News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Sun. June 14, 2015: A grand Guyanese-American unity parade and rally in honor of Guyana’s 49th independence anniversary and election of a unity government is set for Brooklyn today.
The event is slated to kick-off at 11 am at Bedford and Church Avenues, proceed east along Church Avenue to culminate at Schenectady Avenue in Brooklyn. It is unclear if newly-elected President, David Granger, who left Guyana for a visit to the US Friday, will attend the event.
The two part program according to organizers will feature speeches from Mayor of New York City Bill De Blasio, United States Senator Chuck Schumer, United States Members of Congress Yvette Clarke and Hakeem Jeffries, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Guyanese Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Governance and Natural Resources Raphael Trotman and others.
The entertainment phase will include performances from Guyanese singer Lisa Punch, previous contestant on ABC’s “Rising Star” Show,” Guyana’s former Chief Parliamentary Whip and APNU official, Jenny Ferreira, singer Anthony Alleyne and Guyanese-American recording artist, Eddie Neblett.
Thousands of Guyanese from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Atlanta Georgia, Boston, Massachusetts and Toronto, Canada are expected to join their New York counterparts, in what organizers promise will be a carnival atmosphere of celebration of Guyanese from all ethnic groups and walks of life.
Chairperson of the organizing committee, Sharif Fraser, said she assembled the group of organizers after business woman Doris Rodney, proprietor of the Hills Restaurant and Lounge, broached the idea. Rodney was inspired by the genuine unity Guyanese at home displayed while celebrating the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition victory at the May 11, general elections.
“The election of Guyana’s new leader, His Excellency President Brigadier David Granger and his unity government, has engendered a new dispensation of national harmony which has caught fire here in the Diaspora. The parade therefore affords us the opportunity to display this “oneness” to the world,” Fraser observed.
Organizers include Ovid Morrison, Chairman of the APNU North American Region; Rickford Burke, head of the New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Ewart Marshall, Vice Chairman of the AFC North American Region, broadcaster Bobby Vieira and political activist Erving Washington, among others.
