Submitted by Rickford Burke, President, Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)
I applaud President Obama for the bold reforms to the nation’s broken immigration system, albeit temporary. Immigration reform does not only impact our Latino brothers and sisters. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean, South America and Africa now qualify for relief from the threat of deportation and will become eligible for lawful employment.
Almost all undocumented immigrants from the Caribbean and Guyana enter the United States lawfully but overstayed their visas and thus are out of status. A large percent has children and/or spouses who are either US citizens or permanent residents. Thousands more arrived before their sixteenth birthday but are ineligible for DACA because they are currently above age thirty-one. They have all lived here for a long time – decades in some cases, and are law abiding. America is their home. They deserve a shot at the American dream. Thanks to President’s initiates, they can now emerge from the shadows to pursue that dream, once they pass a criminal background check and pay any back taxes accrued.
This is a historic day for America – A nation of immigrants. Millions of families will remain united and millions of people will without fear begin to contribute to society and the US treasury. Economists forecast that this could boost GDP by over $1 trillion.
Republicans are not only opposing President Obama. They are attacking the relatives of millions of US citizens who vote, as well as millions of US permanent residents who will soon become voters. When these millions of Americans go to the polls to exercise their franchise, they will remember who stood with them and fought to keep their families united and who fought to tear their families and the nation apart!
653 responses to “President Obama’s Immigration Reform Initiatives…”
@MB
The point you should accept is that these people are acting out rage. They are not coldly pinpointing businesses to loot.
@David
I appreciate that BUT they should listen to the mature leaders who have asked them to cool down. I believe that most of the Looters are there to PROFIT and would do so without giving a damn about the death of Mike.Just a very convenient excuse, burning is rage—–looting and thiefing is another matter in my opinion. The mentality of such is “lehme get some liquor, electronics and clothes/ shoes”. That just detracts from the whole point of the Protests which is exactly where the focus should be.
@ Pieces- November 26, 2014 at 2:26 AM …thanks for the more thoughtful and intellectually driven response on ‘the humanity in [you]’. I agree that it’s clear that our humanity is warped and sick and good and wise. It’s the dichotomy of life.
As you and MoneyBrain suggests many of the rioters are there simply to loot and plunder. The warped and sick.
Many more are there because of the continuous pain of blatant discrimination by persons in authority. They want fundamental change and theirs is peaceful agitation. The good and wise.
Yes, Pieces wearing $750 sneakers when otherwise being in poverty, and let’s add, with a burning ambition to be a rapper/musician and with no academic grounding as a back-up is a bit warped.
Those who wear $750 sneakers because they worked summer jobs to afford them; have a burning ambition to be a rapper/musician; are taking music Honors classes @ school along with course work in law and related subjects. That’s good and wise.
The problem of course is that only 10% of our black brothers and sisters fall into the good and wise group.
Staying with this ‘music as the key of life theme’, was it not Time Magazine’s man of the 20th century nominee who admonished us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.
Yes Mr. Piece we are our humanity, we (substitute black, white, Asian) are the core of our problem. The hate starts from within (a la Hitler or Idi Amin or Chairman Moa), so does the love (a la King, or Gandhi or the DaLai Lama).
Let’s get off this mantra of ‘the man’ or ‘whitey’, as that is not the core of our problem. That’s just a part of the dynamic.
Emancipate, emancipate ourselves from mental slavery!
Stealing cigarettes and assaulting a cop, is warped and sick regardless of race.
Running after an unarmed perp who is 50+lbs bigger than you are rather than regroup and wait for backup is bravado and NOT what you are trained to do as a standard of policing to protect and serve. WARPED too. The kid was no significant societal threat and could be identified and picked up later.
In both cases there could only be BAD results.
It’s a hard, very hard to find ways towards a balanced society on this long road of life.
Let’s emancipate, emancipate ourselves from mental slavery and understand that name calling and vilification is as lethal as looting and arson.
Neither gets us where we need to go.
@Moneybrain.
Whites asked to stand back.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ferguson-aftermath-protests-in-toronto-ottawa-spark-debate-1.2850162
There are lies and there are dam lies the media singling out one black as evedience of blacks being major business owners in the town of fergusson is misleading it all but reminds me of a time when media would parade one “token” black in high profile jobs as equality and a solid proof that racism in america was on the way out.people today are more alert and aware of when they are being duped what media is protraying does not jell with data and the high poverty level in Fergusson and a rigged system which exempt blacks equal access to the system
You can tell people how they should behave but you cannot tell them how they should feel.
@ Hants: That is sad to say the least.
How does the skin tone of the protestor take away from the basic elements of the problem.
Did the race of Messrs. Schwerner and Chaney make a difference to the reason why racists killed them and Chaney.
To be frank such leadership suggests that this is not about the cause but about the ego.
That’s not what we need. Very Disturbing.
http://youtu.be/40y7jVkNkMI
@Hants
Saw that last night. Correctly so to start, but it would not hurt to emphasise unity across racial lines at some point.
@ De Word.
It is interesting to note your reference to the three civil rights activists Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman.
I know that you will recall the pertinent words of the Then Former Secretary of State Dick Molpus who when asked if he had ever regretted what he did regarding his comments during the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Neshoba County murders, said and I quote:
“The apology hardly changed the world or even our state but it did speak for what I believe is a majority of our citizens who would never condone murder and who hope for racial understanding and reconciliation.”
One could easily say that his words have not only echoed through the decades in the corridors of American history, but actually speaks to what with slight revision can be said today in Fergusson namely “this death had hardly changed the county/state/United States of America” and hope that the majority of its citizens will stand up and not condone these widespread executions
A small boy named Mark Fenty lived in a village in Barbados. None of his classmates liked him because of his stupidity, especially his teacher, who was always yelling at him “You are driving me crazy Hameed!!!!!”
One day Hameed’s mother came into school to check on how he was doing. The teacher told his mother honestly, that her son is simply a disaster, getting very low marks and even she had never seen such a dumb boy in her entire teaching career!!!! The mother was shocked at the feedback and withdrew her son from the school & even moved to another town!!!!!
25 years later, the teacher was diagnosed with an incurable cardio disease! All the doctors strongly advised her to have an open heart operation, which only one surgeon could perform…….
Left with no other options, the teacher decided to have the operation, which was successful…... When she opened her eyes after the surgery she saw a handsome doctor smiling down at her! She wanted to thank him, but could not talk. Her face started to turn blue, she raised her hand, trying to tell him something but eventually died!
The doctor was shocked and was trying to work out what went wrong, when he turned around he saw our friend Mark Fenty, working as a cleaner in the clinic, who had unplugged the oxygen equipment to connect his Motorola charger!!!
Don’t tell me you thought that Mark Fenty became a doctor!
Does anybody remember after the Trayvon martin verdict the people were ask to be peaceful and the people responded to the call positively .Now after a test of the will of the people these people are expecting that now havingto go through a similar circumstance months later that socity should remain quiet
@ Georgie Porgie
Man you badddd GP, oh lawsie GP you and Bush Tea wunna is going to kill me wid laughter.
@ AC (I am not sure which one this is though)
Like the government of the DLP is soon to find out, the US is understanding that you can fool SOME OF THE PEOPLE all of the time, and ALL OF THE PEOPLE some of the time but not ALL OF THE PEOPLE, all of the time.
After a while the sh*t starts to come apart at the seams Occupy Wall Street a la Fergusson style, unfortunately we niggas in the ghettoes did not get the rules of engagement booklet about “responding positively” and all of that cause after Trayvon, it simply is not making sense any more.
We realised that wunna is coming fuh we, picking we off one by one while hiding under the shadow of Commissions and Indictment rules and the plethora of men/women like William Harold Cox, the segregationist federal district judge in Mississippi who blocked the impeded the federal case.
(a judge who had once referred to black civil rights protesters as “chimpanzees” in his own court.)
So we fighting fire wid fire and maybe jes maybe the “Establishment” will stop “pretending to notice us” and make some real changes.
It is like the scourge of heroin.
When it was killing the inner city denizens, the white establishment didn’t give a flying sh*t but once the casualties came from the middle class and upper class homes the power of the federal/state government was mobilized as with the Vietnam draft, as long as it “touches us” we gots to do something.
There is a place for the Martin Luther Kings but there is a place for the Malcolm X’s as well
@Piece
Dont forget that X mellowed considerably after he went on the Hajj to Mecca and saw that there were Whites that he could peacefully debate intelligently.
One of my good pals at HC was heavy into X, Elridge Cleaver. Stokely C et al, I spent many a day explaining that education was the answer for him.( he actually resembled X) Regrettably, he got in the drug trade and I believe he died of an overdose. Major Pity as the bruds had Brains but plenty Demons too.
@ Money Brain
I am stuck on that book Justice in Mississippi that De Word caused me to recall particularly the phrase “a culture of impunity” that referred to the mindset of the segregationists that was rampant in the South
I doan know bout you MB but having lived under “the man” in 3 continents when I was younger, I, for one, can attest to the fact that Jim Crow lives and breathes and, even when the laws and Civil Rights Acts were passed in 1964 certain southern states fought it, until 1990, in every court of the land of Amurica.
It still be alive today and kicking MB in these Amurican States.
Educating Whites is 1/10th of the solution but educating blacks that is 97% of the solution. It will give us options.
The maths might not add up to you, you is a fellow dat does trade pun Wall Street en ting, but a fellow like Sinckler, our Minister of Finance, would be able to unnerstand dat High Maths doah.
@Piece
Been preaching Education for black peeps relentlessly, it is a key mistake in the US—spending to lockup versus to educate. Prisoners dont pay taxes, educated workers do! So emphasise that! I believe the computer/ electronics of today and the future is great education leveling mechanism.
In reality I & I will overcome
Malcolm X’s Letter
http://islam.uga.edu/malcomx.html
“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.”
“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white – but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.”
i here laffing my head off watching the tv
black advocates trying to defend de indefensible
these american niggas does talk some shite though
just like ac and fenty
i know dat fenty , as stupid as he is never try to tek way no policeman gun in america
fenty real stupid but he aint dat stupid
but he come on bu talking shite
he does talk so much shite bout americah cornstitution etc like how fumble does quote the latin authors
leh we mek fenty the pm den
@ ac | November 26, 2014 at 2:06 PM |
“Does anybody remember after the Trayvon martin verdict the people were ask to be peaceful and the people responded to the call positively .Now after a test of the will of the people these people are expecting that now havingto go through a similar circumstance months later that socity should remain quiet”
You do have a point there, ac!
What about Rodney King, the simpleton?
What about Medgar Evers
What about George Stinney the black teenager put to death for the killing of two lilywhite girls way back in 1944 in South Carolina?
Billie Holliday sang a very interesting song called “ Strange Fruit” that goes way back then to the days when the lynching of innocent black men was par for the course.
Have you read Harper Lee “To Kill a Mocking Bird” or even watched the screen version?
Don’t be surprised if there is a local chapter of the KKK of which Officer Wilson is a secret member.
As a non -racist, I don’t really give a Fucque about any race I judge people by their actions. but if people are going to lose their businesses or their property let it be for the right reasons. The forensics say he wasn’t shot with his hands up so everytime I see people perpetuating that myth I wonder how stupid can they get but lets not let the truth get in the way of a good story ..When the husband who I think Larry Platt was referring to, starts screaming burn ferguson down frankly we are well past the limit of tolerance for most reasonable thinking people. The one question that I hope someone will answer is why back someone with baggage ( store video) is it because of the knee jerk reaction, and people find themselves too far into it before they know all the situation or are there no cases where someone is really a good person?
Anonymous claim to found Darren Wilson links with KKK
but are checking verifying or would get done for defamation
Georgie Porgie
SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL LEARN THE LESSONS OF OJ AND MICHAEL JACKSON BUT WE WILL ACCEPT YOU BACK AS THE GOOD LITTLE HOUSE NIGGER YOU ARE.
MARK FENTY WHO WORKED IN HOSPITAL AS A ?????//
HERE ARE SOME OF THE DOCTORS I TAUGHT AT ONE SCHOOL CURRENTLY WORKING IN THE US. THE BLACKS ARE FROM THE CAMEROONS
My students from St Martinus days 2004-2005
http://www.martinus.edu/alumni/
NONE OF THEM WOULD PULL THE OXYGEN PLUG
FENTY
CAN YOU SEND SOME PHOTOS OF YOU MOPPING THE ER FLOOR? YA MOCK STICK
PG, man you’re de funnest ting pan dis blog. Where have you gotten your sense of humour…….Ebay bro?
Man you’re so funny I am balling as the late Tom Adams had done when daa madman tek he briefcase containing de budget.
millertheanunnaki | November 26, 2014 at 4:34 PM
@ ac | November 26, 2014 at 2:06 PM ||
Don’t be surprised if there is a local chapter of the KKK of which Officer Wilson is a secret member.
…….///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
miller also a very good point and also the prosecutor ! as events unfolds one has to take a close look at the verdict along with his lucklustre and baised approached in not wanting to have a gran jury investigation to begin with ,now there is talk hovering around as to tampering with evedience whereby the original transcrpits given by witrness had been altered or change in support of the outcome
pieceuhderockyeahright | November 26, 2014 at 2:48 PM
@ AC (I am not sure which one this is though)
Like the government of the DLP is soon to find out, the US is understanding that you can fool SOME OF THE PEOPLE all of the time, and ALL OF THE PEOPLE some of the time but not ALL OF THE PEOPLE, all of the time.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
ac beg to differ,,,the exception being that what is happening to bajans was self inflicted and reaching the boiling point was inevitable .the reality being that year after year bajans kept the status quo not wanting anything to do with long term change ,Why? because they were comfortable even though fully aware that something was a mist it is only now that reality struck them in the face they are crying and blaming however americans have been fighting for years even when defeated got back up and started all over again, can you say the same for bajans,, Fergusson is a continuation of a struggle but within that struggle there is a commitment that goes far and wide east and west north and south across america all with the same goal in mind, not just wanting a change in the interest of self but a meaningful change which will impact the lives of others for generations,
Georgie Porgie
Some of the doctors you taught. Dont mek maa laugh. You still entertaining some of those childhood dreams right? lol
Hmmm.
SO in Fergusson the whities got the clout.
In Barbados I ent see not ONE whitey anyplace in any section of Government.
Bajuns treat Guyanese as Whities treat Niggers.
We ENT Racial??
@Dompey
Man you’re so funny I am balling as the late Tom Adams had done when daa madman tek he briefcase containing de budget
Yuh mout!!
STINKLIAR now wiseup .
LOOK AT THE THE NIGGAS IN THE USA BURNING THEIR TOWN DOWN AND SHOOTING AT THE FIRE BRIGADE WHILE THEY OUTING FIRES AND BURNING POLICE CARS
THEN THEY MEK STUPID EXCUSES FOR THEIR FOLLY
70% Black and it Ain’t their town
Voodooism
Dr. love
I kid you not. In the early 1980s a madman snatched Tom Adams briefcase which contained the annual budget at the time and ran with it brother .
Georgie Porgie
You maybe Black but do you really understand the struggle?
Now, I have to seriously question your mental hygiene because you’re acting as though you were a patient down in Black Rock for an extended stay.
So before you assault the African American character, you ought to take note of the fact that his struggle paved the way for you and other foreign blacks to have a voice in America today. So every time you see an elderly African American, thank him or her for the sacrifice that was made to make it possible for you to run your shite tank in America today.
YES ITS A STRUGGLE JACKASS DEALING WID A DONKEY LIKE YOU
I DO NOT THINK THAT BEING IN AMURICA IS A BIG THING
I EXISTED AND HAD A GREAT LIFE BEFORE I CAME TO FL
ID RATHER PREFER TO BE IN ST KITTS OR ST LUCIA OR ANTIGUA OR CURACAO OR THE COOK ISLANDS
AMERICA IS NOT HEAVEN
THERE IS NO MILK AND HONEY HERE NOR ARE THE STREETS PAVED WID GOLD
I CAN SEE THAT FOR YOU COMING FROM NOWHERE BUT IN THE SLUMS OF BRIDGETOWN THAT IT IS A BIG THING FOR YOU
When he snatched that briefcase he wasn’t thinking there was a budget in there
In 1970 99% of fergusen was white…..in 1980 85% was white that is the reason that ,# of white policeman fire, politicians etc seem out of whack with the demographics today. what are they supposed to do quit their jobs ? It is so funny when you look at sports teams you don’t hear many calls for demographics, unless it is 12 meter yacht racing.
There is a problem in White with managing race relations, fix it America!
David they have a black president ,attorney general more black politicians than I can remember Christ half of cnn is black, Yet latinos outnumber blacks. So when you talk race relations what perspective are you talking about because I am sure they are different from each position
@David
If the premise in fixing race relations is that black people dont contribute to the problem in anyway, then progress is likely to be glacially slow. Whites are certainly a major part of the problem since historically they have had more power and therefore the ability to work harder to find solutions.
The racial issue is in itself only a part of what afflicts the US, a Total or Wholistic Approach is required to make the quickest progress for the betterment mainly of those people that are disadvantaged. The entire system requires redesigning.
@ Dompey,
Our problems are the same. GP and his band of merry cohorts (the black petit bourgeois) appear to be living in a parallel universe.
How come Ferguson is 70% black but City Council is 6 Whiteys and 1 Black?
the mayor says he had no idea about Black problems with Po Po. How can that be? Something real wrong. It could be a lack of black Leaders pushing the agenda, getting involved politically. It could be that the whites have some method of maintaining Dominance? If true why have’nt black leaders sought assistance form the State or Fed levels? Are we to believe that some evil group like KKK has total control in 2014?
—-@ David -November 27, 2014 at 8:54 AM . Wish it was so simple David.
There is absolutely a problem with race relations in the US…as there is a race relations problem in England, Russia, Barbados, Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa and around the world.
One can argue that the US’ race problem is in a better place than the issue in many other countries. And that does not say much, does it!
Brazil has the largest afro/mullatto population outside the African continent. They certainly aren’t an example of race harmony.
Racism of course is fundamentally about power/superiority and maintaining a way of life you deem to be better than the other. No race will willingly give that up to another.
You are an intelligent guy so you can realize that even an unscientific sampling of your BU commenters as an extrapolation of a world view clearly demonstrates how rabid and nasty and superior things become on race discourse.
Can you really see people with entrenched life positions and establishing a way forward for their family being any less nasty and superior.
In the afro community, it’s about continued achievement; it’s about embracing education, decency and political power; it’s about less drug addition, less single parent household, less unsupervised children …
The afro race can only remove itself from this race debate by first and foremost focusing on it’s foibles. We cannot stop racist behavior or racist comment but we can overcome it by being better educated/smarter about life and better stewards of our own destiny,!
President Bill Clinton is ALLEGED to have said, during run up to Presidential nominations back in ’08: ‘A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.’
One guess who ‘this guy’ was. And that snarky remark from the so called ‘honorary first-black President of the US’.
Yes, this is a deep, complex matter which has been with us from the dawn of time and will continue to bubble up with issues in the years ahead as there is no one simple fix
It ain’t so easy to change a life-time of this thing called race relations!
@MB
Have you considered that the current state is a symptom of a dominant White culture.
@ David
So what accounts for a dominant “white” culture (your words) but no parallel dominant “black” culture?
Why the race debate is so (expletive) difficult to corral: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/pharrell-williams-singles-michel-brown-bullyish-acts-article-1.2025733
We can’t man-up to our own problems…even as we demand justice from those in authority…
…”I believe that Ferguson officer should be punished and serve time. He used excessive force on a human being who was merely a child…The boy was walking in the middle of the street when the police supposedly told him to ‘get the f–k on the sidewalk.’ If you don’t listen to that, after just having pushed a storeowner, you’re asking for trouble. But you’re not asking to be killed. Some of these youth feel hunted and preyed upon, and that’s why that officer needs to be punished.”
Very reasonable, balanced remarks. But the trending commentary is…
Twitter outrage predictably slammed the black singer..
..: “Just saying. @Pharrell is a coward. Great musician. But a coward. I hope no young black men look up to him. He’s a coward.”
“@Pharrell ur comments about Mike Brown r an affront to all the blk kids who r subjected the police brutality… Hands Up, don’t shoot!!”
How can we wrap our heads around this beast if we can’t be HONEST.
Remember way back in the day that if you got licks at school, there was no upside to telling your parents because there was a good chance you would get your as cut AGAIN..
Dun wid that.
Apart from the fact that corporal punishment is Taboo and not done now, things started to evolve before that happened to a point that any teacher sharing licks to a child would him/her self get a fresh set of licks from the irate parent.
Basically, how dear you hit my perfect angel.
If Michael was my son, I would certainly sue the Fergusson PD because I firmly believe excessive force was used. But if I won money every last cent would have to go to some suitable charity or foundation related to children because how could I keep a cent when I had failed so miserably as a father to lead my son away from such abhorrent behavior as a means of acting out and from showing absolute disrespect for authority.
OMG, when will this folly stop.
Don’t meander across the street and be dead-right from a driver’s indifference nor don’t confront a police officer with a gun and be dead-right.
WHITE POLICE SHOULD NOT KILL BLACK BOYS
BUT BLACK BOYS SHOULD BEAT UP STORE OWNERS AND FIGHT POLICEMEN
PARENTS SHOULD NOT TRAIN THIER BLACK BOYS HOW TO BEHAVE
THEY SHOULD LET THEM DO AS THEY LIKE
WHEN THEY ARE KILLED THEY SHOULD INCITE THE POPULACE TO BURN DOWN THE TOWN
AFTER ALL BLACK FOLK HAVE HAD TO STRUGGLE THEREFORE THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SHITE
WHITE POLICE SHOULD NOT KILL BLACK BOYS
AFTER ALL ENOUGH BLACK BOYS ARE KILLED BY OTHER BLACK BOYS
THIS OF COURSE IS ALLOWED
WHEN BLACK BOYS KILL BLACK BOYS IN BIM THERE IS NO OUTRAGE EITHER
THERE IS ONLY OUTRAGE IF A WHITE MAN KILL HIS WHITE SON BY ACCIDENT
Take stock…….
GP
Your last piece was right on target, sadly so.
There is wrong on both sides, although I fault White people for not leading the effort to develop solutions.
Yes, Georgie P things are absolutely topsy-turvy….
As sure as night follows day…we have KKK rabble-rousers, then we have black-panthers wannabees (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/2-men-plotted-kill-ferguson-officials-bomb-arch-reports-article-1.2025860) suggesting assassinations of town officials.
This is now absolutely out-of-hand and I am happy that the intelligence services seems to be steps ahead.
Security will of course be enhanced for the country’s chief executive and other officials because there are too many persons whose backside orifices are bigger and used more often than their brains.
I fear those whose brain power is indeed formidable and ascribe to this level of insanity.
@de hood
White dominance is institualize and is seen how decisions are made, who owns the wealth and therefore the influence, the fact Blacks have a legacy of slavery where they now have to climb the social economic ladder. It is a work in progress.