Go Lean Commentary
“Make fun of our work ethic. I dare you. I double dare you.”
The experience of new Caribbean Diaspora members is that their work ethic is appreciated by employers. So if an employer has a tie in decision-making to fill a job with Caribbean candidate or an African American candidate, the Caribbean prospects wins out. [a]
The foregoing VIDEO/TV show from the 1990’s was a production by African Americans (Wayans brothers of Keenen, Damon, Kim, Shawn and others) for an African American audience. They laughed at Caribbean immigrants in Urban America. This is a population that have no basis to berate others. They have suffered since the 2008 Great Recession with a 21% unemployment rate [b]; even worse among Black youth where the unemployment rate is 49% [c].
This following video harmonizes with the book Go Lean…Caribbean which posits that Caribbean image should be monitored and guarded against defamation and disparaging stereotypes. While the VIDEO/TV show was produced in 1990, this Go Lean effort is recent, composed November 2013. The negative image aside, the following VIDEO is funny:
The sketch comedy television show In Living Color debuted on FOX-TV in September 1990. This skit emerged in Season 1 Episode 7 depicting a hardworking West Indian family (Father, Mother, Son and Daughter) all with multiple jobs.
The underlying issue in this consideration is jobs. There is the need for more jobs – in the US urban communities and in the Caribbean. But there are more issues in consideration of this book. A compelling mission of the Go Lean book is to lower the “push and pull” factors that lead many to abandon the Caribbean homeland for American shores. The book posits that the region must create jobs so that its citizens do not have to leave to become aliens in a foreign land, to be ridiculed for their accents, hairstyles (dreadlocks) and work ethic. This goal is detailed in the Go Lean book as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). So the CU would be set to optimize Caribbean society, starting with economic empowerment. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The Go Lean roadmap calls for many changes and empowerments. One such example is the infrastructure of Self-Governing Entities (SGE), to allow for industrial developments in a controlled environment. There is so much that can be accomplished with the right climate, entrepreneurial spirit, access to capital and willing work force.
There are so many other defects of Caribbean life that need to be addressed. We do not want to be the “laughing stock” of the developed world. We want to be recognized as protégés, not parasites! This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with many statements that demonstrate the need to remediate Caribbean communities and enhance the Caribbean world-wide image:
xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.
xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
xxv. Whereas the legacy of international democracies had been imperiled due to a global financial crisis, the structure of the Federation must allow for financial stability and assurance of the Federation’s institutions. To mandate the economic vibrancy of the region, monetary and fiscal controls and policies must be incorporated as proactive and reactive measures. These measures must address threats against the financial integrity of the Federation and of the member-states.
xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, pre-fabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.
It is the strong urging of every Caribbean empowerment plan to minimize the size of the Diaspora. We would prefer to keep our people and our educated work force “home” in the homeland. But it is what it is. Wishing alone will not accomplish this goal – there must be real solutions. This is the purpose of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap: to compose, communicate and compel solutions back in the Caribbean homeland. How, what, when? The Go Lean book also details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the region, member-states, cities and communities economic prospects:
| Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Job Multiplier | Page 22 |
| Community Ethos – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future | Page 26 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius | Page 27 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship | Page 28 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development | Page 30 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness | Page 36 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Mission – Facilitate Job-Creating Industries | Page 46 |
| Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy | Page 64 |
| Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy – High Multiplier Industries | Page 70 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Self-Governing Entities | Page 80 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities | Page 105 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean | Page 118 |
| Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better | Page 131 |
| Planning – Ways to Better Manage Caribbean Image | Page 133 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs | Page 152 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management Processes and Systems | Page 196 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology | Page 197 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood | Page 203 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora | Page 217 |
| Appendix – Job Multipliers | Page 259 |
With some measure of success, we should be able to reduce the size of the Diaspora, repatriating many to return to the homeland. Even more so, we should reduce the “push and pull” factors that lead many to abandon the region in the first place. We want North America (and Europe) laughing with us, not at us!
Other subjects related to job empowerments (and job losses) for the region have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003 | Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario for Creating Caribbean Jobs |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698 | STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1683 | British public sector workers (Afro-Caribbeans) strike over ‘poverty pay’ |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596 | Book Review: ‘Prosper Where You Are Planted’ |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433 | Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256 | Traditional 4-year Colleges – Terrible Investment for Region and Jobs |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857 | Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=398 | Self-employment on the rise in the Caribbean |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 | 10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – Discrimination of New Immigrations |
The purpose of this roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. Comedy falls under the “Play” category. With all the emphasis on jobs, work ethic, image and opportunities, there is room for fun too, or better stated: funny. This dialogue from the skit in the foregoing VIDEO is just plain funny:
Father: “What happened to that boy you were dating with those 100 jobs?”
Daughter: “Him dead now”
Father/Mother: “What?! That means there are 100 jobs open”.
Father: “Where’s my newspaper?”
If only we were not the “butt” of the joke!
Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
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Appendix – Cited References
a. Posted September 26, 2012; retrieved August 17, 2014 from:
http://m.ibtimes.com/caribbean-americans-invisible-minority-seeking-identity-affirmation-795709
b. Posted August 6, 2013; retrieved August 17, 2014 from: http://newsone.com/2662081/black-unemployment-rate-2/
c. Posted November 2013; retrieved August 17, 2014 from: http://www.laprogressive.com/african-american-teen-unemployment/