When nationals and friends of St. Kitts and Nevis celebrate the nation’s 25th anniversary of independence next month in Washington, D.C., there will be special recognition given to former New York State Assemblyman Bertram (Bert) Baker, Brooklyn’s first black elected official.
Dr. Eustace Huggins, family-medicine practitioner in Queens, and Robert Kelly, former director of the St. Kitts and Nevis Tourism Office in New York, will also be honored at the three-day event, which begins September 5 with a reception at the Organization of American States building. The scheduled speaker will be St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.
At age 17, the Nevis-born Baker came to the U.S. in 1915 and settled in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where he died in 1985. Baker made history in 1948 by winning a seat in the New York State Assembly to represent the Brooklyn neighborhood, becoming the borough’s first black elected official. In 1955, he authored one of the nation’s first laws barring race discrimination in federally funded housing, the Baker-Metcalf Act. In 1966 he was named Majority Whip of the state Assembly, another first for a black person in New York.
The independence commemoration, which is being sponsored by the Embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis, also features an art exhibition, a panel discussion titled “Positioning St. Kitts and Nevis for Competitiveness Over the Next 25 years - The Role of the Diaspora,” a church service, and the black-tie Independence Gala and Awards. Baker will be honored with the prestigious Heritage Award for his achievements at the gala.
For gala tickets and event information, visit https://www.embassy.gov.kn or call the embassy at 202-686-2636.
Sizzling music fest in Queens
In this case, you can believe the hype - the 2008 Irie Jamboree music festival is destined to be one of the year’s best shows.
Soca queen Alison Hinds has just joined the lineup for the show, which takes place today in Roy Wilkins Park, 177th Street and Baisley Boulevard in Queens.
According to festival promoters, Hinds joins a number of top performers on the show, including Yellowman, Beenie Man, Coco Tea, Sizzla, Elephant Man and rising reggae star Elvis D. For ticket information, visit www.iriejamboree.com or call 888-IRIE-NYC.
Help for becoming a citizen
Councilmember Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) and the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project will be presenting free citizenship application assistance on Saturday at Caf/ Omar, 1744 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
To aid their constituents in the areas of citizenship and immigration, Stewart and other New York elected officials have teamed up with the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. For Saturday’s event in Brooklyn, applicants should bring their passports and permanent residence cards.
For information, call 718-951-8177. To get details on an upcoming session in Queens, call 646-344-7245 and visit https://web.cuny.edu/about/citizenship. html.
The candidates step up
A forum airing the views of Brooklyn candidates for Congress, the New York State Senate and Assembly and persons vying for the District Leader position in East Flatbush will be held Friday at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 3714 Avenue D (entrance on East 38th Street), starting at 7 p.m. The East Flatbush Coalition Political Action Council is sponsoring the event.
For information, call St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 718-462-5086 or Esther Haynes Tross at 917-257-9340.
Carnival’s big-bucks boost
With business on his mind, Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Roy Hastick gave loads of credit to the West Indian American Day Carnival and the multi-million-dollar economic boost it brings to New York City each year.
In his annual message saluting the five-day event, the chamber’s president and founder said, “Many jobs are created within small businesses, such as costume designers, dressmakers, printers, musicians, deejays, truckers and movers, travel agents, small guest houses, bakeries, taxi and limousine services, caterers, vendors and tour operators, to name a few. Carnival is also big business, as airlines, mass transit, hotels and beverage companies also benefit through increased sales from organizers, manufacturers and visitors to this great metropolis.”
Tribute to a leader
Community activist Amir Abdullah Mohammed Abdul-Akbar was mourned recently by family, friends, supporters and fans.
The omni present and tireless founder of the Caribbean American Program for Empowerment (CAPE), Abdul-Akbar died of cancer August 21 and was remembered at a service at the Masjid Kalifa Mosque in Brooklyn last week before his burial.
Born Everette Ranglin in Kingston, Jamaica, the late community leader aided needy persons in Jamaica and New York through the CAPE organization and published a widely read Internet newsletter chronicling Caribbean community events.
What to wear and hear
A cultural celebration featuring a fashion show by designer Courtney Washington, hat show by Carlos NY Hats and Lewis/Smith and music by E-Uneek and EL Peter Pana will be held Saturday in Brooklyn at 2901 Campus Road, across from Brooklyn College, from 7 to 11 p.m. For tickets and information, call 718-598-7599.
This column is reprinted from the August 31 Sunday editions of The New York Daily News. If you have any items suitable for this column please e-mail them to jmccallister@nydailynews.com.
