News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. June 2, 2025: In a striking omission, the White House has failed to issue a proclamation for National Caribbean American Heritage Month (CAHM), marking the first time in two decades that the federal observance has gone unrecognized at the presidential level.
June 1st, 2025 marked the 20th anniversary of CAHM – a milestone year that should have been celebrated widely. Yet, while proclamations were issued by the Trump White House on May 16th for both Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month, the Caribbean American community has so far received no such acknowledgment.
Traditionally, proclamations recognizing CAHM are released on or before May 31st. As recently as last year, the Biden administration had celebrated the month, emphasizing the vital role that Caribbean immigrants have played in shaping the United States. That 2024 proclamation praised the “diverse cultures” and “unwavering contributions” of Caribbean Americans who helped uphold America’s “most sacred values of opportunity and freedom.”
The inaugural proclamation establishing Caribbean American Heritage Month was issued on June 5, 2008, by then-President George W. Bush. In it, Bush declared: “Our Nation has thrived as a country of immigrants, and we are more vibrant and hopeful because of the talent, faith, and values of Caribbean Americans.”
But today, as the Trump administration intensifies its rollback of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies, the month appears to have been sidelined. The silence comes just days after a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision on May 30th allowed the administration to move forward with revoking humanitarian parole protections for over 500,000 migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela – many of whom are Caribbean nationals.
The ruling has left countless immigrants in legal limbo and deepened the anxiety already rippling through the Caribbean diaspora, particularly among those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Haitians and Cubans now face the threat of deportation come August and September, respectively, despite escalating violence and unrest in their home countries.
Still, the demographic footprint of Caribbean Americans remains undeniable. Caribbean immigrant Alexander Hamilton, born in Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis, was a U.S. Founding Father and the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. A key architect of America’s financial system, Hamilton served under President George Washington from 1789 to 1795. He also co-founded the Federalist Party and the African Free School, and played a pivotal role in shaping the early United States. Hamilton was married to Elizabeth Schuyler and was tragically killed in a duel in 1804. His legacy as a Caribbean-born visionary and American statesman endures.
Meanwhile, according to 2020 U.S. Census data – the first decennial survey to allow respondents to write in their Caribbean ancestry – some 4.6 million people in the U.S. identified as having roots in the Caribbean. The majority hailed from three nations: Jamaica (1,047,117), Haiti (1,032,747), and Trinidad and Tobago (194,364).
Geographically, Caribbean Americans are most heavily concentrated in Florida (30%), New York (25%), and New Jersey (6%). The data also show that most Caribbean Americans fall within the 45–64 age range, reflecting a well-established and mature population.
Caribbean presence in the U.S. dates back centuries. Historians like Jennifer Faith Gray of the Scottish Centre for Global History note that enslaved Africans were brought from the Caribbean to the U.S. as early as the 1660s, with one-third to half of enslaved persons in the Carolinas during the colonial era coming directly from the Caribbean. Harvard University, among others, profited from Caribbean slave labor through financial instruments and loans.
One of the most notable acts of Caribbean American resistance in U.S. history came in 1822, when Denmark Vesey, a Caribbean-born former slave, led a planned slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina – one of the largest of its time.
Despite this rich and complex legacy, the lack of White House recognition in 2025 leaves many in the Caribbean American community asking: where is the respect, and who will stand up for us now?
As Caribbean American Heritage Month proceeds in silence from the nation’s highest office, one thing remains clear – this community’s history runs deep, and its contributions continue to shape the American story, with or without the fanfare.
British Caribbean News
