Barbados Member of Parliament Kerrie Symmonds.
Photo by George Alleyne
NAACP executive tapped to lead diversity at Touro College
Caribbean L BQ ife, May 3–9, 2019 31
By George Alleyne
Barbados Member of Parliament,
Kerrie Symmonds
believes that amidst US Democratic
Primary for 2020 presidential
campaign members of
the Caribbean Diaspora must
flex muscles to protect the
region of their birth or descent.
Symmonds has said that as
front runners Senators Elizabeth
Warren, Bernie Sanders,
Kamala Harris, Cory Booker,
former Vice-President, Joe
Biden, and former Texas representative,
Beto O’Rourke
canvass for support, the hundreds
of thousands of persons
of Caribbean extraction who are
among constituents of these
contenders must press the
case for better treatment of the
region.
“Those senators will be going
into Queens in New York, into
Chicago. They are going into
every large city doing what politicians
must do, beg for support.
“But they can’t set the agenda
for themselves. The agenda
must be set for them,” Symmonds
said.
With most persons of Caribbean
extraction traditionally
voting Democrat, Symmonds
said regional governments
must make the Diaspora voters
more aware of issues affecting
the region and demand representation
on them by these
presidential hopefuls.
He made the call against
a backdrop of changing and
increasing demands that international
financial agencies
put on the Caribbean and the
destructive effect of those ultimatums
on regional economies.
Symmonds, the island’s
tourism minister, brought up
the matter of soliciting support
of the Caribbean Diaspora,
especially in North America
at this time, as the Barbados
parliament was in the process
of amending another piece of
legislation to suit new requirements
of international bodies
controlled by the developed
world, such as the Financial
Action Task Force, and the
Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
In fact, the less than oneyear
old government has found
itself amending a slew of its
laws to keep itself abreast of
changing stipulations of these
organisations controlled by the
US and European Union.
The changes are imposed on
small Caribbean nations under
threats of trade and other economic
sanction penalties.
Barbados was particularly
heartbroken after dramatically
reducing all its corporation
taxes from as high as 30 percent
to five per cent or less across the
board in December in response
to an OECD demand, only to be
hit with a blacklisting from that
organisation months later.
Other Caribbean countries,
who used the hosting of international
businesses as a legal
revenue earning mechanism
have similarly found themselves
frequently altering laws
in response to the impositions
while seeing a reduction in the
resident international businesses
that fear these powerful
bodies.
“It’s a never-ending story,”
Symmonds said of the shifting
goalposts being set for Caribbean
governments.
While the Caribbean jurisdictions
feel pressure from reduced
earnings as many international
businesses leave, regulators of
developed countries are putting
on another squeeze by threatening
exorbitant fines on financial
links that are vital to regional
banks in carrying out transactions.
In what is commonly referred
to as ‘de-risking’ financial houses
that process international
transactions of Caribbean banks
are shedding their relationships
with the regional banking sector
because they risk heavy
fines from US and European
governments if money sent to
or transferred from the region
is suspected of being part of a
laundering scheme.
This unilateral action, without
evidence, not only has the
potential to affect all regional
business but even those members
of the Diaspora who habitually
remit money to loved ones
in the region.
“Let us reach out to our
diaspora. There is no better
time than now,” Symmonds
said of Caribbean persons resident
in the US where elections
fever is building.
“We have to get that to the
top of mind in the awareness of
the people who have a right to
vote,” he said, adding, “we have
been reluctant to flex that kind
of muscle because … I don’t
believe we fully understand the
influence that we have.”
“When it comes time for
elections … politicians will
learn to listen and internalise
people’s problems.
A call for Diaspora action
Touro College of Osteopathic
Medicine (TouroCOM) and
Touro College of Pharmacy
(TCOP) in Harlem have appointed
Geoffrey E. Eaton director of
community affairs and diversity,
the colleges announced
recently.
Eaton has a long history of
leadership in Harlem, serving
as first vice president of the
New York State Conference of
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), the nation’s most
prominent civil rights organization.
He also worked as chief
of staff for long-serving Harlem
Congressman Charles Rangel.
He has ties with TouroCOM
dating back years, almost to the
opening of the medical school
in 2007. He was a founding
member of the TouroCOM Harlem
Community Advisory Board
(CAB) and serves as its co-chair.
The CAB takes a lead role in
raising money for scholarships
for underrepresented minorities
at the medical school. He
has been a staunch advocate of
TouroCOM’s master’s in biological
sciences program, a pipeline
to the DO (Doctor of Osteopathic
Medicine) program, through
which bright, talented and
motivated minority students
interested in medicine but who
may lack the high standardized
test scores required by most
medical schools can track into
the DO program.
“An Invaluable Friend…
who Brings World of Experience”
A central part of the mission
of both TouroCOM and
TCOP is to increase diversity
among their student populations
and to serve the Harlem
community, which suffers
from disparities in health care.
This year TouroCOM welcomed
a record-breaking number of
underrepresented minorities —
over 27 percent of the class—
but strives to do more.
“We are so pleased and lucky
to have someone of Geoff’s
experience and talent join our
team,” said Dr. David Forstein,
dean of TouroCOM Harlem.
“He has been an invaluable
friend and brings a world of
experience to this position. He
will help us serve the community
by interfacing with local
boards and organizations, such
as One Hundred Black Men,
which meet regularly at Touro-
COM.” Additionally, said the
dean, Mr. Eaton will supervise
student community service
activities, like health fairs, participation
in Harlem Week and
TouroCOM’s Med-Achieve after
school program for local high
school students.
TCOM Dean Henry Cohen,
PharmD, said, “We are honored
and delighted that Geoffrey
Eaton has chosen to join
the TouroCOM/TCOP team. His
long and distinguished career of
leadership in government and
community service is a perfect
fit with our mission to develop
the next generation of pharmacists
vested in promoting
wellness, especially among the
underserved populations in Harlem
and beyond, and to improve
patient health locally, nationally
and globally. His lifetime
of courageous commitment to
vital causes will be an invaluable
asset and an inspiration to
students, grads and faculty.”
Of his new position, Eaton
said: “I am delighted to be able
to continue to carry out Touro’s
mission and goals of improving
the health of Harlem’s residents
by fostering more community
and student engagement and
increasing enrollment of underrepresented
minorities in medicine
and pharmacy.”
A life-long Harlem resident,
Eaton also serves as president
of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan
Branch, a position he has held
for 10 years, and has received
several unprecedented NAACP
National and State Conference
awards and many other community
service honors. Prior
to his work with Congressman
Rangel, he amassed over
20 years of experience in New
York City government, where
he served in a variety of positions
including deputy public
advocate for community affairs
for the first elected Public Advocate,
Mark Green. He continues
to volunteer with several
civic, cultural and community
organizations.
Geoffrey E. Eaton