Submitted by Richard Millington, Esq.Director of Communications Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy ( CGID)
The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) on Monday harshly condemned the behavior of the Consul General of Barbados in New York, Mackie Holder, for his verbal abuse of a female New York elected official at Monday’s West Indian American Day Carnival (Labor Day Parade). The parade was held on the Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, and attended by millions of West Indians.
The Barbados Consul General was not only verbally abusive, but he lifted his hand and pointed his finger in the face of the female Democratic elected official. The Consul General knows who the elected official is and fully recognized her at the time of the incident
The attack occurred on a double decker tourist bus sponsored by the Barbados Tourism Authority, which was part of the parade. What is bazaar is that the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), which organizes the parade, does not normally allow such buses in the parade.
However, the Barbadian community appealed to the very elected official to assist with getting the bus to be in the parade. The elected official successfully appealed to the Association to allow the bus in the parade, only to be placed in disrepute by the incivility of an apparently power drunk Consul General.
The situation unfolded when the elected official, who was playing mas in the 95° temperature, saw the bus in the parade and hopped on to greet the occupants and to ask for water. She was immediately accosted by the hostile, arrogant and ungrateful Consul General who ordered her off the bus in a degrading and disparaging fashion. While pointing his finger in her face, he yelled “Get off my bus!!” He then asked her if she did not have money to buy her own refreshments?
Several Caribbean Brooklyn community leaders discussed the matter, and denounced Holder’s behavior. The pervasive view is if the official was a male, the Consul General would not have ventured to be uncouth and disrespectful. The community feels that he was particularly abusive because the elected official is a woman.
We in the Caribbean American community will not tolerate this kind of abuse of our women. Holder obviously does not represent Caribbean values of hospitality, camaraderie, decency, civility and respect for women. His disgraceful conduct is beneath the dignity of a diplomat. Consequently, he is no longer welcome in our community.
CGID joins with others in the New York Caribbean American community to demand that the Consul General immediately offers an unqualified, written apology to the elected official.
Moreover, we also plan to be a signatory to a letter Caribbean American community leaders plan to write to the Prime Minister of Barbados demanding that Holder be recalled from New York forthwith.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.