Jersey City-Based Caribbean-American Advocacy Group Launches
By Jon Whiten • Mar 15th, 2010 • Category: Blog, News
The new advocacy organization Caribbean One is timing its launch with the 2010 Census, which is beginning to mail forms out to households today. The Jersey City-based group’s first task is distributing thousands of posters and information cards to Caribbean-American businesses across the state, urging people to fill out the census — and include their Caribbean background.
The campaign is in partnership with the national Carib ID campaign, and is part of similar outreach efforts across the country to have as many Caribbean-Americans counted as possible. Other items on Caribbean One’s agenda for 2010 include advocacy for Congressional action on comprehensive immigration reform, passage of the DREAM Act, and the addition of a box for Caribbean-Americans on the 2020 Census; events during Caribbean-American Heritage Month in June; professional networking events during the summer; and immigrant rights workshops in the fall.
Part of the new organization’s goal, as founder Kenrick Ross explains, is to bring together often disparate Caribbean-American communities.
“Being Caribbean is not a race,” he says. “Caribbean Americans can be Black, White, Asian, Indian, or a combination of races, in addition to their Caribbean heritage. And that heritage means interests and concerns that are distinct from other groups.”
To sign up for updates on Caribbean One, visit the group’s website.
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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