New York City Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio is a man of action and symbolism.

He is not forgetting New York’s Caribbean community. About 95% or more voted for him last November.

There he was strutting down Eastern Parkway with his family in Brooklyn’s West Indian carnival on Labor Day, September 2, a few days before the exciting Democratic primary.

Most NY-Caribbean Democrats voted for him in the very close primary.

More of de Blasio in EVERYBODY’S 2014 Global Caribbean Calendar/Year in Review.

Did we say Bill de Blasio is man of action and symbolism? Add a man of gratitude too!

On Thursday, December 19, the incoming mayor went to the heart of Brooklyn’s Caribbean community and he chose Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center, a kindergarten chain of prekindergarten facilities owned by a Caribbean-American family, to unveil his universal Pre-K policy.

He plans to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund universal Pre-K and afterschool programs.

“I believe than an absolute necessarily step forward for this city is to achieve the tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers so we can have full day Pre-K for every child and after school for every middle school child. And we will proceed vigorously to get that done in Albany,” Mr. de Blasio said at a Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center in Brooklyn.

See Friends of Crown Heights Educational Centers in EVERYBODY’S 2014 Global Caribbean Calendar.

During the 1980s, 1990s and up to 2004 popular American TV programs such as CBS 60 Minutes and television programs in Canada and the UK produced negative documentaries about Antigua and Barbuda. Not so thrilling features on Antigua and Barbuda appeared in world renowned newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist and TIME… The global media focused on international scandals then plaguing Antigua and Barbuda …

… Based on his unswerving leadership, his determination to prevent Antigua and Barbuda from becoming a haven for international illicit trade by steering the nation down the right path to the extent that Antigua is highly praised by the community of nations, we are convinced that Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has earned the honor to be “EVERYBODY’S Person of the Year” and “The Caribbean Person of the Year” for 2013.

…. Previous EVERYBODY’S Person of the Year include Sir Arthur Lewis (1979) for winning the Nobel Prize for economics; in 1980 to Dominica’s Prime Minister Mary Eugenia Charles for demonstrating leadership qualities of women in her role as Opposition Leader and later as prime minister; in 2004 to then Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago for consistently using Trinidad & Tobago resources to assist Caricom nations; in 2008 to Olympian Usain Bolt of Jamaica and in 2012 to Olympian Kirani James of Grenada.

Grenada born and Trinidad & Tobago raised, Dr. Slinger Francisco, known worldwide as The Mighty Sparrow told EVERYBODY’S Magazine he is confident that he will soon be performing.

A very optimistic Sparrow confirmed to EVERYBODY’S that he will be performing with Calypso Rose at Melanies Sports Bar & Grill in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, January 18. This event is organized by Derek Parson and other fans of Sparrow.

He expects to perform in Trinidad & Tobago’s carnival in March and he has agreed to be on the Mother’s Day Saturday Caribbean Concert at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, May 10.

A few months ago, in the fall of 2013, Sparrow was hospitalized in a New York City hospital and many felt he will not recover.

They were wrong! Weeks later Sparrow was sent from the hospital to a rehab center and he is expected to go home by mid-January.

Sparrow spoke for about an hour with EVERYBODY’S Magazine. He appreciates the prayers many of his fans around the world uttered and the best wishes sent to him. He asked EVERYBODY’S to express his sincere thanks to fans.

Sparrow is looking forward to concert tours and he expects to be fully recovered.

Our annual carnival edition focused on young soca artists but in addition to calypso, soca and carnival features there was a tribute to Nelson Mandela by South African Simangele Ntuli.

The publisher of EVERYBODY’S Magazine sincerely thank the now defunct “The West Indian” and “The Torchlight” newspapers in Grenada for educating him thru their strong editorials in the 1950s and 1960s supporting Mandela and condemning apartheid. It was 1956 and the young Nelson Mandela, a lawyer and former boxer, was charged with treason. For the next several years and throughout Mandela’s trial, The West Indian newspaper consistently gave news of Mandela and charged the white South African government of crimes against humanity.

Beginning with its first or second edition in 1977, EVERYBODY’S presented articles by Black South Africans who grew up in the apartheid state. Our most recent article (September/2013) by South African Simangele Ntuli is referral reading in some high schools in NY and NJ. “… I can recall as if it were yesterday my first voting experience in 1994 when I cast my ballot for the Nelson Mandela-led African National Congress …” writes Ntuli in this stimulating article.

This magazine did not hesitate to help photographer Kwame Brathwaite go to South African for the presidential inauguration of Mandela on May 10, 1994. Kwame chose a specific photo for the cover for symbolic reasons. There was incoming president Mandela standing tall and outgoing president F.W. de klerk sitting low as Black South Africans took political control of South Africa.
From a calypso perspective, a time when the calypso was rich in lyrics, major calypsonians of the day composed great songs motivating Black South Africans to continue the struggle.
It was not surprising that the Mighty Sparrow performed for the Nelson Mandela at Yankee Stadium on June 21, 1990, welcoming Mandela to New York City four months after Mandela’s release from prison.