Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves delivered the featured address last Thursday at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College (MEC) during the Caribbean Research Center’s (CRC) Speaker Series.
The event that simultaneously commemorated Caribbean-American History Month celebrations was themed “Honoring Our Journey, Facing the Future: The Role of the Diaspora in the Future.” It was sponsored by CASNY and CACCI.
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Gonsalzes described the Caribbean as a symphony. He stated that all countries and territories shape the Caribbean. He also 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…This Caribbean civilization, this journey, has been very interesting.”
He reiterated his message saying that the heritage of the Caribbean is “not isolated”, noting the arrival of African American “bodies” in Virginia in June 1619.
The SVG leader touched on America’s continued economic and trade embargo against Cuba saying, “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.”
On the call for a new World Order by hegemonic powers, the prime asked: “What’s new? Which world? Who gives the order?
He continued: “In shaping the future, we need not desecrate it. All countries in the world we have to engage.”
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.
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.
