Guyanese inducted into ICS ‘Wall of Fame’

Guyanese American television host Joy-Ann Reid has been inducted into the into the “Wall of Fame” of the Washington-based Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS).

Reid is also a political analyst, journalist, and national correspondent for MSNBC.

Reid was born in Brooklyn, New York to a father from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Guyanese   mother.
She graduated from Harvard University in Massachusetts with a concentration in film and is a 2003 Knight Centre for Specialised Journalism fellow.

During the 2004 US presidential campaign, Reid served as the Florida deputy communications director for the “America Coming Together” initiative and was a press aide for President Barack Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008.

Over the course of her journalism career, Reid has written numerous political pieces, which have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian and Miami Herald.

According to ICS, Caribbean immigrants have been contributing to the well-being of American society since its founding – Alexander Hamilton, the First Secretary of the US Treasury was from Nevis.
“We count among our famous sons and daughters, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Cicely Tyson, W.E.B Dubois, James Weldon Johnson, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, to name a few,” ICS said.

It said its effort began in 1999 with a petition to President Bill Clinton for the recognition of a Caribbean American Heritage Month.

In 2000, ICS said it began leading activities in celebration of June as Caribbean American Heritage Month in Washington, D.C., “building on efforts started by a now defunct ad-hoc group of Washington DC residents to have a Caribbean Heritage Month designated in Washington, D.C. in 1999”.

The official campaign for a National Caribbean American Heritage Month began in 2004 when a legislative bill was tabled in the US Congress by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Since the declaration, the ICS said the White House in Washington, D.C. has issued an annual proclamation recognising June as Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

“Through the commemoration of this month, we hope to ensure that America is reminded that its greatness lies in its diversity, with Caribbean immigrants from founding father Alexander Hamilton to journalist Malcolm Gladwell, who have shaped the American dream,” said ICS founder and president Jamaican Dr. Claire Nelson.

“Every day, members of the Caribbean Diaspora contribute to shared prosperity here in the U.S.A., as well as in the Caribbean region,” she added.

“They contribute to America’s well-being through their participation in all walks of life from the military to the board rooms, to the school rooms, as they strive to make better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.
“They also contribute to the well-being and welfare of the Caribbean region through remittances of treasures, time and talent to families and schools, and churches they left behind,” Nelson continued (CMC).