Teachers from the Caribbean region plying their trade in New York are finding the experience there exceedingly tough and are encountering increases measures that threaten their jobs and their ability to remain in the country. With many facing lack of job prospects in the Caribbean as economies continue to contract and salaries diminish, teachers are turning to the US to make a living in the education professions. United States congresswoman from Brooklyn, Yvette Clarke, the daughter of Caribbean immigrant parents has taken o the issue and to some respect is following in her mother’s footsteps here.

Yvette Clarke is a rising star in the Congressional Black Caucus. Elected to the same 11th district House seat her mother Dr Una Clarke once tried to win, she was named chair of the Homeland Security Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity Service and Technology sub committee.

Dr.Una Clarke was the first Caribbean-born woman elected to New York City’s legislature. Dr. Clarke migrated to the US as a foreign student in 1958. She was elected in 1991 and during her 10 year tenure sponsored more than 300 pieces of legislation on a wide range of issues including child welfare, education, health and mental health issues, economic development, public safety and transportation.

Sensitive to the needs of immigrants, Dr Clarke has led campaigns and voter registration to enable her constituents to receive greater rights and benefits. In response to flaws in the immigration laws, Dr Clarke led delegations to Washington DC to educate Congress for changes that would make the law more just for all immigrants.

A generation later, her daughter Yvette has taken up her mantle and has gone to bat for Caribbean teachers getting a hard time in New York.

Yvette Clarke is on record as saying,”we have made a commitment to work closely together and I have already reached out to the Obama administration . . . to sort out and sort through all of the challenges the teachers are facing.”

For decades trained teachers from across the English-speaking Caribbean have gone to New York in hope of pursuing a career, raising families and obtaining a Green Card. They have made an invaluable contribution to New York’s educational system. However New York city is now heavily indebted and has to contend with a whopping deficit of US$1.3 billion. This means that the state has to drastically cut the number of teachers which will negatively impact its educational facilities.

“We have been classified as unskilled workers and are being treated as indentured servants,” said Judith Hall of the International Association of Education, who has been working to resolve the issue with the Department of Education. The Department of Education maintains that those teachers got visas and entry into the country at a different time where there was a shortage of teachers and when the educational system was less financially constrained. It is also of the view that many of the Caribbean teachers cannot be deemed to be skilled professionals.

“The first thing we want is to have these teachers’ status changed to skilled professional,” said the Black Institute’s Bertha Lewis. She believes that many of these Caribbean teachers have been ill-treated and deserve better.It was expedient to use them years ago and now they are being discarded.

Despite many of them holding solid degrees they are regarded as “unskilled” workers. Also their families namely their spouses and children are more often than not treated and seen as second class citizens.

Many of the Caribbean teachers were given J-1 and E-B3 visas which only allows them to work in the US for two years and cannot be applied to their families. What they should have is the H-1B visa which allows their families to remain in the US and get a shot at residency.