Diaspora Conference in Washington cont'd

This is a link to the wrap up session of the Diaspora conference earlier this month. The clip is about one and a half hours long but the first 15 or so minutes is a good summary of some of the main points.

I like the fact that there is talk about creating political action committee to lobby Washington. And of course there is more talk about a common database of skilled Caribbean nationals here in the US. We will have to wait and see what the effects of these talks are. It was pointed out that carnival plays a huge part of Caribbean Americans' lives and the effect that it can have in terms of reaching out to people. It is possible the best tool that we have in bringing the Caribbean diaspora together at this point. Hopefully we can build on this and have a strong community that is friendly to the Caribbean owned businesses here (in keeping with the aims of the CBD).

Diaspora Conference in Washington

I have come across a few articles talking about the Diaspora Forum for the Caribbean in Washington DC. This article quotes various Diaspora members talking about the Conference. My favorite quote comes from Grenadian Roy Hastick who stated that the talks should yield "something tangible". I echo these sentiments as I fear this annual conference will become just an annual rhetoric. Glenn Joseph in the same article had something interesting to say as well. If the conference is indeed scripted then the whole exercise would be a joke.

There are two aspects to this event. I feel that there is the relationship between US and the Caribbean itself and there is the relationship between the US and the Caribbean Diaspora here in the US. Both groups have common interests of course but there are subtle differences.

I believe the Caribbean Diaspora here must strengthen itself here first before being in a position to exert an influence in Washington. Only then will they (the Caribbean Diaspora) be able to help the Caribbean itself. After all there are elements of the Caribbean Diaspora here that may need help too. That strength must come in political and economic terms. And as Portia Simpson Miller said in the same article "organize yourselves".

In the meantime, I hope we come up with quantifiable action plans for both the Caribbean and for the Caribbean Diaspora. And hopefully those plans will have measurable steps that we can evaluate at periodic intervals to gauge progress. That way, come next year we can measure the effects and not just spin our wheels. Anything less will be laughable.