SVG PM delivers CRC featured address, commemorates Caribbean-American History Month

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves last Thursday evening delivered the featured address during the Caribbean Research Center’s (CRC) Speaker Series at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College (MEC) that simultaneously commemorated Caribbean-American History Month celebrations.

Speaking on the theme, “Honoring Our Journey, Facing the Future: The Role of the Diaspora in the Future,” Dr. Gonsalves said that the heritage of the Caribbean is “not isolated”, noting the arrival of African American “bodies” in Virginia in June 1619.

The Vincentian leader, the longest-serving prime minister in the Caribbean, began by quoting works by celebrated Vincentian poets, the late Danny Williams and Ellsworth “Shake” Keane.

From Williams’s poem, Gonsalves said: “’We are our times…only our future to desecrate’.

“The poet tells us that the present is the past,” the prime minister said.

In quoting from Keane’s “Private Papers,” he said: “’To understand history, we have to come home to ourselves. We do not have to compromise our principles but our humanity.

“’We have to ask our grandparents, we have to ask our sons and daughters…we have to put all of this in a very special landscape and seascape called the Caribbean,’” added Gonsalves, speaking virtually from Kingstown, the Vincentian capital, before attendees in the Edison O. Jackson Auditorium at MEC.

Consul General Rondy “Luta” McIntosh, center, receives plague, on behalf of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves from Dr. Ken Irish-Bramble, to McIntosh’s left, chair of MEC’s CRC and Master of Ceremonies. Others in photo, L-R: Horace Davis, president of Caribbean-American Society of New York; MEC Provost Dr. Antoinette Coleman; Sherrill-Ann Mason-Haywood, director of MEC’s Seek Program; Dr. Evelyn Castro, senior advisor to MEC President Dr. Patricia Ramsey; and Anna Walker, representative of the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI).  Photo by Nelson A. King 

Attendees included, among others, newly-appointed MEC Provost and Vice President Dr. Antoinette Coleman; Senior Advisor to MEC President Dr. Patricia Ramsey, Dr. Evelyn Castro; Chair of MEC’s Social Science Department Dr. Maria DeLongoria; CRC’s Montserratian-born director Dr. Ken Irish-Bramble, who served as Master of Ceremonies; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General to New York Rondy “Luta” McIntosh.

Stating that all countries and territories shape the Caribbean, Dr. Gonsalves noted that 14 countries, largely English-speaking, comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

He also alluded to the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states proposed on February 23, 2010, as integral to the Caribbean.

“This Caribbean metaphorically is like a symphony,” the prime minister said. “We’re the sounds of the Indigenous people, we’re the melody of Africa. Like all the symphonies, from time to time, we have dissonances.

“We resolve from the genius of our people,” he added. “This Caribbean civilization, this journey, has been very interesting.”

Gonsalves said that when European colonialists entered the picture, “then we began to see a rupture.

Dr. Evelyn Castro, left, and New Provost Dr. Antoinette Coleman watch Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ address virtually.Photo by Nelson A. King

“In the remaking of the population – mixed, changed – Europeans carried out genocide,” he said, stating that St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as CARICOM, is demanding reparations for the enslavement and genocide of African bodies by Europeans.

He added that CARICOM has established a 10-point plan for reparation from colonial masters.

“We have to define ourselves on this dangerous road to Jericho,” said the prime minister, referring to the place in the Bible best known as the location of an astonishing miracle God performed.

Jericho is a city on the West Bank in the Jordan River Valley. Readers of the Hebrew Bible learn about the ancient city of Jericho when they read the book of Joshua. The book describes the Battle of Jericho and the fall of its massive walls.

“We are our brother’s keepers,” Gonsalves declared. “So, what do we do? History has made us compromises, but we don’t have to be compromising.

“So, we make accommodation; and, in addition, we resist creatively,” he added, lamenting America’s continued economic and trade embargo against Cuba.

The prime minister noted that all hegemonic powers in the world have called for a new World Order, but he asked: “What’s new? Which world? Who gives the order?

“In shaping the future, we need not desecrate it,” he said. “All countries in the world we have to engage.”

In ending with a quote from the late Barbados Prime Minister Errol Barrow in his book, “Caribbean Civilization and Political Aspects” (1981), Gonsalves said “…Collectively, we have the resources for our economic development. The Caribbean is a civilization.

“We have to go to the genius of our people, and we have to remember the hopeful message,” he added.

Then he turned to the Book of Lamentations in the Bible: “Morning by morning, new mercies I see. Great is their faithfulness.”

SVG Consul General to the US Rondy “Luta” McIntosh address CRC Speaker Series.Photo by Nelson A. King

Before Gonsalves’ remarks, McIntosh said he was “honored to speak at this “noble institution.”

“I ascribe the term noble to this institution for its sterling contribution to the academic advancement of our Caribbean civilization,” he said. “The name Medgar Evers echoes throughout our region and right here in Brooklyn, the largest Caribbean Diaspora community, as an institution, pivotal to the academic advancement of our people and our islands.

“Many of our Caribbean nationals passed through your hallowed halls, and you will not go anywhere in the Caribbean where discussions are being held about studying in the United States, especially here in Brooklyn, and Medgar Evers name is not mentioned,” he added.

McIntosh said history was also created on Thursday with the first CARICOM flag-raising ceremony in New York — “a symbol of unity to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of CARICOM as the oldest surviving integration movement in the developing world.”

Dancers from Medgar Evers College Preparatory School Dance Theatre. Photo by Nelson A. King

The consul general did not speak about Gonsalves’ illustrious career, giving the honor to Sherill-Ann Mason-Haywood, director of the SEEK program at MEC and chair of the Brooklyn-based SVG Diaspora Committee of New York, Inc.

McIntosh extended “Happy Caribbean-American Heritage Month to all Caribbean nationals,” urging “every Caribbean national to never forget the journey we took, and our parents and grandparents took, to come to this great land of opportunities, to never forget where we came from.”

He urged Caribbean nationals to “keep in touch with your friends, families and continue to send remittances home to help our Caribbean economies.”

Among others addressing the forum were: Dr. Castro, who brought brief remarks on behalf of Dr. Ramsey; Jamaican Horace Davis, president of the Caribbean American Society of New York (CASNY); Panamanian Anna Walker, representing the Brooklyn-based Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI); and Vincentian Adrian Peters, vice president of New York Community Bank.  CASNY and CACCI co-sponsored the event.

Before presenting a plaque to Dr. Gonsalves (McIntosh accepted), Dr. Irish-Bramble thanked the Vincentian prime minister for “a very fantastic lecture.”

“We want to thank you for agreeing to speak (at CRC’s first hybrid event),” he said. “Once again, a heart-felt thank you.”