With the selection of Senator Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate, attention to the vibrant West Indian/Caribbean diaspora communities in the United States got thrown into the spotlight as a result of Harris’ Jamaican and Indian heritage.
In an article published August 15, 2020 by Politico Magazine, and written by Marc Caputo, the headline boldly states “Harris ‘electrifies’ West Indian voters — and gives Biden a new edge in Florida.”
The article mentions the excitement that rippled through the South Florida Caribbean community, being described as “… a jolt of excitement shot through the crowd of early vote poll workers at the Lauderdhill Mall, in the midst of Broward County’s growing Jamaican community.
That feeling stretches beyond the Jamaican-American community and the more traditional African American community, shared by those in South Florida with roots in Haiti, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana. They comprise a growing and varied Black West Indian diaspora community, a little-discussed but increasingly influential slice of the electorate of the nation’s biggest swing state.
While exact numbers are hard to come by, census estimates and political studies peg the diverse Black community — nicknamed the Caribbean Massive by some — at more than 2.5 million, including hundreds of thousands of Florida voters. That’s crucial in a battleground state where elections are often decided by less than a percentage point.”
Read the full article HERE
