Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, AUGUST 6-12, 2021
By Meisha Porter and Dr.
Dave A. Chokshi
In early July, we were
elated to welcome students
to classrooms for Summer
Rising, the city’s free summer
academic and enrichment
program. Children
were clearly excited to be
back with their teachers and
friends, and those feelings
have only grown over the
past few weeks. In an elementary
school in East Harlem,
youngsters proudly displayed
the solar-powered ovens
they’d built to cook s’mores.
In a school in Chinatown,
students gasped with joy
over the “magical” science
experiments performed by
Jason Latimer of YouTube’s
Impossible Science channel.
And in a school in the Bronx,
students dove into their lessons
and demonstrated an
outdoor mindfulness activity.
Experiences like these
are reflected in the smiles
of hundreds of thousands of
children who are in school
to learn, play, connect, and
grow this summer. Both children
and their parents are
grateful to have this bridge
to the next school year.
We see the first day of
school — Monday, Sept. 13
— as a homecoming. In fact,
it comes shortly after NYC
Homecoming Week, a fiveborough
celebration of the
city’s resilience throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we think ahead to the
fall, the health and safety of
students and school communities
are at the forefront of
our planning. We are asking
New Yorkers to help with a
crucial part of this work: get
vaccinated. If your child is
between 12 and 17 years old,
Aug. 9 is the last day for your
child to get the Pfizer vaccine
in order to be fully vaccinated
in time for school.
This date is important to
remember because the vaccine
for adolescents involves
a two-dose regimen, and it
takes two weeks from the
second shot for someone
to be considered fully vaccinated.
So, think of this as
your doctor’s orders: Schedule
your vaccine today if you
have not already.
Safely and fully reopening
schools this fall is a milestone
for our city, and we are eager
to see students back in their
school communities. We
are doing everything in our
power to create a safe learning
environment—from disinfecting
every school, to
re-configuring classrooms
and improving ventilation,
to stocking up on face masks
and hand sanitizer.
And last week, Mayor de
Blasio announced that school
staff must show a one-time
proof of vaccination or weekly
COVID-19 tests. The new
requirement recognizes that
the single most important
way we can help our children
go back to learning, and save
lives, is with vaccination.
As parents ourselves, we
know the decision to vaccinate
is important, and we
would do anything to protect
our children. The vaccine is
safe and very effective. Over
250,000 young New Yorkers
have now gotten the shot.
At school, vaccination
allows children to be in the
classroom, participate in
afterschool activities and
sports, and gather with
friends—safely. It also provides
a more stable learning
environment, (for example,
students who are considered
fully vaccinated are not
required to quarantine).
Getting the shot has
never been easier in New
York City. Access to vaccination
is widely available in
all five boroughs, and the
City is offering a new $100
incentive for anyone (including
children) who gets their
first dose at a City-run site.
Nearly all New Yorkers live
within half a mile of a public
vaccination site, and everyone
is eligible to request
and receive at-home vaccination.
Pediatricians and
other health care providers
can also help answer questions,
and many are able to
give the COVID-19 vaccine
at a back-to-school checkup,
along with other routine
immunizations. If you need
a provider, call 1-844-NYC-
4NYC and you will be transferred.
We’re so excited to welcome
all New York City students
back into classrooms in
September. Because of vaccination,
our buildings will
soon be fully open and our
young people will be learning.
We deeply appreciate the
partnership of the city’s families
and the commitment to
keeping our school communities
safe and healthy.
Meisha Porter is chancellor
of the NYC Department
of Education, Dave A. Chokshi,
MD, MSc, is commissioner
of the NYC Department
of Health and Mental
Hygiene
By Dr. Abiola Inniss, Ph.D.
LLM
In recent weeks, and not for
the first time, there has been a
tremendous clamour over the
issue of cultural appropriation.
This time it was about the use of
the word J’ouvert as the label for
a rum product to be produced
by the well-known American
actor Michael B Jordan. In 2019
there was the matter of Kanye
West using national emblems of
Jamaica on merchandise that he
was marketing in promotion of
his church services. In both situations
public condemnation and
in the Kanye West case intervention
by the government of
Jamaica resulted in the reversal
of the decisions to use the identified
term J’ouvert and logos for
personal gain by these artistes.
In some ways it is heartening
that Caribbean voices are being
raised in objection to the appropriation
of cultural emblems,
words, phrases, and other expressions
which are of definite Caribbean
origin, by those in developed
countries for personal gain.
It signals that there is a growing
awareness of the value of culture
from a socio-psychological
perspective for nationals, as well
as the novelty it contributes to
world culture. It is the latter
that non-Caribbean operatives
have exploited for decades with
no recompense for the Caribbean
economies or its people as
a whole. The Caribbean has benefitted
little from the use of cultural
and traditional knowledge
both in the region and outside it,
and while some in the past have
considered it of low value and the
culture of developed countries as
far superior, the diaspora has
begun to own the culture more
forcefully, to share and promote
it vigorously. Caribbean peoples
the world over have begun to
recognize the value of our cultural
contributions and to feel
pride in it now more than any
time in our history.
Nevertheless, the more substantial
issue of how to approach
the protection of cultural and
traditional assets still remains
to be addressed in an holistic
manner and through the mechanisms
of legal and regulatory
framework as outlined in Article
66 of the Revised Treaty of
Chaguaramas for CARICOM
nations.
Traditional knowledge and
cultural expression have long
held the attention of a few academics
and cultural groups who
have felt the need to preserve
them but are to this day largely
unknown to the public.
The concept of traditional
knowledge in the context of
intellectual property is rooted
in the idea that the life skills and
knowledge passed down through
generations should be the preserve
of the peoples who practiced
them, and that any use of
such knowledge should be with
their permission and in such a
manner as prescribed by them.
It is recommended that where
financial gain is intended from
the use of such knowledge the
originators of that knowledge
should benefit financially as well.
This seems to be a fair approach
to the issue of monetizing traditional
knowledge.
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Back-to-school is on the
horizon, so plan ahead
On cultural appropriation and
Intellectual Property Rights
in the Caribbean
Meisha Porter, chancellor of the New York City Department
of Education, greets a P.S. 064 Robert Simon
student as children return to school during the
outbreak of COVID-19 in Manhattan, New York City,
New York, U.S., April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File