Yvette Clarke: “I thank the gentlewoman from the United States Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from the United States Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my Caribbean-American sisters and brothers across this country. For hundreds of years, Caribbean Americans have contributed to the artistic, legal, literary, diplomatic, business, athletic, and medical--you name it, there is not an endeavor where you won't find a Caribbean American who helped shape American society. Alexander Hamilton grew up in the Leeward Islands of St. Kitts and Nevis and went on to found our economic system. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose family came from Barbados, served honorably as the first Black Attorney General. General Colin Powell, whose own parents immigrated from Jamaica, became our Nation's first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black Secretary of State. Constance Baker Motley, whose parents were from Nevis, drafted the complaint in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education before serving as our Nation's first Black female Federal judge. Shirley Chisholm, my predecessor and role model, served in Congress for seven terms and became the first Black woman to seek a major party's nomination for President. Her family was from modern-day Guyana and Barbados. Who can forget the unmatched contributions of such notable performers as Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis, Jr., and even Beyonce? Let me add Rihanna. I could go on.…”