Caribbeans in New York's Politics
By Felicia Persaud and Annan Boodram

The U.S. Census Bureau says over 500,000 Caribbean immigrants live in New York City but Caribbean community leaders dispute that figure. In fact it is generally believed that Caribbeans may be as much as a quarter of the city's population with the Haitians and the Jamaicans being the largest groups. In the past this number has not been translating into representation in politics. But, if the last elections is anything to go by, that may be changing.
On the Democratic side three Caribbean-American politicians successfully defended their seats on November 7th, while two more made Caribbean-American political history by merely being challengers in electoral races in both Queens and Brooklyn despite losing their bid for higher office.
In the 11th Congressional race, Councilwoman Una Clarke overwhelmingly lost to Congressman Major Owens. Though Clarke said she was not campaigning on the Liberal ticket and it was merely a matter of fulfilling her obligation to that party, the fact remains that she was on the ballot as a challenge to Owens. Clarke had earlier narrowly lost (24,222 votes to 20, 893 votes) to Owens in the Democratic Party primary in which Owens used former Barbados consul-general in New York, Clyde Griffith as his link to Caribbeans. Many in the community felt that Griffith had become turncoat and Clarke complained that the decks were heavily stacked against her. Owens had won the support of the most of the top black Democrats including state assemblyman, Nick Perry, who, like Clarke is Jamaican.
Despite Clarke's loss, she has made Caribbean political history in New York by becoming the first Caribbean-born woman to run for congress. Former Congresswoman and presidential candidate, Shirley Chisolm, was a first generation American born of Caribbean parents. She had spent part of her childhood in Barbados, her mother's original homeland.
In the Assembly races in Brooklyn, Nick Perry of the 58th District won by a landslide while State Senator John Sampson, of Guyanese parentage, ran unopposed. In Manhattan, (District 29) Democratic State Senator David Patterson regained his seat. In the 31st Assembly district in Queens, Assemblywoman Pauline Rhoda-Cummings, successfully won back her seat against second-time challenger and Guyanese native Michael Duvalle, who ran as an Independent. The assemblywoman received 7,558 votes compared to a mere 210 for Duvalle. Duvalle has made a name for himself in Guyanese political circles in New York by running for several offices in the past few years. Like Perry, both Patterson and Cummins are Jamaicans.
Cummings had earlier defeated Dr. Taj Rajkumar (3,504 votes to 1,152 votes) in the democratic primary in a race that Rajkumar's campaign manager, Jagdesh Mohunlall described as closer than the number indicated. Mohunlall indicated that Cummins' supporters pulled out all the stops and Rajkumar's campaign complained of many irregularities including voter harassment and intimidation. Dr, Rajkumar, Guyanese by birth, lectures at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
In Brooklyn incumbent Rhoda Jacobs easily turned back the challenge of Haitian, Zachary Lareche. Lareche had initially been disqualified by a Brooklyn court after the Board of Elections had rejected a number of Lareche's signatures challenged by Jacobs. But he was able to have the ruling overturned.
In a similar challenge brought by state senator Marty Markowitz, Jamaican, Wellington Sharpe had also been disqualified from running in the 20th state assembly district. But Sharpe, a day care operator will now run for the seat vacated by Una Clarke. He will be facing Yvette Clarke, Una Clarke's daughter, who cut her political teeth by managing her mother's congressional .
Another Caribbean considering a run for city council is Lola Poisson, a Haitian community activist. Her supporters feel that she stands a chance of being the first Haitian elected to political office. Besides Lareche, another Haitian, Ernst Emmanuelle also failed to make headway after being disqualified by a judge.
Also toying with the idea of running for political office is Grenadian Roy Hastick, founder/president of the Caribbean American Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CACCI). One of the more prominent caribbeans in New York City, hastick has built up and impressive network of business entities, politicians and community leaders and has recently set up an exploratory committee to consider his political options. He told The Caribbean Voice that he will be looking at both the New York City Council and the New York State Assembly.
The ease with which incumbents regained their seats indicates a "coming out" of immigrants in the past two to three decades. According to Philip Kasinitz in his work Caribbean New York: Black Immigrants And The Politics Of Race ,"Though West Indians and persons of West Indian descent have been politically prominent in New York for many years, there was neither a recognized West Indian political constituency nor much talk of a 'West Indian vote' before the early 1980s."
The reason, Kasinitz cites for the lack of such a constituency was that many West Indians merely identified with the wider "Black" society. They included of course Marcus Garvey, J. Raymond Jones, the Virgin Islander who in 1964 became the first black to lead Tammany Hall, and MacDonald "Mac" Holder, the Guyanese dean of Brooklyn's black politics and eventual supporter of Ed Koch.
The first time a group publicly declared itself "Caribbean" was when Grenadian Lamuel Stanislaus formed a support group for Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton in 1977. Though the group had little impact on the elections, it was historic and marked a new chapter in the city's political history.
In 1980 Guyanese Colin Moore, Former State Senator, Panamanian born, Waldaba Stewart and Trinidad-born Los Angeles Congressman Mervyn Dymally, launched the "Caribbean Action Lobby." CAL tried hard to mobilize political support along ethno-national lines. In 1992 Moore ran for the city council against Belizean, Rev Lloyd Henry. In what some commentators described as race that divided the Caribbean electorate, Moore faced allegations of misconduct (including taking money from clients without representing them) as a lawyer and, in fact, was subsequently disbarred from practicing.
In 1985, a Trinidad-born banker, Ernest Skinner mounted a bid for a seat on the city council. While he never touted himself as a "Caribbean" candidate, his support base was mainly Caribbean. Though he was unsuccessful, he did, however, form a political club in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Another Trinidadian, Maurice Gumbs, made his bid for the state assembly after winning a school board seat. While, Gumbs too never thought in terms of a "Caribbean" voting block, he soon found himself appealing to more and more Caribbean voters. He, however, came in third and almost immediately began retooling for another run. A vicious campaign ensued between Marty Markowitz and Gumbs for the 26th State Senatorial District. Gumbs' bid was dismissed when Markowitz challenged Gumbs' run on the basis of residency after failing to get him off the ballot over nominating petitions. A judge ruled in favor of Markowitz and West Indians once again lost their opportunity to prove their voting strength.
In Queens, where the majority of Indo-Caribbeans live, other Caribbeans who ran for political office but lost included Guyanese Denny Bhagwandin who twice ran for Congress on the Republican ticket, Guyanese businessman Ram Jodha who ran for city council as did Guyanese community activist, Tilokee Depoo (1992). Jodha is gearing up to run again for city council in 2001 as is lawyer, Trevor Rupnarine. According to Rupnarine's campaign manager, lawyer, Kawal Totaram - "the campaign is alive and kicking...we have a good chance if we put our shoulder to the wheel".