How many live in the US? In the tristate area? How many in the home country?
The estimated population of Caribbean/West Indian immigrants residing in the United States are about 13 million, in comparison as of 2019 approximately 44.42 million total continue to remain in their home country.
In the tri state areas, where do they live?
As for the tri-state areas with the most populated groups include New York, New Jersey, and Florida. The estimated amount ranges between 4-8 million in these areas. The majority reside in New York City between Brooklyn and Queens in the neighborhood areas of Crown Heights, Flatbush, Canarsie, Richmond Hill, Liberty Ave, and Jamaica Ave.
What jobs do a significant percentage of them have?
The outcome of their working arrangements are not as recognized, yet it doesn’t objectify how they help the communities. According to experience within the culture, the significant percentage of West Indians have jobs within the Medical field, Banking, Real Estate, Construction, Technicians, and owning Restaurants.
Why did they come? When?
Caribbean/West Indians settled in the United States during the 1800s-present. This was after the colonizations between England, France, the Netherlands and Spain. Although some of the islands were still at war to fight for Independence, they established in unifying their different cultures to gain prosperity in reference to “living the American dream.” The American dream to them is considered finding better opportunities for themselves to survive in a world that is dominated by their opponents. Their idea of coming to America is to find a job, make a living, and form a family to expand their family tree and legacies.
What are some major organizations/advocacy groups/resources in the community?
According to research, the West Indian community has a Center of Carribean Americans of New York that are aiding those in these drastic times during COVID-19. Another recognition and association is the West Indian American Day Carnival Association. This helps the community to have people join our parades and donate back to their home countries.
https://www.caribbeancenterny.org
Do they have local media house/s? If so, list them.
U.S. Citizen Services
U.S. Embassy in Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, and the OECS
Consulate General in New York-of All Caribbean islands visa applications
List/link the major media houses in the home country.
The New York CaribNews-https://www.nycaribnews.com
CaribVision-https://www.caribvision.tv
IslandTV-https://islandtv.tv
How strong are relationships with the home country? How significant are remittances to the home country’s economy?
The West Indies have a strong relationship with their home countries since they give back to their families especially during COVID-19 and find ways to donate whenever disasters or struggling experiences occur. However it’s always said their countries are poor and yet they are just more than being labeled as “poor.”
In the homeland what is the GDP per capita? Where does that rank in the world? What are the major industries?
According to https://www.caribjournal.com as of 2014 the richest country in the Caribbean ranked as their number 1 GDP per capita is the Bahamas of $21,280. Followed by Puerto Rico of around $18,000, Trinidad and Tobago of $14,400, St. Kitts and Nevis of $13,300 and so on. As of 2019 the Bahamas amounted to 32,934 U.S. dollars ranked number 4 in their most recent year. https://www.data.worldbank.org
What is the system of government? When did this system come into place? Was there a colonial power? (Or was it the colonial power.)
According to https://getawaytips.azcentral.com the types of government in the Caribbean are Constitutional Monarchy of the British colonizations during the Queen Elizabethan era of the Golden Age which resulted in the islands becoming independent in the 20th century. Parliamentary Democracy of the European colonizations which consists of a president, a prime minister, a cabinet and a house assembly. In their cases the president holds fewer power while the prime minister has the most. The cabinet is appointed by the president from the advantage of the prime minister. Lastly the house of assembly holds 30 members voted into office by the public. Communist of Cuba being the only region that adopted communism in 1959 led by Fidel Castro. After his reign the country’s government is led by the president. Lastly American Territory of the island’s citizens that have American citizenship, but it’s not an American state. They have semi-independent territory led by a governor.
Name of the NY consul general. How long has he/she been in the role?
There are several consulate generals for each island in power so there is no particular person that represents all of them, unless in the future that can change.
Give three potential story ideas. (Doesn’t need to be a fully flashed-out pitch yet, but should be well thought-out.)
1). My first idea I would like to interview more community leaders that can discuss what makes the islands more significant and if they could, what changes would they like to make that isn’t recognized by the United States or isn’t mentioned for people to be more familiar with and not just from the obvious.
2). My second idea is I want to try and reach out to the Caribbean news channel representatives that can discuss opportunities of spreading worldly news towards the U.S. channels and they give their sides of the stories compared to how the U.S. interprets or not share enough of their stories. It would help make more names for themselves and to be recognized.
3). And lastly I want to discuss my plans for working with Law Officer Kawal P. Totaram, whom I plan to interview since we made some appointments, to show how attentive he is to the Caribbean community which he quoted “it’s recognized little by little.” In this case he would also help me connect to more people outside the U.S. if possible.
And finally conduct an interview with a community leader.
Currently as of now Mr. Totaram as I mentioned earlier is out of his office, but will return to me as soon as possible to conduct a one on one interview. Hopefully once all goes well then I can officially update this story.