An Open Letter to the Caribbean Diaspora in the United States: “Dump Trump” and the Republicans “Down the Ticket”

Asamblea de los Pueblos del Caribe Assembly of Caribbean People Assemblée du Peuple Caraïbe Assemblee van het Caraibissch Volk Asanble Pep Karayib La

An Open Letter to the Caribbean Diaspora in the United States: “Dump Trump” and the Republicans “Down the Ticket”

Dear Caribbean Diaspora Residing in the United States,

The Assembly of Caribbean People would like to greet you and your families and rearticulate our shared interests as human beings and people with a shared history in the Caribbean. We salute your excellence and determination as representatives of our nations in your adopted homes in the United States of America. We acknowledge our shared interests in maintaining our right to sovereignty and self-determination and protecting the people and homelands that nurtured you, supported your dreams, and celebrated your aspirations and achievements.

Call to Action: Today we issue an urgent call to action to preserve and expand our freedoms and protect the futures of our children in the midst of deeply regressive and challenging times. As you know, this is an election year in the United States of America with serious global consequences. We are in a battle to maintain the freedoms that our ancestors and elders fought diligently to obtain, defend, and advance. We desire peace, freedom, and the power to make decisions that are in our collective best interest. As independent nation states, we wish to pursue social and economic policy without fear of reprisal from powerful, external forces that seek to undermine our individual and collective autonomy.

Challenges: Because of the turmoil in the United States, whether it is related to COVID-19, or misinformation about the global pandemic, weakened press freedoms, compromised academic freedom, police brutality, the burgeoning of social justice movements and other financial, racial and xenophobic concerns, you may have been inundated with competing messages and may have been too busy and traumatized to learn about the challenges at home in the Caribbean. We assure you that we have been watching with concern and using our regional influence to ensure your rights are preserved, while living, working, and raising families in the United States of America. As immigrants, no matter what your formal legal status, you have contributed to building robust communities in America. These contributions have not been celebrated and acknowledged by the Trump administration, as he continues his racist, xenophobic, and classist attacks. The United Nations has shared concerns about the treatment of migrants in the United States, but your decisive action and support for candidates who will protect the human rights of all people is needed and necessary to reverse these regressive trends.

Vote Early if you can or on November 3rd 2020: At home, in the Dutch, English, French, Spanish and Creole speaking Caribbean, we are also under attack and vulnerable to the whims, corporate interests and selfish ambitions of leaders in the United States of America. While the powerful media apparatus has not made much of our challenges, we assure you that these challenges are real and will impact your freedoms and opportunities in your countries of origin.

These actions will also continue to undermine your safety and security in the homes that you have created in the United States. Without firm and decisive action at the polls on Tuesday, November 3 , 2020, we will be victims for four more years. The ruthless barrage of policies, rhetoric and actions that has created global exhaustion and trauma will continue and expand if you fail to act. Early voting has begun. If you are registered to vote, please do so without delay. Your right to vote was earned by our ancestors and will liberate our region and people from continued oppressive practices. To protect our communities all over the world, we call on you to “Dump Trump”, because of his nefarious domestic and foreign policy agenda which continues to undermine the rights and freedoms of the global community—including the Caribbean Diaspora residing in the United States.

Denaturalition: As we speak, scholars are documenting denaturalization processes occurring throughout the U.S. They continue to highlight attempts to undermine your ability, as naturalized citizens of the United States of America, to participate in in the electoral process by voting. Please do not take these freedoms for granted. Vote and let your voices be heard. Vote for those whose voices cannot be heard. Daily, residents without citizenship have new hurdles erected to prevent them from attaining citizenship and the right to vote.

Haitian immigrants have been victims of racist attempts to nullify their protected status. These racist and xenophobic practices seek to pre- emptively disqualify large pools of current, and future, voters that have contributed financially, socially, academically, and intellectually to building a robust American society. Please use your voting power and spheres of influence to “Dump Trump” and get the Republicans to “down the ticket” because of the policies that are causing great harm to the people of the Caribbean, at home and abroad. An additional 4 years of Trump in the White House, along with the support of immoral, socially, and legally bankrupt Republicans, will pose an existential threat to the Caribbean Diaspora. The rampant racism, xenophobia, and anti-immigrant policies and actions will continue to empower white supremacists and white terrorists with neo-fascist ideologies, agendas and actions.

Caribbean Unity: If we allow ourselves to be divided and deceived by external forces we will be impacted for decades by the corruption, distractions, distortion, fascism, nepotism, and lack of accountability that has characterised the Trump administration since 2017. To preserve our individual and collective freedoms, it is essential not to underestimate how the Trump regime, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seeks to weaken the unity and integration of the Caribbean. By holding bilateral meetings with Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) such as have occurred in Jamaica in February 2020, and by Pompeo’s visit to Suriname and Guyana in September, the Trump administration has sought to divide us. But make no mistake, we are more powerful together. We may have different governance structures, languages, customs and practices, but our unity has allowed us to celebrate our differences and embrace collective strategies to overcome external challenges that undermine our safety, financial security, and our right to sovereignty and self-determination.

Tuesday November 3rd, 2020! Vote! As you go to the polls, please think about our shared interests, and the safety and security of the family and friends you’ve left behind. You may be a Republican, Democrat, libertarian, or independent voter, but this election is not about political parties, it is about our survival. “Dump Trump” and have the Republicans “down the ticket” because they have demonstrated a disturbing lack of integrity, honesty, or any concern for human life or dignity. Trump, and his willing disciples, have demonstrated their xenophobic, racist, predatory, and fascist ideals. They are dismissive of our human rights, and right to sovereignty and self-determination.

We must stand united in our quest for peace, human dignity, regional solidarity, and autonomy. Vote early if you can, and decisively on Tuesday November 3rd, 2020. Our lives, future autonomy, and the security of our heirs depend on your decisive actions. We celebrate your dedication, accomplishments, hard work and commitment to maintain our right to sovereignty and self- determination. We do this in recognition that a conscious and united people can never be defeated!

#One Caribbean! #Caribbean a Zone of Peace! #Respect our Sovereignty!

SIGNATURES

1. David Abdulah, Trinidad & Tobago
2. David Denny, Barbados
3. Camille Chalmers, Haiti
4. Robert Sae, Martinique
5. Ivan Rodriquez, Dominican Republic
6. Hilda Guerrero, Puerto Rico
7. Cuban chapter of ACP, Cuba
8. Claudette Etnel, Suriname