It’s not only hurricane season in Florida; it is also election season. From now until November 7, there will be a rush of advertisements, press releases, positive and negative news, political meetings and visits by political candidates and their representatives. This will be done all in an effort to get the votes of the electorate. That is the nature of political elections – something which we have come to accept.

What is difficult to accept, however, is that the Caribbean American population is growing significantly and there are so few Caribbean-American candidates running for office on school boards, for judgeships, on city or county commission, or in state legislature races.

Let’s take a look at the political picture. For years, since granted the civil right to vote, the votes of Caribbean people in this country have been sought after by predominantly white American candidates. During any election campaign, these candidates suddenly become our friends. They will visit our communities, kiss our babies, hug our women… maybe even make a donation or two to some community cause. The candidates will typically make promises to solve all our problems. Then suddenly, when they get elected, those who were so endearing and accessible become inaccessible strangers…promises forgotten.

This has now become tiresome, and inexcusable. For too long we have remained in an idealistic stupor, campaigning, supporting and voting for these candidates, and not getting our needs met.

It is time for a change. We can no longer remain idealistic in this political ‘stratosphere’; we need representatives of our peculiar ethnicity, who are familiar with our interests, to represent us.

Therefore more people from the Diaspora need to come out of the shadows and seek public office. Kudos to Caribbean – American political pioneers like Hazel Rogers, Yolly Roberson, Fitzroy Salesman, Joe Celestin, George Pedlar, Dale Holness, Astor Wright, Winston Barnes, Barrington Russell, and Shirley Gibson who have all sought and have been elected to representative office in the community. However, with the exceptions of Joe Celestin in North Miami Beach, and Shirley Gibson in Miami Gardens, representatives have only in Broward County.

There is need for individuals to step forward to represent the Caribbean American community in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, and other counties in Florida where there is a strong concentration of Caribbean-Americans. jost importantly, we need candidates that can pull not only the Caribbean-American or the black vote in general, but individuals who are savvy enough to be able to pull the cross-over vote from white and Hispanic voters. It is no use deluding ourselves that Caribbean-American candidates can be elected only by targeting voters in the Diaspora. The candidates will only be elected if they can also put forward platforms that attract a wider cross-section of votes.

Additionally, although we need individuals who will address our issues at whatever representational level, we also need these representatives when they are elected to take consideration of the needs of the general constituency that they represent -- something that is noticeably absent with the current system. Being elected is one thing; serving the community that they represent is another. It is by serving the entire community and attending to its needs that incumbents get reelected.

While it is important that the Diaspora register to vote and vote, it is also imperative that we have representation at the table to ensure that our interests are attended to, and that we are really empowered as a community. We have been blaming others for not acting in our interest for too long. Let’s have our own representatives, and see if things will change. There is no guarantee that they will, but we won’t have an opportunity of knowing this until we put them there, and hope that they will turn out be promise keepers and people who get the job done.