From left: Prime Minister Stephenson King, Martha Smith of the Saint Lucia Consulate and Jamaican-American Assemblyman Nick Perry at Saint Lucia House over the weekend.
Here are three reports that followed the recent visit of St. Lucia Prime Minister Stephenson King to New York for his annual speech to the United Nations. They each hold different opinions and perspectives that range from neutral to bi-partisan:
Report No. 1
SAINT LUCIA PRIME MINISTER "COUNTING" ON DIASPORA
BROOKLYN, New York (September 30, 2010) - Saint Lucia's citizens abroad are critically important to the development of the island nation, and its government is not going to overlook them. That was the assurance Prime Minister Stephenson King gave to nationals over the weekend when he addressed them at Brooklyn's Saint Lucia House, where he pledged both political and financial commitments to working closer with Saint Lucians across the Diaspora.
"Saint Lucia has countless human and natural resources which combine to make it a gem in the Caribbean, but one of our country's most valuable but often unheralded resources lies abroad - overseas Saint Lucians," said Prime Minister King. "We always count on them and we should do more to count them into our tourism and development plans and hopes for the future."
Pledging EC$300,000 (US$111,000) to the development and upkeep of the new Saint Lucia House, Prime Minister King told a packed audience that he was proud to see nationals of all walks of life under one roof to counsel and guide each other while preserving Saint Lucia's culture abroad.Brooklyn Assemblyman Nick Perry also pledged US$100,000 in government funds to assist the house with capital improvements.
"We are going to build on the success of this summer's homecoming celebrations," said Senator Allen Chastanet, Saint Lucia's Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation who underscored the commitment of the Government and the Saint Lucia Tourist Board to working with nationals abroad. "We are committed to a bigger and better homecoming next year, and efforts are already under way to capitalize on the momentum that has been created," he added.
The Government of Saint Lucia has committed a great deal of energy and resources into the reintegration of Saint Lucians living overseas in Saint Lucia. Saint Lucian Homecoming 2010, held this past summer, gave Saint Lucians a chance to form partnerships with their brothers and sisters who live overseas.It was also an opportunity to thank all Saint Lucians, wherever they live overseas or at home, for the ways in which they have helped make their country a better place.
It also encouraged those living overseas to invest their resources, skills and time in strengthening communities at home and abroad.
Bevan Springer, a New York Amsterdam News columnist who writes frequently on travel and tourism issues as well as the Caribbean Diaspora.
Report No. 2
KING EVADES TALKING ABOUT CONDITIONS BACK HOME
by Leo Thaddeus Donnelly on Friday, October 1, 2010
A disappointing small crowd of St. Lucians showed up at the St. Lucia House -formally the Helenites Center- on Saturday evening to honor "the presence of Prime Minister Stevenson King in New York, one day after he addressed the UN General Assembly. As customery, every visiting Prime Minister always follow the UN Session with a Townhall Meeting. But King chose to play possum with St. Lucians by breaking away from tradition and instead the event was changed to a "Social Event."
The "Social Event" was merely a "freeness party" with plenty of local liquors, a home style cuisine and The St. Lucia Folk Foundation Band as entertainment. And when everyone in attendance was full and in a pary mood, the Prime Minister addressed the session. Though they cheered him on half heartedly, many of the attendees were very disappointed with the subject that King chose to address.
St. Lucian came with the hope that Prime Minister would address the state of the economy in St. Lucia. they came to hear the Prime Minister state a case for the move of the Ministry of External Affairs to the newly opened Baywalk Mall which house a Casino, at $10 for each square foot of space at a cost of approximately EC$114,000 a month, and a EC$5million cancellation deposit already paid to Baywalk Mall if the government broke the the 10-year lease.
They came to hear from Prime Minister King about the situation with the Daher Building at Bois dÓrange which the government paid up to EC$34million, paying EC$33,000 a week loan and now has to demolish that building. They came to hear the Prime Minister's plan on what his administration was doing to curtail the high crime rate in the country. Just two weeks ago a young man who came to speak with King was gunned down while he waited in the varandah of his constitution office.
They came to find out first hand about the high employment rate in the country. The present unemployment rate of about 30% and so far the government has done anything substantial to creat jobs for the youths of the country.
But instead, the Prime Minister chose to gloat about the renovations made to the St. Lucia House formally the Helenites Center, in Brooklyn.
"I am very pleased tonight that we are gathered here and we all can celebrate and dedicate this building as a home for all St. Lucians, to associate, to interface, to collaborate, and to council as St. Lucians," said King.
What?... Where has the Prime Minister been? Since the 70's when the Helenites Association baught the building it has functioned as a St. Lucian meeting place. Every St. Lucian in the New York Tri State area knows about the Helenites Center...a $50,000 face lift and a new name doesn't change anything.
Report No. 3
A RESPONSE TO REPORT NO. 2
From the vantage point of someone who was present at that function, I disagree totally with the article below and its implications.
The invitation which went out to the general public (attached for the convenience of all) was for a reception given by the Permanent Secratary to the United Nations in honor of the Prime Minister who was visiting for his annual speech to the UN. It was said long before that this was not going to be a town hall meeting. The mission did announce that a subsequent meeting would be held later where the Prime Minister would field questions.
I have been to just about every town hall meeting held here in Brooklyn going back to 1981, and let me advise everyone that it usually lasts in excess of 4 to 5 hrs even though not everyone gets to field their questions and obtain answers. This event was not scheduled as such. Now if some wanted to attend a town hall meeting exclusively, then they should have chosen not to attend this function. "It's elementary Watson" !!
The night was designed to be a night of fun and relaxation. We had good music from the St Lucia Folkore Association band, plenty drinks, good food, serious chin wagging, commoradarie, hand shaking, hugging among old friends and just general relaxation and fun. Now tell me, " wha wrong with dat"?????? The author stated that "a disappointing small crowd of St Lucians showed up......" Tell me Thaddeus, what was "disappoining" about the crowd? Your adjective obviously indicates your own personal feeling, and not that of the crowd itself. Otherwise, you would have used the word "disappointed" !! Even then you would have still been wrong because the crowd had a rocking good time way after your own disappointed self left the function. Read on for my reasoning !!
Of course, as was expected and appropriate, the proceedings were interrupted for a short time to enable a few words from the leaders of the St Lucian Organizations, the Permanent Secretary, the Prime Minister and other attending dignataries including the Commander of the Police Precint within which the St Lucia House is resident and the resident Congressman. Now what wrong with that ??
The Prime Minister spoke and he did touch on several issues of interest to all St Lucians which included the crime situation which we are all concerned about. However midway through the PMs comments to an attentive audience, particularly when he got to the topic of crime, he was rudely interrupted by deliberate heckling from the author of the article below who yelled at the PM from the back of the room. Now I know every one of us have our personall political leanings and biases, but I believe there is a time and place for everying.
I also believe that irrespective of who is the sitting Prime Minister or which party is in power, a certain amount of respect is due. I am not talking about respect for the individual; I am referring to respect for the office of the Prime Minister irrespective of who occupies that chair. I cannot condone rudely interrupting a speech by our Prime Minister (notice I didn't say Stephenson King) particularly when he is doing so on foreign soil with other non St Lucians present. And if such action is considered normal and acceptable, then I am totally out of touch with contemporary definitive standards of decency, respect and patriotism.
A little history:
For the benefit of those who reside on the Rock and beyond the boundries of the 50 states, the current St Lucia House rose like a Pheonix from the ashes of what was once the venerable Helenites Center. The Helenites Center was built via the sweat, blood and selflessness of a group of patriotic St Lucians who called themselves "The Helenites". Their existence was relatively short, tumultuous, seriously challenged but they were resoundingly successful considering their limited resources and not aided by the negativity of those who stood on the sidelines and criticized.
Despite the many hurdles which they faced, this noble group of men and women overcame all obstacles, bought a building and gave St Lucians a real home away from home, in a developed country, when they purchased, against all odds, the now iconic building at 438 East 49th St in Brooklyn, New York. It must be mentioned that this feat has never been equalled by any of the other functioning organizations in New York.
The Center, as it was and still is affectionately referred to, became a household name in New York as St Lucian and other patrons from far and wide came there to party and meet friends, or just hang out on weekends during the mid 80s to late 90s. Relationships were started and ended in that place, friendships were renewed and new ones started, disagreements were borne, an occasional fight was started but broken up, but amidst all this brouhaha, there was a genesis of a St Lucian patriotism which was never experienced before, And all this came about because of the determined efforts of THE HELENITES.
Most notably, this era started the proliferation of many other St Lucian Associations who took the lead of the Helenites and started their own groups all in the interest of Fair Helen. Unfortunately due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, the Center lost its shine and appeal, it went through a series of litigations and problems with the city while the very ones who partied there called for its shutdown while levelling unfounded and unfair accusations at all who were directly and indirectly involved in its creation.
One of these miscreants even went as far as to summon the IRS on the Helenites. Sorry, but someone had to say it. This cannot remain our dirty little secret. We have to expose the deviant nature of some of our citizens. Among all this negativity, we almost lost something every Caribbean Island would probably overwhelmingly welcome if they got an opportunity to have i.e A BUILDING IN THE HEART OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK albeit in a highly desirable location!!
Thanks to the efforts of the former SLP government, the current government and that of the current Permanent Secretary to the United Nations, St Lucians were able to pull The Center from the brink of destruction and subsequent loss to its current position of prominence and pleasant visibility in the heart of Brooklyn New York. After aptly being renamed the St Lucia House to represent a Foundation designed to serve our country and its citizens, we can again walk or drive on East 49th between Church and Snyder Avenues and see the blue black and gold colors of our flag waving to remind us that we are a proud and respected people who can move mountains as evidenced by our landing of two nobel prize winners, and the procurement against all odds of this building by the Helenites.
So when the author of the article below snidely and condescendingly refers to the Prime Minister's mention of $100,000 US plus a matching $100,000 from the City of New York towards the further renovation and upliftment of the St Lucia House then I must question his real motive.
Once again wha wrong wid dat ?? The fact remains that The Helenites Center/St Lucia House made it "through the rain" without any significant input from the author, so why then should he care whether it regains it prominence or not ? Is that his reasoning, or is it ??
So, who's kidding who here? It is obvious that this is nothing but party politics rearing its very ugly head again !!
Whether this is an effort at making a statement or to gain some type of political advantage considering the pending upcoming general elections, it really doesn't matter.
The real issue is that when all the negative dust has settled, we will all remain St Lucians and we will be governed by one of the parties which currently are vying for that title. Whoever becomes Prime Minister will visit New York and will address us at the St Lucia House - the same St Lucia house which is being held in such contempt by the author. Irrespective of who that prestige belongs to, we must negate party influenced tunnel vision and respect the office of the Prime Minister of our beloved country.
Because, no matter how you view it, Prime Ministers and Political Parties will come and go, but St Lucia will still remain South of Martinique, North of St Vincent and West of Barbados long after we have all departed this planet. Therefore, while we are still able, we must all collectively do what is right for our country and avoid looking at it solely through the shades of Red or Yellow. We are one people who, wheresoever we may roam, should love oh love our island home !!
Heneith Samuel
St Lucian to the Bone
Our prayers go out to 'Jahzuf' our St. Lucian brother and long time resident of northern California who is undergoing surgery today at Kaiser in Redwood City. Jahzuf is best know as the leader of I -World an iconic reggae band which he launched in the Bay Area back in the 1980s. Jahzuf is from Soufriere where he makes regular visits and performs especially during the jazz festival. Best wishes for a positive and complete recovery.
