HIS FACE MAY be a relatively new one on Capitol Hill in the United States (US), but Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, is a rising star in New York politics and among members of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington.
He is articulate and gets along well with his Congressional colleagues and constituents. In addition, Jeffries, now in his third two-year term in the House, shares a constituency of at least 50 000 Caribbean immigrants with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, the New York-born daughter of Caribbean parents. Just as important, he keeps himself informed about domestic and international issues affecting the Caribbean, Africa and Central America.
He explained his approach in a straightforward way.
“Along with Congresswoman Clarke, we represent one of the largest Caribbean-American communities in the country,” he told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
“Anyone who questions the contribution of immigrants to our country should look at what people from the Caribbean have done. Immigrant communities, including those from the Caribbean are hardworking, entrepreneurial, family oriented, community centered and focused.”
Little wonder, then, that when he was asked about the major financial headache caused by the decline in correspondent banking relationships the lawmaker didn’t hesitate.
“That issue is of critical importance to Caribbean countries and to people in my Congressional district and next door in Clarke’s,” he said. “We recognise the importance of correspondent banking when it comes to day-to-day business and family transactions.”
Like members of the Caribbean Association of Banks, Jeffries thinks a decline in correspondent banking ties between US financial houses and the behemoths in the US poses a serious threat to the region’s financial stability. That’s why, he says, something must be done soon to solve what can turn out to be a crisis.
On that list of much needed actions, according to Jeffries, is the fashioning of even a stronger bond between Caribbean nations and the 40-plus members of the Congressional Black Caucus who have an intense interest in the economic and social well-being of the Caribbean and Africa.
“Working with Congresswoman Clarke and the members of the Black Caucus, one of the things we should do is to organise a meeting with executives of some of the major banks which have traditionally worked in the Caribbean but are beginning to pull out of the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere in the world,” said the lawmaker.
“We must have a dialogue and a discussion on why this issue is important from a corporate responsibility standpoint.” After all, Caribbean immigrants can be found in large numbers in New York, Atlanta, South Florida, Massachusetts and various parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.
“It is clear to me that the only way for us to turn around this situation is for us to work together, advocates and stakeholders in the United States and the Caribbean,” Jeffries added.
“Caribbean countries must work together on this because they would be stronger as a collective than if they go it alone.”
But Jeffries isn’t alone in advocating an African-Caribbean initiative. Charles Barron, a Brooklyn member of the New York State legislative Assembly in Albany – the equivalent of the Barbados House of Assembly in Bridgetown – says the island-nations and coastal states in the Caribbean as well as African countries are being hard hit by the policies of many of the “big banks” which are either cutting their ties to the world’s poorer states or are preparing to do so. The situation requires a joint response by African and Caribbean Central banks.
“The Caribbean and Africa must work together on this,” asserted Barron whose East New York legislative district is home for thousands of Jamaicans, Grenadians, Guyanese and other West Indians.
“We need to have a United States of Africa and a United States of the Caribbean. We need to formulate our own Central Bank,” he argued.
“That would be in addition to the [existing] central banks in the Caribbean, we should proceed with a unified African and Caribbean central bank. We need to trade among ourselves. We must have ‘fair,’ not simply ‘free trade’ that leaves us all poor. We must have a trade policy that unites the Caribbean and Africa and that would benefit the nations there, using their resources.”
Barron, an unapologetic legislator known for his left-wing economic and social positions is advocating a “regional trade agreement between Africa and the Caribbean along with a central bank”. That would open the door to a common currency which would facilitates trade and make the various countries less dependent on the major North American and European currencies.
“We shouldn’t be totally reliant on the [big] banks,” he insisted. By “we,” Barron, means African-Americans and African and Caribbean immigrants.
“We are a trillion dollar nation” within the US, he said of blacks in America.
“We need to unite for ourselves and produce for ourselves.”
Actually, experts estimate the overall purchasing power of people of colour in the US at more than a trillion dollars. Like the late Marcus Garvey, Barron thinks blacks constitute a powerful financial and political force in the US which should be harnessed for the good of blacks in the US.
