Congressional Black Congress

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CLARKE. I would like to thank the gentlelady for yielding. And I would like to associate myself with your comments, your remarks, your historical context for this Congressional Black Caucus' hour commemorating Caribbean American History Month. I want to thank you, my colleague, DONNA CHRISTENSEN, for all of your work and advocacy being part of the U.S. Caribbean, the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Caribbean American Heritage Month. I thank my friend, the gentlelady from California, Ms. BARBARA LEE, for her very hard work and her enduring commitment to the people of the CARICOM region and for ensuring that every June we bring recognition to the many contributions made by Caribbean Americans and people of Caribbean descent, and the issues facing the nations of CARICOM and the Caribbean American Diaspora.

[Time: 20:00]

I have the honor of representing New York's 11th Congressional District, previously represented, in part, by Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Member of Congress and the child of Caribbean American immigrants from Barbados and Guiana.

Other prominent Caribbean Americans that we may be aware of or have known throughout our history includes such luminaries as Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable, the founder of Chicago; Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who was born in Nevis; actor and social activist Harry Belafonte; revolutionary Marcus Garvey; noted journalist Gwen Ifill; Hazel Scott, the first woman of color to have her own television show; Malcolm X, revolutionary; our own Attorney General Eric Holder; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; super model Tyson Beckford; athlete and coach Patrick Ewing; boxer and athlete Lenox Lewis; and Wyclef Jean, performer and philanthropist. And the list goes on and on.

As a child of Jamaican immigrants, I have been an outspoken advocate for Caribbean Americans and Caribbean issues and concerns my entire public life and proudly carry forth my district's rich Caribbean heritage. The success of the Caribbean immigrant and their Caribbean American descendants has been evidenced in just about every field of endeavor.

[Page: H6787]

While Caribbean Americans have made great strides and very historic contributions to the prosperity and strengthening of our Nation, there are still lingering issues that adversely affect Caribbean Americans in the United States. Caribbean immigrants often have very little money or access to resources when making their transition to the United States, making them vulnerable targets of immigration fraud. I have introduced H.R. 1992, the Immigration Fraud Prevention Act of 2009, making it a Federal crime to willfully misrepresent the immigration process through fraud and false representation.

I have also introduced H.R. 2071, which directs the Secretary of Commerce to include Caribbean descendants as an option on census questionnaires. I believe that this will bring recognition to the broad diversity of Caribbean natives and descendants that call our country home and ensure an accurate count and proper representation and resource.

I was also pleased this year to be present at the Summit of the Americas along with our own President Barack Obama earlier this year. That summit was the beginning of what I know will be an enduring commitment to a mutually beneficial relationship with our ``third border.'' Our Nation's third border, shared with the CARICOM community, links not only families, not only travel and industry, but I believe the security of our own United States and our island-nation neighbors. In 2007 a joint report by the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime and the World Bank linked some of the rising crime rates in Caribbean nations to an increase in drug transshipment. In the previous Congress, I introduced H. Res. 1504, which calls for increased cooperation between the United States and Caribbean officials to combat this problem. Last week I stood proudly on this floor to express my support for provisions which were in H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2009, which added the Caribbean community, or CARICOM, to the Merida Initiative. I also want to commend the Honorable BARBARA LEE for her work in establishing the Shirley A. Chisholm Educational Exchange Program authorized within the bill. These provisions promote security and education within the CARICOM region, fostering social and economic development abroad and keeping all of us safe here at home.

Madam Speaker, it is with great pride that I stand here, a descendant of Caribbean immigrants, able to stand in the House of Representatives' second generation representing a constituency that is the disapora of the Caribbean, and I'm proud that we here in the U.S. Capitol take this time to commemorate the very accomplishments, the binding of our nations and our people, in making sure that we strengthen and build prosperity here in the United States and share that good wealth and democracy with the region from whence so many have come.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source