Caribbean Heritage Month

We are right in the middle of Caribbean Heritage month. June is chock full of activities here in the South Florida area and across the US. Recently there was Unifest which is basically a festival of Caribbean nations designed to celebrate our heritage. This is one of the sweet moments when people from different Caribbean nations come together.

Later this month, there will be a Caribbean forum in Washington DC where Caribbean Diaspora representatives will talk with various leaders here in the United States about issues affecting the Diaspora. This is wonderful and I look forward to learning more about what the outcomes of these discussions are.

Also, below is the letter by Hill to Caribbean Americans. I think it is heart-warming and a call to action for us Caribbean Americans to realize our potential and economic, political and social terms. Read on:

Jamaican Diaspora Southern United States
CELEBRATING CARIBBEAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH


Dear Fellow Caribbean-Americans and friends of the Caribbean:

In this second year of the commemoration of Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we have much to be thankful for and so much more to work towards. With the population of Americans of Caribbean descent on the rise exponentially, what do we do with all this energy and positive vibes?

Our time has arrived to take full advantage of our rightful place in the social fabric of America. Neither our color, religious affinity, dialect, language nor heritage should preclude us from continuing to make a significant contribution to the prosperity of America. We must pay homage to those Caribbean-American immigrants who traveled to America in numbers at the turn of the century and laid the table for others to feast on the bounties of hard labor. We must pay homage to other Americans, whose path may not have stopped temporarily in the Caribbean, that helped us to receive some of the blessings of a life in the United States.

This common bond of our Caribbean-American heritage should not be taken for granted. We must ensure that the next generation of Caribbean-Americans has an intimate understanding of their self-identity. They must know more about those individuals and organizations that have sacrificed and excelled in the areas of academia, education, healthcare, public service, arts & entertainment, and other aspects of life in America.

Most importantly, the time has come for all Caribbean-Americans to individually take up the torch of citizenship and to be more actively engaged in our democracy. We cannot afford to be grandstand spectators. It is time! It is time that we call on our Congress to deliver a comprehensive immigration bill that will preserve the foundation of keeping our families together and be fair to status of working Caribbean-Americans.

I hope that you will find time to celebrate the month with friends and family at the numerous scheduled events attached.

Connect! Strengthen! Act! and
Celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month!
Vier Caribisch Amerikaans Erfgoed Maand!
¡Celebre Mes Americano Caribe de Herencia!
Viens Célébrer le Mois de l'Héritage Antillais-Américain!
Ann fete mwa selebrasyon patrimwàn Karayibeyen Ameriken!


Marlon A. Hill, Esq.
Advisory Board Member
Jamaican Diaspora Southern United States
786-349-2584; 876-621-0102 (Jamaica) ● Facsimile: 786-551-0785
info@marlonhill.com

Hurricane season

As is well documented it is the start of the hurricane season. And everyone here in South Florida is looking toward the season with bated breath. With the past hurricane seasons causing homeowner losses and insurance rates what they are here, everyone is hoping that there is no hurricane activity this year. Some small business owners flat out told me that their businesses will not survive an overly active season. With property taxes out of control, homeowners insurance a fiasco, the real estate market in a downturn, hurricane damage is the last thing we need.

Well, already I heard we just had some tropical storm. Hopefully that is not an indication of what is to come.

Interestingly, the first issue of the magazine had a couple articles geared toward hurricane preparedness. Check out the first issue here.

JA USA Chamber Business Expo

It has been a while since I made a blog post but that was due to a weekend getaway in Jamaica where I stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe hotel in Runaway Bay in St. Ann. I had a wonderful time and it was a beautiful hotel. I encourage everyone to consider it as an option when staying in Jamaica. And even though it rained, there was enough to do.

My last post I said I would talk about the Jamaica USA Chamber business expo. It seemed to be well organized and supported. I had a quick chat with a couple of exhibitors there and they were pleased with the turnout. And so was chamber president Marie Gill. I hope to have her comments as a part of an upcoming article in the next magazine issue. But she was pleased with the turnout and I am happy for her. I can remember talking with a few folks who mentioned that past events resulted in a low turnout. But that did not appear to be the case here.

I ran into Rovan Locke of the Caribbean Commentary newspaper. He gave me some feedback on the magazine and one thing he said was not to give it way free. He seems to favor establishing a cost for subscription or otherwise selling the publication. And I suppose he is right. That will let you add value to the publication. Rovan also offered to talk with me a little about the magazine so let's see what I can learn from this long time servant of the Caribbean community here in South Florida.

I also ran into Irvine Headley of Bilmor Advertising. Headley is also past president of the T&T USA chamber of commerce. I mentioned to him that the various Diasporas here need to do things more together and he agreed. We are trying to accomplish a lot of the same things after all. So it was nice to see him there at the Jamaican business expo.

David Muir of the law firm Wright Muir PA as always took the time to chat for a little bit. As it turns out, he produces a newsletter for the law firm which is quite well put together. So his connections with printers and designers may be useful. And he also took the time to introduce me to a couple folks he thought might be interested in my magazine and for that I was grateful.