True, most of North America is freezing and many will love to fly to hot weather islands. Months ago thousands of carnival fans – calypso, steelpan, soca and costume – residing in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and New York booked flights to go to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival. Many are already in Trinbago.

Trinidad’s Carnival is only a month away, February 13-17. Calypso tents are opened, bands are competing to be selected for the panorama finals and soca is hot.

Soca artists have been selected for both the Groovy Soca and Power Soca semifinals. A change in the high profile competition no longer the reigning monarchs to defend their title. “The decision to change the rule of defending the title was guided by a decision to align the competition with best practices in the global entertainment industry, where the reigning monarch is not obligated to defend their title,” a release from the organizers said.

Therefore, it appears that Machel Montano and Kerwin Du Bois will not defend their respective title.

Roger Toussaint Who Once Shutdown

New York City Comments On Latest Saga

   “That could have been any of us!”

   As someone who lived in New York for 35 years and as the former president of one of its larger unions, the Transport Workers Union, Local 100 (2001-2009), and thus quite familiar with the fabric and terrain, I write to address the challenges facing the protest movement in the aftermath of the tragic murder of the two NYPD officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

    This is clearly not what either the family of Eric Garner or the tens of thousands involved in recent protests wished or wanted. Indeed, the vast majority of voices raised and feet marching in protest called for change and not for violence. Nor was this criminally demented young man, who shot his girlfriend just before getting on a bus and traveling to New York where he launched his deadly attack on these unsuspecting officers, part of any protest movement.

   We all extend deepest condolences to the families and colleagues of these fallen officers.

There is neither justification, good sense nor purpose to attacks and violence against individual police officers who have little or nothing to do with the policies and leadership that have created, promoted and defended the dehumanizing of the lives of black people and other people of color. The target of the protests has been and is indeed institutional racism, not the police in and of themselves.

The acquittals in Florida (Trayvon Martin), Missouri and New York are the doing of the guardians of the system of institutional racism. In each case, the Governors, Mayors and District Attorneys hid their own refusal and failure to take action to defend the victims behind grand juries, whom they spoon-fed and steered to deliver the message that Black Lives Still Do Not Matter!—today, and certainly tomorrow!

   While this experience, in terms of heinous acts and attitudes, is part of an unbroken American legacy, the recent spate of unpunished, sanctioned attacks are also intended to deliver the message: Even with Obama in the White House, don’t think things have changed or forget who’s in charge!

It is the city and state fathers and District Attorneys and other top policy-makers who have for decades sustained the dehumanizing of communities of color in New York and around the country.    Across-the-board inferior and unequal housing, education, employment, medical care, protection and other services, access to culture and to opportunities in general, translate directly and precisely into disrespected and devalued lives. The only preference allowed is for punishment and prisons.

But, in this way, people focus on each other, either as competing victims or to protect their own measly privilege, while the fat cats make out like bandits and control everything. Institutional racism serves systems of inequality and each will be defended with might and fright, as with words and prose.

   The recent protest movement is the first breath of fresh air in a long while and represents the only hope that this generation and the next might move America closer to a more-just society where our teenagers, our sons, uncles and grandparents can leave their homes and walk the streets of America without fear from those sworn to protect and serve.

Today’s movement might just accomplish what my own generation has obviously failed so miserably to do.

   Changes are indeed needed. Police cannot be allowed to act without accountability or to operate as an occupying army. Governors, Mayors, District Attorneys and top policy-makers must be held chiefly accountable for the realization of actual equal treatment under the law and not just at election time when promises abound.

   It would be pure folly to rely upon promises or on goodwill to move America closer to this elusive reality, just as it would be a profound loss and mistake to abandon the best mechanisms of pressure to bring these about—the protest movement. There is not even a whimper of hope for change without such a movement. For power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

   In one sense, George Zimmerman in Florida and the police officers involved in the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner are mere tools and pawns in an American story that is much bigger than them. Tomorrow they too and their families can be discarded, if it suits that machine. The same forces that today sing praises to the cops underpay them and are working desperately and openly to strip them and their families of their pensions; that is more easily done if the public and communities view the work they do in an unsympathetic light. All communities should matter, not just some. This calls into question the very public actions of the leadership of so many of these police unions, which deserves to be addressed.

   As a former union president, I must say that the leadership of New York’s PBA and other police unions across the country has been utterly insensitive and worse with regards to the passionate feelings and concerns recently being expressed by the very communities which the police are sworn to protect, especially when those communities happen to be communities of color.

   I know the leadership of New York’s PBA fairly well and have personally valued the solidarity they showed for transit workers in past struggles. I was hopeful that they would demonstrate the ability to navigate the changes needed in policing and in their relationship with the communities.

Sadly, the leadership of these unions seems to ignore or forget that so many of their members/officers themselves today have sons and nephews who look exactly like Michael Brown and brothers and uncles who look like Eric Garner and moreover, could just as easily have been them!

   Notwithstanding the positions being taken by the leadership of these unions, I am certain that this fact is not lost on many NYPD officers who go home to these very communities. Moreover, many if not most of the other members/officers do truly see their work as protecting the communities and as jobs—to feed, house and raise their families—NOT as a means to act out some “chip on their shoulders” or to feed their personal sick insecurities and need to “put people in their place,” or as a badge to bully and kill for no good reason. So who speaks for that majority?

   The challenge facing the PBA is to represent the interests of the majority of its members who are decent, and not the sickos and bullies, any more than I would glorify a station agent or bus driver who is truly abusive to the passengers they are supposed to serve and who pay their wages—even without the power to use deadly force, such as NYPD officers do.

When unions serve the interests of the few, they lose their way and their ability to be forward-looking. But one of the better-kept secrets is that invariably, they also quietly become alienated from their own members. Inevitably, if the leadership of the PBA continues to ignore and fail on this challenge, new leadership will be destined to take it up.

   Meanwhile, the reality is that unless and until the doors of justice are equally open and guaranteed to all, we will be visited with unspeakable tragedies on all sides.

PHOTOS: (1) Mayor Bill de Blasio and wife were much loved on January 1, 2014 when he was sworn. Twelve months later, January 1, 2015, they are the Judas of the police union boss.

(2) Former TWU boss Roger Toussaint

Roger Toussaint was the President of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, the union of New York City Transit Authority employees in New York City. He is a former national of Trinidad & Tobago.

The 2015 EVERYBODY’S Global Caribbean Calendar is available in print and digital formats.

It provides all major Caribbean events in the region and Caribbean communities worldwide from Independence dates and other holidays to carnival and festival events.

When is Caribana in Toronto? What date is London Carnival? When is the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival? The information can be found in the calendar.

To order the 2015 Global Caribbean Calendar click:

http://everybodysmag.com/magazines/#print

EVERYBODY’S Magazine, 1630 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11226

Continue reading →

President Barack Obama and President Ronald Reagan
Immigration Policies
By Herman Hall

President Obama and speech writers prepare the final draft of the president’s immigration message to the nation.

Brooklyn, NY – President Ronald Reagan signing legislation granting amnesty to millions of “illegal aliens,” as undocumented immigrants were then called was welcomed in the Caribbean-American community. As a result of Reagan’s vision, thousands of undocumented Caribbean aliens got permanent status. A few years later many opted to become U.S. citizens.
EVERYBODY’S Magazine graced its cover with Reagan photo and the Amnesty headline. One hundred copies were later requested by the Reagan White House. Today, it’s the era of twitter, facebook, TV newsmagazine and more …so EVERYBODY’S doing a comprehensive report on President Obama’s decision will be outdated even before the magazine gets to the printer.

The timing of President Barack Obama taking dramatic actions on the burning immigration issue was similar to the timing of President Ronald Reagan on immigration. Both presidents acted boldly during their second term.
There is a difference. Reagan twisted the hands of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to get the Immigration Bill of 1986. Similar to Reagan’s Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) he signed during his first term, the president depended on Democrats in Congress to support and passed both pieces of major legislation, the CBI and Immigration Reform.
Regardless to Obama’s pleas, Republicans in the House of Representatives have steadfastly refused to consider Obama’s willingness to act decisively on immigration legislation thereby forcing the president to take executive actions.
“Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution,” President Reagan remarked on July 20, 1981.
President Obama focused on three major points during his national address on November 20, 2014. “First, we’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings, and speed the return of those who do cross over.
Second, I’ll make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders have proposed.
Third, we’ll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in our country.
I want to say more about this third issue, because it generates the most passion and controversy. Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable -– especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why, over the past six years, deportations of criminals are up 80 percent. And that’s why we’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids. We’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day.
But even as we focus on deporting criminals, the fact is, millions of immigrants in every state, of every race and nationality still live here illegally. And let’s be honest -– tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn’t realistic. Anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you. It’s also not who we are as Americans. After all, most of these immigrants have been here a long time. They work hard, often in tough, low-paying jobs. They support their families. They worship at our churches. Many of their kids are American-born or spent most of their lives here, and their hopes, dreams, and patriotism are just like ours. As my predecessor, President Bush, once put it: ‘They are a part of American life.’”

Geoffrey Holder

Broadway famed Geoffrey Holder has passed on. He was 84. Geoffrey holder was a household name across America especially during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the two Tony Awards Holder won was for the remake of the classic Wizard of Oz.

Holder was proud of the nation of his birth, Trinidad & Tobago. He was one of EVERYBODY’S most loyal readers and kept the magazine for his sister to read when in New York visiting.

More from EVERYBODY’S on the passing of Holder later.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO PRIME MINISTER
CELEBRATING REPUBLIC DAY IN BROOKLYN
THURSDAY, SEP. 25
TROPICAL PARADISE BALLROOM
1367 UTICA AVE., BROOKLYN

     Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will celebrate Republic Day with nationals of Trinidad & Tobago and other Caribbean states at a town hall meeting on Thursday, September 25 beginning at 8:00pm at Tropical Paradise Ballroom, 1367 Utica Ave., Brooklyn, NY. “It’s an honor for our Prime Minister to spend Republic Day with us,” says Michelle Young, a prominent Trinbagonian-New Yorker.
Trinidad & Tobago became a republic on August 1, 1976 with a president as head of state and not the British monarch. However, Republic Day is celebrated every September 24 to commemorate the opening of the nation’s first Parliament under the Republican constitution.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar is in NY attending the 69th United Nations General Assembly.
In addition to addressing the General Assembly, the prime minister is also participating in several meetings and conferences on population and development, climate change and other environmental topics.
Last evening she was a guest at a reception hosted by US President Barack Obama.
Before she arrives at Tropical Ballroom on Thursday, Prime Minister Bissessar will visit two landmarks in Brooklyn’s Trinbagonian community. She will first stop at Charlie’s Records on Fulton Street. Charles produced the great calypso hits of the 1970s-1990s. One of his daughters, Olympian Tina Charles, plays for WNBA New York Liberty. The prime minister’s second stop will be Conrad’s Bakery at Utica Ave.
After formally addressing the anticipated large crowd at Tropical Paradise Ballroom, Trinidad & Tobago first woman prime minister will socialize, meet and greet in celebration of Republic Day.

Several other Caribbean leaders are addressing the UN General Assembly.  Maybe some will remain in New York during Oct. 4-5 weekend. If so, they may attend the Oliver Samuels play, Dolly House, at York College Center for the Performing Arts.

Over the years, many prime ministers when in NY have attended several plays and shows produced by Herman Hall Communications. The last surprise visit was Prime Minister Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A call from Secret Service informing this magazine and the performing arts center at Howard University that Prime Minister Gonsalves would be attending an Oliver Samuels that evening. And, the prime minister came.

The cast of the comedy play, Dolly House