re grateful for the courageous women and men who shortly responded and helped to make sure New Yorkers might proceed to be protected whereas celebrating,” they added.
“Whereas we’re protecting the victims and their households in our prayers as they combat to get better, we all know we should do extra to fight gun violence and make sure the security of each New Yorker and customer,” Adams and Archibald continued.
On Tuesday, the New York Police Division (NYPD) mentioned that one man died after an unidentified gunman opened fireplace on spectators virtually on the finish of the 57th Annual West Indian American Day Carnival Parade on Jap Parkway in Brooklyn.
The NYPD mentioned not less than 5 individuals have been shot and wounded at Classon Avenue and Jap Parkway within the Crown Heights part of Brooklyn.
The NYPD mentioned 25-year-old Denzel Chan, of Texas, died on the sprawling Kings County Hospital within the coronary heart of the Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn after being shot within the abdomen by the assailant, who stays at massive.
The New York Caribbean Carnival Week, which began on Thursday, culminated on Monday, Labor Day, a public vacation in the USA, with the grand parade of masqueraders, with massive and small costumes, displaying the tradition of the Caribbean, alongside a 3 ½-mile route on Jap Parkway, a significant thoroughfare, beginning at Buffalo Avenue and ending at Grand Military Plaza and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
WIADCA mentioned over three million spectators, largely behind police barricades, have been anticipated to view and have fun 57 years of Caribbean tradition, delicacies, applications, contribution, mas, metal band music, and far more.
October
Brooklyn Meeting Member Monique Chandler-Waterman and the 58th Meeting District Security and Psychological Well being Taskforce have joined the Transport Staff Union Native 100 (TWU), stakeholders and leaders in rallying for stronger security measures for Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) staff following the current stabbing of practice conductor Myran Pollack who was critically injured and at present stays in essential care.
Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants and consultant of the 58th Meeting District in Brooklyn, mentioned on Tuesday that this incident occurred alongside the #3 and #4 strains on the Utica Avenue Station in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
“This incident highlighted the necessity to proceed activating continued psychological well being programming and measures to help impacted people and deeper implementation of enhanced security actions designed to create safer working environments and protecting measures of all of New York’s public service staff every single day,” she mentioned.
“As a powerful advocate for security, we now have labored tirelessly with the neighborhood to hold out robust laws in Albany to help our public service staff statewide,” she added, stating that she sponsored laws A6455 to make sure the prohibition of the operation of New York Metropolis Transit Authority subways or trains with out not less than one conductor on board, together with the practice operator.
“This motion would require a conductor on any subway or practice operated by such authority at any time when the subway or practice has greater than two automobiles hooked up to the engine,” Chandler-Waterman continued.
From the neighborhood entrance, she mentioned she has carried out “intensive work” to focus on a particular 988 Suicide & Disaster Hotline in partnership with the New York State Workplace of Psychological Well being “to hook up with skilled disaster counselors 24/7, which was amplified by Hyperlink NYC.”
Moreover, the Meeting Member mentioned she has carried out “intensive work” to reinforce Psychological Well being clinics in colleges for everybody.
November
The Caribbean-American neighborhood in New York early Wednesday expressed profound disappointment and frustration over the election of Donald Trump because the forty seventh president of the USA.
Trump, the forty fifth US president, defeated Caribbean-American US Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican-born retired economist Dr. Donald Harris, within the hotly contested race on Tuesday evening.
The previous President, amongst different issues, survived a prison conviction, indictments, assassination try, and prices of authoritarianism in securing the requisite swing states—together with Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—and gained 277 Electoral School votes to reclaim the US presidency. Harris acquired 224 Electoral School votes.
“It’s very disappointing,” Guyanese-born New York State Sen. Roxanne Persaud advised the Caribbean Life. “The underside line is America is just not prepared for a lady president. She’s (Kamala Harris) the very best certified.
“It’s misogyny; it’s a disgrace,” added Persaud, who represents the nineteenth Senate District in Brooklyn, about Harris’s defeat in Tuesday’s US Presidential Elections. “We now have work to do. We’ll by no means hand over.
“By way of ethical compass, I don’t assume they (Trump and his Republican surrogates) have any,” she continued. “When somebody can speak about such evil and reward him, it’s unhappy.
“A girl has to leap via all of the hoops and nonetheless don’t get elected,” Persaud mentioned. “His (Trump) surrogates are talking what he needs them to talk. He mentioned he’s going to ship immigrants residence; it’s the immigrants who’re babysitting their kids, and so on.”
Delroy Wright, a Jamaican-born neighborhood activist in Flatbush, Brooklyn, mentioned he was in disbelief in regards to the elections’ outcome.
“I can’t consider it,” he advised Caribbean Life. “America has voted for a person who solely makes use of solely sound bites and has no complete plan on how he’s going to steer this nation. He makes use of sound bites reminiscent of’ immigrants are poisoning the blood of America; they’re taking Black jobs; Kamala is just not Black.’
“I can’t perceive how America can fall for that,” Wright added. “The economic system is clearly good. Kamala has put ahead a transparent plan of what she would do for America and even put ahead how we’d pay for them.
“Come Jan. 20, 2025 (Inauguration Day), he’ll once more inherit a superb economic system, based mostly on all the usual measurements, and I predict he’s going to ‘tank’ that additionally,” he mentioned.
Benjamin Pinczewski, a Brooklyn-based lawyer lively within the Caribbean-American neighborhood and helps a number of Caribbean elected officers, mentioned he was “very pissed off, dissatisfied, disgusted and downhearted” with Trump’s victory.
“I’m very dissatisfied, however I’m not stunned,” he mentioned. “I feel White America was enraged over the truth that Obama was elected President, they usually by no means bought over it.
“I blame Joe Biden (present US President) and the truth that he was clearly considerably impaired however refused to step apart till it was too late (to make methods for Harris) – unfair to Kamala and to America,” Pinczewski added. “By no means underestimate the hatred so lots of our fellow Individuals have for individuals they understand as ‘totally different.’”
Martin Felix, a Grenadian-born adjunct faculty professor in New York and public college instructor in Brooklyn, warned, “It’s going to be a protracted, chilly winter – a metaphor for the 4 years approaching.
“I feel the polls have been displaying a more in-depth race than what truly transpired,” mentioned Felix, an govt member of the Brooklyn-based group Caribbean-Individuals United in Assist of Kamala Harris for President. “I consider that was as a result of individuals had cognitive dissonance (mentally conflicted).
Sherrill-Ann Mason-Haywood, a Vincentian-born neighborhood employee in Brooklyn, mentioned: “We have been on the fitting aspect of historical past, however America has spoken loudly.
“As unhappy a day that this can be for us, we now have actual choices to make,” she mentioned. “America has despatched a loud message about what it needs to protect: its authentic ideas. Allow us to always remember the ‘experiment that America was set as much as be and that it annihilated the native peoples and introduced enslaved individuals to convey its experiment to life. It’s nonetheless within the enterprise of annihilating and enslaving individuals.
“We have to both stay docile and settle for the outcome, and cope with regardless of the penalties, or begin educating ourselves, unifying and consolidating our actual energy to construct a unique, extra inclusive nation,” she added.
December
On Thursday, joined by colleagues and advocates in Southeast Queens, Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Central Brooklyn) urged New Yorkers to guard themselves from deed theft scams this vacation season.
Myrie mentioned deed theft is against the law the place householders can unknowingly lose the title to their property and that longtime Black and brown householders are particularly weak.
Myrie, consultant for the twentieth Senate District in Brooklyn, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica, was joined by Meeting Member Alicia Hyndman (D-Queens) and Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), together with Lori Miller of Neighborhood Housing Companies of Jamaica and Jay Inwald of Authorized Companies NYC.
“Deed theft is a pernicious crime that robs households of the wealth they’ve constructed and handed down for generations,” Myrie mentioned. ‘Significantly in Black communities the place property values have elevated in recent times, scammers and fraudsters are looking out for methods to steal titles to our properties.
“Whereas we lately handed new legal guidelines I sponsored to make deed theft simpler to prosecute, all householders ought to pay attention to these kind of crimes and take motion to guard themselves,” he added.
“Deed theft has been a persistent subject for householders in Southeast Queens and close by communities, threatening the legacy of households who’ve invested a lot into their properties,” Hyndman mentioned.
“This yr, we took significant steps to fight this injustice,” she added. “The State funds formally defines deed theft as against the law, limits how predatory traders can stress householders to promote or take over inherited properties, and introduces stronger protections to maintain New Yorkers of their properties.
