[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 147 (Monday, December 4, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E2109]]



                         A TRIBUTE TO BARBADOS

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 4, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I wish today to pay tribute to the government 
and people of Barbados who are celebrating the 34th anniversary of 
their country's independence. Barbados is a country of limited size, 
and resources that has exerted a gigantic influence in the Caribbean 
and in the rest of the world.
  It is the longest settled British colony in the Caribbean, 
originating with the English settlement at Holetown in 1627 and 
culminating with the attainment of independence on November 30, 1966. 
Its modern political history started with the civil disturbances of 
1937, which led to the formation of the Barbados Labor Party. It is a 
vibrant two party democratic state, in which political power has 
alternated between the two dominant parties--the Barbados Labor Party 
and the Democratic Labor Party.
  Barbadians have a long history of international migration, and have 
exerted a profound influence on the political culture of other nations, 
particularly the United States, Prince Hall, the father of the Black 
Masonic movement in the United States was born in Barbados in 1748. 
David Straker, Dean at Allen University in South Carolina, and one of 
the founding fathers of the NAACP was born in Barbados in 1842. Other 
Barbadians who have influenced the political culture of the United 
States were Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm, Supreme Court Justice Thomas 
Russell Jones and Ruth Goering, prominent district leader in Brooklyn.
  Barbadians have also played a pivotal role in regional migration in 
the Caribbean. They migrated in large numbers to Guyana, where they 
became the teachers, police officers, civil servants, and trade 
unionists in that nation. They also migrated in large numbers to the 
Panama Canal Zone and constituted the labor force that helped build the 
seventh wonder of the world--the Panama Canal.
  Today Barbados has emerged as one of the most stable and vibrant 
economies in the Caribbean. It has perhaps the best-trained civil 
service in the English speaking Caribbean, the most disciplined labor 
force, the lowest crime rate, and the highest literacy rate. Its 
economy has moved from a monoculture based in sugar to a more 
diversified service oriented economy based in tourism, insurance, 
offshore banking, and informational technology. While Barbados has been 
adversely affected by some of the recent restrictions on offshore 
financial centers imposed by developing countries such as the United 
States, independence has been an unadulterated blessing to this 
remarkable island nation, transforming it from a one crop economy to 
one of the flagship nations in the English speaking Caribbean.

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