Campbell's Commentary - COVID 19 MAKES NO CENSUS 20

By Aubrey Campbell

NEW YORK, NY. Tuesday, May 19, 2020 – Hello, again folks. Another day and the start of another week in paradise. At the time of writing, I am tracking developments in Jamaica relating to the expected arrival of more than 1,000 nationals who are staff and crew members with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL), those giant ships, or floating hotels, that make weekly calls at ports around the Caribbean region.

Of course, you know that the business generated from these massive ships contribute ‘BIGLY’ to the economic lifeline of our Caribbean member states.

What is puzzling is that ranking members of the government is on record as saying that they are not aware of the arrangements for the return of these people and as such there are no guarantees.

Stay tuned.

Another interesting development that caught my attention last week had to do with the US 2020 Census count.

During a conversation, I had with Yvette D. Clarke, the ranking US Congresswoman from Brooklyn, she hinted that so far, after weeks of data collection, the response, and the figures are disappointing. And, as if that was not enough, the same concern was repeated by a senior admin staffer from the census bureau, during a conversation with my colleague Irwin Clare, Sr., on his Sunday evening radio program.

Clarke, the ranking Congresswoman who has very deep roots in the Caribbean, is up for re-election this year and knows that it will be a dogfight to keep her seat on the Hill. But that was not the reason for the consternation in her voice. Her mood had to do with the fact that the numbers could overturn the gains that she has made and is still fighting for, for her majority migrant community.

How do I say it?

The Federal dollars will go to those communities with the highest and best numbers. As such, those numbers mean votes and votes mean representation. In other words, if we continue to snooze, we are going to lose!

We can blame everything on the pandemic, as real as that might be. How ironic that we are hunkered down at home and the census count is just a click away, yet we do not see it as important.

We look with disbelief at the scope of the inequalities exposed by the virus on communities of color and it’s as if that is not enough to spur us into action! And what the census is going to do is further erode what little confidence we have left in our community, in that we will now lose the right to have someone like us, someone like a Yvette D. Clarke to represent us.

Have you ever heard of redistricting..?

Think of it like this. All politics is local. Let’s get back some of what we are putting in, this way we can have a little more to send ‘home’.

Before I go. I mentioned earlier the fact that the government of Jamaica was trying to ‘social distance’ itself from RCCL, which I considered to be very unfortunate, given what I know of their relationship. The fact that they can’t do without each other tells me that they will work something out.

I can’t say the same thing for the other two feuding factions here in the Diaspora, but glad to see that the ‘good doctor’ knows a bad medicine when she sees one.

I am told that a letter asking for ‘clarity’ – remember that word – was sent, post-haste, to the Minister with the portfolio responsibility for the Diaspora, Kamina Johnson Smith, asking which organization speaks for the Diaspora, not only in the Northeast but the Southeast USA, as well.

Is it the newly installed Global Jamaica Diaspora Council (GJDC) or the Jamaica Diaspora Taskforce Action Network (JDTAN), headquartered in Miramar, Florida?

It gets even more interesting!

A news release came across my desk last week that the leadership of the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force was changing, raising even more questions.

A Gleaner front-page news last week may have played a part. This whole education bit is getting messier and it bothers me because this is the area that I continue to ‘give forward’ to my beloved Jamaica!

We are entering a new phase of sheltering in, COVID induced insanity. CIIN!

You have the floor!

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Editor’s note: Aubrey Campbell is producer/host of Caribbean Conversation, a magazine program now airing on Sundays, 2-4 pm., WVIP. 93.5 FM, and streaming on the Wee Radio Network at; www.weeradioonline.com