Bibi Haniffa posted:

This is a hard pill to swallow.  Look at these numbers.  As a community, we can do better.  How many thousands of people live in Richmond Hill?  And our brother lost this race by 578 votes.  Shame on all of us!

New York City Council, District 28

City Council - District 28 - Dem Primary

September 13, 2017 - 09:30AM ET

New York - 100 of 100 Precincts Reporting - 100%

Name Party Votes Vote % Adams, Adrienne Dem 3,341 39%   David, Richard Dem 2,763 32%   Powell, Hettie Dem 2,483 29%

 

Richard would have to figure a way to fix this if he wants to be elected to office. It will take tremendous amount of work to inspire people to vote, the mere act of registering sends fear into some people.  If the people don't feel the have or deserve a voice then they will not make the effort. They don't feel that they have any skin in the game, many survived for decades without voting,  he needs to convince them why they need to vote. 

Meanwhile, look how the Brooklyn folks voted for Jumaane Williams.  90% slam dunk landslide victory.  He is of Grenadian heritage and a very good politician.  Many of his constituents are Guyanese.  Congrats to Jumaane.  He deserves this win.

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New York City Council, District 45

Name Party Votes Vote % Williams, Jumaane (i) Dem 8,588 90%   Cespedes, Lou Dem 904 10%

Guyanese in Bklyn vote the guyana way

But Williams is a good Politician.

Chief posted:

CaribJ 

As I said many weeks ago, folks on the other side of the Van Wyck does not seem willing to accept  anyone who they deem as an outsider.

Which is why the only way to win is to become an insider to those people.

Understand this.  Those people have lived in this country for generations and see immigrants come and encounter less racism than they do. Sadly many of those same immigrants than spit on them and proceed to be racist towards them.

So why the shock that they are loathe to accept outsiders?  Look at it from their point of view? What attitudes do Guyanese have towards them?  At least black Guyanese are eventually pushed into the same boat with them so have to find common ground.  As black is black in the USA.

Bibi Haniffa posted:

Meanwhile, look how the Brooklyn folks voted for Jumaane Williams.  90% slam dunk landslide victory.  He is of Grenadian heritage and a very good politician.  Many of his constituents are Guyanese.  Congrats to Jumaane.  He deserves this win.

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New York City Council, District 45

City Council - District 45 - Dem Primary

September 13, 2017 - 09:30AM ET

New York - 121 of 121 Precincts Reporting - 100%

Name Party Votes Vote % Williams, Jumaane (i) Dem 8,588 90%   Cespedes, Lou Dem 904 10%

I don't see the comparison.  The turnout was as low as in Queens. Jumaane is an incumbent and Afro Caribbean people have been involved in politics in NYC for over 100 years.  Jumaane is also running in an overwhelmingly Afro Caribbean district.

Bibi Haniffa posted:.

Here we go with the lies again.  The black Guyanese in South Jamaica and Rochdale came out if full support of Richard..

And what % of the black vote are these Guyanese?  For David to win he had to impress the black AMERICAN voters.  In that part of Queens they dominate.  They also control the local democratic machine.

They barely tolerate black Caribbean people, but at least feel comforted in the fact that black Caribbean people face all the issues of life in NYC that they do as blacks.  And increasingly they are also intermarried with us so we become part of the family.

They will not trust an Indo Caribbean person unless that person shows that DESPITE not being black he will deliver services in a fair manner. As a matter of a fact these black Americans in Queens don't even trust black Americans from Brooklyn.

And he will have a chance in 4 years. Because if he doesn't then he doesn't have a chance ever. because after Adrienne is term limited there will be another candidate that will replace her.

David has 4 years to go over there and build trust.  Face it Indo Caribbean people aren't going to be involved in politics as they think that they can manage quite OK without it. 

Yes by all means he must establish a case to Indo Guyanese that they need to become more interested in voting.  But I think that it might require some one from that community actually winning office and then proving that having a voice in the political system can actually bring benefits.  The ironic part is that those Indo Guyanese who probably most need help are likely to be the ones who aren't even citizens.

Drugb posted:

. They don't feel that they have any skin in the game, many survived for decades without voting,  he needs to convince them why they need to vote. 

There are rare moments when you actually speak sensibly.  Voting is a hassle on a day when there are other things to do.  In the morning you are rushing to work and at the end of the day there are things to do. So voting for people who don't normally vote isn't a priority.

For David to win next time he will have to spend the next 4 years on the other side of Van Wyck.  If the black Americans don't want to accept him then he will have to find first and second generation black Caribbean people who might if he shows an interest in their lives. He needs to find out the issues that they have an be a thorn on the side of Adrienne to deliver. 

This will not only build trust but will also show that Adrienne isn't delivering. I am operating on the assumption that she will be the typical southeast Queens politicians who will not.  If in fact she is delivering then he needs to do what he can to get her support 8 years from now when she is term limited.  David has to have a godfather/mother over there if he is going to win.

I said before and I say again. Thinking that victory lies with Indo Guyanese isn't working. One they don't vote because they don't see why they should, especially in local elections. Two many are probably cynical of these Indo Guyanese leaders following the whole fiasco with Ed Ahmad and his cronies.  The third is that the Indo Caribbean community is split into several districts.  And the days of creating an ethnically based district are gone.

WHat is with with some people having a problem trusting Guyanese

Bibi Haniffa posted:

.  Funny thing though, all of them came out to vote for Hillary last November as they thought Trump would take away their food stamps.  Well Trump is President and they still have their food stamps.

And here you go. When they saw that they had something to gain from voting they did.  They need to be educated to the fact that a City Council person is important. 

Why blame Indo Guyanese though. Only 13% of the registered Democrats voted so its not as if they were the only non voting ones.  I didn't vote either. My local city council person is from the local machine. The others running against him didn't do outreach so I don't know who they are. I am indifferent about De Blasio and knew he would win anyway.

So there you go.  Now maybe had I lived in that district I might have voted.  But I am not going to condemn those who didn't as this was a poor showing overall citywide.

Also examine within yourself whether homophobia didn't play a role. Caribbean people (black or Indian) aren't comfortable with this yet.  He is kind of obvious, even though I don't think that he emphasized it.

In 8 years there will be more NY raised Indo Caribbean people whose attitude to politics will be different to their parents.  And if homophobia played a role chances are that it will matter less to these people.

There is a lot that David can do over the next 4 to 8 years. The man is a kid so even then he will still be quite young.

If he is truly worthy of this position then he can take his time to build his base. Like he said maybe he made mistakes. I suspect that he is analyzing them and is going to do better next time.  I don't think that he is of the type.