West Indian Congress(wo)men for Clinton!?

Both Rep. Yvette Clarke, the only current West Indian-American US Congressman, and Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen the delegate from the US Virgin Islands, have both endorsed HILLARY CLINTON for President!!

Yvette Clark who was born to Jamaican parents represents Central Brooklyn which includes Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, and Kensington neighborhoods -- easily the most West Indian district in the United States. And I repeat, she has endorsed HILLARY CLINTON, in other words NOT Sen. Barack Obama for President of the US. Her choice is likely to be disappointing to many of her constituents and perhaps many in predominately-Black nations who would probably love to have a black man lead the Western world. Interestingly, Rep. Clarke occupies the district fomerlly held by Rep. Shirley Chisholm - born to Guyanese & Bajan parents, and the first woman and the first African-American to seek the Democratic nomination for President. She was a serious, albeit long-shot, candidate; she won 3 states!!! (A record for both women and for African-Americans not yet broken by Sens. Clinton or Obama who have both won 2 states apiece.) If only Rep. Clarke could have gotten that "2-for-1" choice of nominee. Or even a "3-for-1" choice. The Congresswoman certainly was under pressure to endorse Clinton, not only as a female politician, but as a member of the NY delegation. Every single Congressional representative from the state of New York has endorsed the powerful Senator.

I'm not sure how significant losing the support of both West Indian Congresspersons is for Sen. Obama. What is significant is that support from either of the two would have broken a deadlock among black legislators. Believe it or not, Sens. Obama and Clinton have split the Congressional Black Caucus vote 15-15 even though Sen. Obama is a sitting member of the CBC. But I must say, Sen. Obama has yet to use his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to benefit our Region.

West Indians shut out at Davos

How the world looks from Davos, Switzerland

Tomorrow, world leaders gather in Davos for the annual meeting of the "bigwigs" who "run" the Earth (officially called the World Economic Forum). Although the fundamental ethos of the conference is the convergence of the "collective wisdom" of leaders from "all walks of life" (ie it is not the Bilderburg Group), NONE, I repeat, NONE of this year's participants are West Indian, or natives of any part of the Archipelago for that matter.

I am no fan of tokenism, or disproportional representation. Let's face it, the entire Archipelago makes up about 0.5% of the world population. Therefore on a list of 200 representative names there should be at least one from the Region, right? And if we're not going to participate in the World Economic Forum, are we really in the World?? hmm....

I urge all of you West Indians out there -- take matters into your own hands. Participate by answering "the Davos Question": an ingenious extension to this year's conference that allows us to make suggestions to said world leaders using YouTube. Kind of like the US presidential primaries' CNN-YouTube debates.

As usual, we'll hear from Africa. Latin America has seat at the table. Even Palestine will chime in. Another disappointment, however, is the absence of minority-North Americans. Secretary Rice is the lone heterogenote among a lily-white United States delegation. This is despite an abundance of members of the reputedly multicultural Bush cabinet and a host of other Bush-nominees such as World Bank President Zoellick. The problem is not that there are no appropriate community leaders to choose from. It's great that one of my US Senators (Kerry) and two Massachusetts Congressmen who represent districts adjacent to Cambridge are among the chosen few; but it would be to everyone's benefit if Rep. Frank or Rep. Markey was replaced by someone like Rep. Charlie Rangel, the all-powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

As for the lowly West Indies, let's hope our OAS and SIDS allies remember us.

I'm back, but Prime Ministers Portia, Kenny, Christie, and now Owen are not

Today, David Thompson was sworn in as the fourth new CARICOM Prime Minister within the past year -- all thanks to a string of elections that have handed defeat to the ruling parties. Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago was the only regional head of government to be re-elected despite losing the popular vote.

As far as I can tell, this wave of change may not do much to speed the pace of regional integration. Perhaps the most logical and worthwhile tangible next step in this process is adoption of the Caribbean Court of Justice. Although 12 nations signed an agreement to do this (most back in 2001), only 2 have successfully replaced the British Privy Council as the highest court of appeal. This is notwithstanding the fact that the Court is practically required to interpret the CARICOM treaties, particularly the recently-implemented CSME. In fact, the opposition UDP of Belize that recently blocked ratification of the CCJ is likely to make up the new government of that nation in 2 weeks.


Although all, including Prime Minister Manning, have declared support for CARICOM and the integration process, they appear no more alacritous than their predecessors - and in at least one case - is less so. It is not encouraging that the issue played a minor role on the West Indian campaign trail.

The long hiatus of Titleless for now was not unintentional. My last job precluded me from making public statements. As many of you know, I have spent much of last year working in New Hampshire on Senator Chris Dodd's campaign for President of the United States. Like the four-term Senator, I have no regrets and it will always be a memorable time of life. Perhaps I will elaborate on the campaign, and perhaps even respond to a blog entry asking me to write about it!


I'd love to hear your thoughts or questions.