Jamaican Immigrant Confirmed As New US Ambassador To Jamaica

By NAN STAFF WRITER

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar. 11, 2022: It will be a home coming of sorts for black Jamaican immigrant and former New York Assemblyman N. Nickolas Perry. Perry was last night confirmed as the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Jamaica.

He will now have to be officially sworn into the post. Last November, Perry was nominated by President Joe Biden after being recommended for the post by United States Senate Majority Leader Charles ‘Chuck’ Schumer’s push and support for Perry.

During the confirmation vote last night, Perry received more than the required 51 votes to make him the new US Ambassador to Jamaica. Perry is the first Jamaica-born American to hold this position.

He will replace Ambassador Donald Tapia whose appointment ended in 2021 with the inauguration of the new US president following the 2020 election.

Perry was born and raised in Saint Andrew Parish in Jamaica. The fourth of five sons in a family of eleven children, he completed his secondary education at Kingston College (H.S.) where he attended on a full scholarship and went on to work at the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union.

In 1971, he immigrated to the US and the following year he volunteered for the United States Army, from which he was honorably discharged at the rank of Specialist Five in 1978 after having served as an active-duty serviceman for two years and inactive reserve for four years. He is the recipient of several service medals and was honorably discharged with the rank of Specialist E-5.

After serving in the army, Perry attended college on the G.I. (Government Issued) Bill and earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Brooklyn College.

In 1983, Perry was appointed as a member of Brooklyn Community Board 17. He later served as chairman of that board-and the following year he ran as a candidate for District Leader in the 42nd Assembly District. He would later serve as a member of the Executive Board of the 67th Police Precinct and as a director of Flatbush East Community Development Corporation.

In 1992, following the 1990 Census, a new assembly district was added in Brooklyn, located in East Flatbush. Perry won new 58th district seat in the November 1992 election.

Perry ran uncontested in his 2008, 2010 and 2012 general elections for State Assembly. In 2006, Perry declared his candidacy for New York’s 11th congressional district, which was being vacated by retiring Congressman Major Owens. In May 2006, he withdrew from the congressional race and endorsed eventual leader Yvette Clarke.

He was named the Legislator of the Year by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators in 2018 and has been recognized with honors from the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators among others. He ran for re-election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 58 and won in the general election on November 3, 2020. His current term is up in 2023.

Perry, 71, and his wife Joyce have lived in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn for decades. His granddaughter is Roc Nation recording artist, Justine Skye.