MIAMI – The 6th of August 2006, will be the 44th anniversary of the Independence of Jamaica. On the following day, the 7th of August, as Jamaica officially celebrates Independence Day, and begins its 45th year of national freedom, it enters a new era of hope.
This hope comes in the dimension of the renewed and intensifying, mutual embrace of Jamaica and her Diaspora. Like the nationals of countries such as Israel, India and the Phillippines, there is a growing realisation among Jamaicans that Jamaica’s best opportunity for achieving its maximum potential requires the active input of all its interested citizens, at home and abroad.
As such, Jamaica’s current Diaspora Movement has sought to build upon the contributions made over the past four plus decades of independence with the intent of more significantly empowering Jamaica as well as its overseas communities.
Those contributions include the significant academic, social, professional and economic strides Jamaicans have made in the United States. It is in no small part that our nationals and their progeny have contributed to the development of this host country. One needs only to consider the accomplishments of Bert Mitchell, principal of the U.S.’ largest minority owned public accounting firm; Professor Ewart Guinier, founder of the first Black Studies Department in the United States at Harvard University; or Colin Powell, first African American Secretary of State, to get a sense of the kind of talent and resources that reside within our reach.
This demonstrated ability to significantly impact the world around us is what fuels us as an independent people. As we celebrate this national anniversary, and consider all the ways in which we have uniquely gifted the world through our music, cuisine and general culture, let us allow ourselves to be inspired to work more closely together for the further improvement of Jamaica, and the greater galvanisation of the Jamaican Diaspora. Our commitment to cooperation makes for true and total independence and a better world for our children at home and abroad.
C.P. Ricardo Allicock
Consul General of Jamaica
