Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Give double honor to … leaders who handle their duties well. – Bible 1 Timothy 5:17 GOD’S WORD® Translation

The world is mourning the passing of David N. Dinkins, the former Mayor of New York City – the first and only Black Man to hold that position. We can tell a lot about the measure of the man by taking note of the honors given to him at the time of his death. In this case, it is a …

Double Honor

… especially from the point of view of the Caribbean Diaspora living in the decedent’s community.

There is so much to glean from these tributes.

First, review this obituary … of this great man in the Appendix below. The Bible speaks of death, for a Christian, as a rest from his/her labor.

• ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ – Matthew 25:23 English Standard Version
• Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” – Revelation 14:13 English Standard Version

David Dinkins labored. Though he had no direct connection to the Caribbean – not a descendant or a resident, other than his charitable outreach – he is being recognized as a “Hero” to Caribbean-Americans. Why? His primary motive was to improve the lives of Americans in his beloved New York City; for that he labored and toiled all his life. Therefore he is being lauded with this type of reverential language.

Mayor Bill de Blasio participates during the West Indian American Day Parade in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

We are gathering from the theme of these honors to the dearly departed Mayor that the political leaders of the Caribbean American community are not Exiles. They are NOT sitting in the US, in New York City or wherever, waiting for conditions to improve in their homeland so that they can return, plant themselves there and finally prosper.

Nope! This foreign land here, the United States of America is accepted as their New Home. This is their destination. This is where they want to plant themselves and then prosper where they are planted. Just look at the accolades from the Caribbean-American community to their former Mayor in this article here:

Title: Caribbean American Legislators Pay Tribute to Former New York City Mayor
Caribbean American legislators have paid tribute to New York City’s first and only Black Mayor, David N. Dinkins, who died Monday night at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 93.

“It’s hard to adequately express the impact of the life and work of New York City’s first Black Mayor, David Dinkins,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants.

“The city benefited from his leadership, and so many Black New Yorkers benefitted from his pioneering example,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“For me, a young man when he was elected, he was inspiring. I could not be the fourth citywide Black elected leader, if he were not the first. It was a privilege to have met and spent time with him, and it is an enduring honour to work in the building he did for so long, one that now bears his name.”

The Public Advocate noted that Dinkins assumed his role in City Hall and in history at a time when the city faced compounding crises of economic turbulence, racial injustice, and systemic failings in housing, policing and healthcare, among other things.

“The mayor sought to steer the city through the moment and move it forward. He took up that mission not with bombast or ego, but with deliberative determination to continue down the path of liberty, justice and equity,” Williams said, adding that Dinkins was “a moral center for the city with a clear vision for a better New York.”

In creating the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), in leading the Safe Streets, Safe City initiative, among many other areas, Williams said Dinkins “paved the way for progress we would later see and which others would try to claim credit for.

“He took strong interest in uplifting and supporting young people like myself, and he focused on creating direct and indirect opportunities for growth that I and others now try to build upon,” the Public Advocate said.

“And for his work, he was mercilessly attacked and vilified by those who would rather stoke resentment than solve problems.

“Through all of the criticism, he continued to do the work he knew to be right. After he left office, he continued to be a pillar of leadership, and a role model for people across the borough and the nation.”

Williams said losing Mayor Dinkins, just weeks after his beloved wife, Joyce.

“We owe him not only a debt of gratitude but a commitment to try and realize his vision for what the gorgeous mosaic of New York City can be – uplifting each piece, and recognizing that it is at its strongest and most beautiful when the pieces are brought together, as was Mayor Dinkins’ mission,” Williams said, adding “his passing leaves a gap in that mosaic as New York feels a historic loss.”

Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, said Mayor Dinkins, who served a single four-year term during the 1990s, will be remembered as “a pioneer in the history of our city.

“As New York’s first Black mayor, he broke barriers and sought to unify New Yorkers during a tense time in our city’s past,” said Bichotte, who represents the predominantly Caribbean 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.

She said Dinkins established the city’s first minority-owned Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) programme, “setting the course for minority and women entrepreneurs to prosper in the empire state.

“I am grateful for Mayor Dinkins’ contribution to our city, which helped pave the way for others, like myself, to serve,” Bichotte told CMC.

Under Dinkins’s term, she said the overall crime rate in the city fell 14 percent, and the homicide rate dropped 12 percent.

“It was the first time in more than a decade that the city became safer,” Bichotte said.

New York City Councilwoman Farah N. Louis, another Haitian American legislator in Brooklyn, said that, from the United States Marine Corps to city and state government, Mayor Dinkins was “a man of humility with a heart for service to others.

“During his mayoralty, he championed issues that disproportionately affected marginalized populations across our city,” said Louis, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 45th Council District in Brooklyn.

“Today, we mourn the loss of a man who believed in building communities and preserving our city’s unparalleled cultural diversity,” she added.

Louis’s City Council colleague and compatriot, Dr. Mathieu Eugene, described Dinkins as “a trailblazer and compassionate public servant who made history as New York’s first African-American mayor.

“I want to express my deepest sympathies to his family and friends, and may God continue to bless and comfort them during this very difficult time,” said Councilman Eugene, representative for Brooklyn’s 40th Council District, the first Haitian to be elected to New York City Council.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said New York City has lost “a great champion for people of colour and a historic leader for a more inclusive city.

“Mayor Dinkins was not just the first Black mayor; he was not just a symbol. Through his actions on behalf of lower-income people, he was both our effective advocate and confirmation of a long-held hope that our lives mattered to our government.

“May we all follow in his large footsteps and add our bright stitch to the gorgeous mosaic of New York City that he so loved,” Adams urged.

Source: https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/news/national-news/caribbean-american-legislators-pay-tribute-to-former-new-york-city-mayor/ posted and retrieved November 25, 2020.

The insights we have gathered – from these tributes and other facts of the Caribbean American experiences – are that these Caribbean-American leaders are already “home” in America. They have no plans to return or repatriate to the islands. This fight – elevating America – is now their fight; their cause for life-long devotion.

This thesis is supported by the legal facts. When someone becomes an American citizen, they make this oath:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America. – Source: US Citizenship and Naturalization Service

Imagine this imagery from Social Media, that Caribbean person has to change their relationship status with their former homeland, to “someone you used to know”. See a poignant MUSIC VIDEO on that theme in the Appendix below.

This is actually a BIG ISSUE for Decision 2020. There were a lot of Caribbean Americans on the ballot in a lot of places, at all levels:

This commentary continues the analysis of the impact of the Caribbean on America’s politics … and the impact and lessons of America’s politics on the Caribbean. (Though not in the scope of this commentary, there is impact on Canada as well).

In summary, “we are in a pickle”. Many Caribbean people emigrate to the United States with no intention or interest to return back home … some day or any day. These ones are gifted, talented and have a lot to offer any community. The have “come to America”; they Looked, Listened, Learned, Lend-a-hand and now ready to Lead. But they want to be like David Dinkins – good for them – not conquering heroes returning to their ancestral homelands – bad for us.

This is a continuation of the monthly Teaching Series from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean. This book serves as a roadmap of an advocacy to repatriate Caribbean people back to their homelands. These Teaching Series entries always address issues germane to Caribbean life and culture.  This one is no different. We presented 5 entries in October 2020, plus four subsequent ones in November – this is the fifth. All of these entries are relevant for Decision 2020 as they relate the actuality of the US balloting on the Diaspora.  See the full catalog of this multi-month Decision 2020 series here:

1. Decision 2020: Puerto Rico claps back at Trump
2. Decision 2020: Haiti’s Agenda 2016 ==> 2020 – Trump never cared
3. Decision 2020: Latino Gender Gap – More Toxic Masculinity
4. Decision 2020: More Immigration or Less
5. Decision 2020: What’s Next for Cuba & Venezuela
   ——– After the Vote:
6. Decision 2020: Hasta La Vista Mr. Trump
7. Decision 2020: Voices From the ‘Peanut Gallery’
8. Decision 2020: It is what it is; ‘we are who we are’
9. Decision 2020: The Winner: Cannabis’
10. Decision 2020: Diaspora accepting their New Home

Decision 2020 will be analyzed ad naseum and remembered ad infinitum.

The take-away from all of these considerations is that American politics have a bearing on our Caribbean eco-system; and that Caribbean people – and causes – have a bearing on American politics.

There is a familiar theme in this commentary – Caribbean Diaspora not inclined to return or repatriate. The purpose of the Go Lean book and movement have always been to introduce the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to do the heavy-lifting for executing strategies, tactics and implementations that would elevate Caribbean society and finally present a inviting call for repatriation. We have repeatedly blogged on this subject; consider this sample of previous submissions:

America “sucks in immigrants” and never lets them go!

It is pragmatic and understandable that people may have to seek refuge … in a foreign land. So the advocacy of a repatriation quest is really “going against the tide”, a strong current.  🙁

We want Caribbean people to return to their Caribbean homelands whenever it is feasible and possible. If this is a dream, then it is a good one. The experiences show that this dream is improbable, if not impossible. This is a Biblical concept. In the Go Lean book, the reference is made to this Biblical precept with this excerpt from Page 144:

10 Lessons from the Bible
#2 – Emigrate for Economic Reasons

The Bible provides great examples of people temporarily relocating/emigrating to foreign lands for economic reasons; the examples of patriarch Abraham, with his wife Sarah, going to Egypt to flee a famine in Canaan (Gen 12:10) and that of Joseph going ahead to Egypt to arrange relief for his family from a great famine prophesied for the land. This distress proved so great that Joseph’s Plan for “7 Fat Years and 7 Skinny Years” was welcomed by the Egyptian nation (Gen 41 – 42). The CU would apply such lessons in planning practical measures for the region’s food/water basic needs; there is the need for water management/reservoirs, storage and food preservation techniques like canning and frozen foods.

#3 – Repatriate When Distress is Relieved
The example of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt (the Promised Land was now flowing with “milk and honey”), and that of Ruth/Naomi returning to Bethlehem from Moab after a famine recovery gives the important principle that exiles should return home, eventually. (Even Joseph arranged, as a symbolism, for his own bones to return to the homeland when his people finally left Egypt). A CU mission is to facilitate the repatriation of the Caribbean Diaspora – welcome them home.

Is pursuing this quest to counter the reality of One Way Emigration a “bridge too far”? Is it an Impossible Dream?

Ours is not the first to pursue Impossible Dreams. This is the title of a hugely popular song, dating back to 1965 – an alternate title is “The Quest”; remember these lyrics:

The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest,
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far.

To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I’ll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,
when I’m laid to my rest …
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach … the unreachable star …

See related VIDEO: https://youtu.be/fjCIWpfVdsk

Can these same words be assigned to the life and legacy of Mayor David Dinkins. He reached a pinnacle of success in his election in 1989; he may have considered such a quest, an Impossible Dream – many pundits did. This song does have a long history of inspiring political campaigns:

During Robert F. Kennedy‘s long shot campaign for the presidency in 1968, Senator George McGovern introduced him before a South Dakota stump speech by quoting from “The Impossible Dream”. Afterwards Kennedy questioned McGovern whether he really thought it was impossible. McGovern replied, “No, I don’t think it’s impossible. I just… wanted the audience to understand it’s worth making the effort, whether you win or lose.” Kennedy replied, “Well, that’s what I think.”^[7] It was actually Robert Kennedy’s favorite song. One of Kennedy’s close friends, Andy Williams, was one of many vocal artists of the Sixties that recorded the song.^[7] The song was also a favorite of younger brother Ted Kennedy and was performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell at his memorial service in 2009.^[8]

The song was a favorite of Philippine hero Evelio Javier, the assassinated governor of the province of Antique in the Philippines, and the song has become a symbol of his sacrifice for democracy. Javier was shot and killed in the plaza of San Jose, Antique, during the counting following the 1986 Snap Elections, an act which contributed to the peaceful overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos by Cory Aquino in the People Power Revolution. Every year, Javier is remembered on Evelio Javier Day and the song is featured. The song’s lyrics are written in brass on a monument in the plaza where he was shot. – Source: Wikipedia

19 years later, in 2008, Barack Obama reached a pinnacle of electoral success, the Presidency of the USA. There you had it: Impossible Dream materialized!

Take your rest David Dinkins; you deserve these honors. RIP …

But let’s get busy in the Caribbean, reaching out for our Impossible Dream …

Yes, we can invite and welcome home our far-flung Diaspora to help us make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

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.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix Reference: David Dinkins

David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th Mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993, becoming the first African American to hold the office.

Before entering politics, Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marines, serving from 1945 to 1946.^[1] He graduated cum laude from Howard University^[2] and received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1956. A longtime member of Harlem‘s Carver Democratic Club, Dinkins began his electoral career by serving in the New York State Assembly in 1966, eventually advancing to Manhattan borough president^[3] before becoming mayor. After leaving office, Dinkins joined the faculty of Columbia University while remaining active as an éminence grise in municipal politics.

Early life and education 
Dinkins was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Sarah “Sally” Lucy and William Harvey Dinkins Jr.^[4] His mother was a domestic worker and his father a barber and real estate agent.^[2] He was raised by his father after his parents separated when he was six years old.^[5] Dinkins moved to Harlem as a child before returning to Trenton. He attended Trenton Central High School, where he graduated in 1945.^[6]

Upon graduating, Dinkins attempted to enlist in the United States Marine Corps but was told that a racial quota had been filled. After traveling the Northeastern United States, he finally found a recruiting station that had not, in his words, “filled their quota for Negro Marines”; however, World War II was over before Dinkins finished boot camp.^[7] He served in the Marine Corps from July 1945 through August 1946, attaining the rank of private first class.^[8][9][10] Dinkins was among the Montford Point Marines who received the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Senate and House of Representatives.^[7]

Dinkins graduated cum laude from Howard University^[2] with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1950. He received his LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1956.^[10][11]

POLITICAL CAREER
Early and middle career
While maintaining a private law practice from 1956 to 1975, Dinkins rose through the Democratic Party organization in Harlem, beginning at the Carver Democratic Club under the aegis of J. Raymond Jones.^[2][12] He became part of an influential group of African American politicians that included Denny Farrell, Percy Sutton, Basil Paterson, and Charles Rangel; the latter three together with Dinkins were known as the “Gang of Four“.^[13] As an investor, Dinkins was one of fifty African American investors who helped Percy Sutton found Inner City Broadcasting Corporation in 1971.^[14]

Dinkins briefly represented the 78th District of the New York State Assembly in 1966. From 1972 to 1973, he was president of the New York City Board of Elections. He was nominated as a deputy mayor by Mayor Abraham D. Beame but was ultimately not appointed,^[15] instead serving as city clerk (characterized by Robert D. McFadden as a “patronage appointee who kept marriage licenses and municipal records”) from 1975 to 1985.^[16][17] He was elected Manhattan borough president in 1985 on his third run for that office. On November 7, 1989, Dinkins was elected mayor of New York City, defeating three-term incumbent mayor Ed Koch and two others in the Democratic primary and Republican nominee Rudy Giuliani in the general election. During his campaign, Dinkins sought the blessing and endorsement of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.^[18]

Dinkins was elected in the wake of a corruption scandal that stemmed from the decline of longtime Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman and preeminent New York City political leader Meade Esposito‘s organized crime-influenced patronage network, ultimately precipitating the suicide of Queens borough president Donald Manes and a series of criminal convictions among the city’s Democratic leadership. In March 1989, the New York City Board of Estimate (which served as the primary governing instrument of various patronage networks for decades, often superseding the mayoralty in influence) also was declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment‘s Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court of the United States; this prompted the empanelment of the New York City Charter Revision Commission, which abolished the Board of Estimate and assigned most of its responsibilities to an enlarged New York City Council via a successful referendum in November. Koch, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was politically damaged by his administration’s ties to the Esposito network and his handling of racial issues, exemplified by his fealty to affluent interests in predominantly white areas of Manhattan. This enabled Dinkins to attenuate public perceptions of his previous patronage appointments and emerge as a formidable, reform-minded challenger to Koch.^[19] Additionally, the fact that Dinkins was African American helped him to avoid criticism that he was ignoring the black vote by campaigning to whites.^[20] While a large turnout of African American voters was important to his election, Dinkins campaigned throughout the city.^[2] Dinkins’ campaign manager was political consultant William Lynch Jr., who became one of his first deputy mayors.^[21]

Mayoralty
Dinkins entered office in January 1990 pledging racial healing, and famously referred to New York City’s demographic diversity as a “gorgeous mosaic”.^[22] The crime rate in New York City had risen alarmingly during the 1980s, and the rate of homicide in particular reached an all-time high of 2,245 cases during 1990, the first year of the Dinkins administration. ^[23] The rates of most crimes, including all categories of violent crime, then declined during the remainder of his four-year term. That ended a 30-year upward spiral and initiated a trend of falling rates that continued and accelerated beyond his term.^[24][25] However, the high absolute levels, the peak early in his administration, and the only modest decline subsequently (homicide down 12% from 1990 to 1993)^[26] resulted in Dinkins’ suffering politically from the perception that crime remained out of control on his watch.^[27][28] Dinkins in fact initiated a hiring program that expanded the police department nearly 25%. The New York Times reported, “He obtained the State Legislature’s permission to dedicate a tax to hire thousands of police officers, and he fought to preserve a portion of that anticrime money to keep schools open into the evening, an award-winning initiative that kept tens of thousands of teenagers off the street.”^[28][29]

During his final days in office, Dinkins made last-minute negotiations with the sanitation workers, presumably to preserve the public status of garbage removal. Giuliani, who had defeated Dinkins in the 1993 mayoral race, blamed Dinkins for a “cheap political trick” when Dinkins planned the resignation of Victor Gotbaum, Dinkins’ appointee on the board of education, thus guaranteeing Gotbaum’s replacement six months in office.^[30] Dinkins also signed a last-minute 99-year lease with the USTA National Tennis Center. By negotiating a fee for New York City based on the event’s gross income, the Dinkins administration made a deal with the US Open that brings more economic benefit to the City of New York each year than the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Knicks, and New York Rangers combined.^[2] The city’s revenue-producing events Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway were all created under Dinkins.^[31]

Dinkins’s term was marked by polarizing events such as the Family Red Apple boycott, a boycott of a Korean-owned grocery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the 1991 Crown Heights riot. When Lemrick Nelson was acquitted of murdering Yankel Rosenbaum during the Crown Heights riots, Dinkins said, “I have no doubt that in this case the criminal-justice system has operated fairly and openly.”^[32] Later he wrote in his memoirs, “I continue to fail to understand that verdict.”^[2]

In 1991, when “Iraqi Scud missiles were falling” in Israel^[33] and the Mayor’s press secretary said “security would be tight and gas masks would be provided for the contingent”,^[34] Mayor Dinkins visited Israel as a sign of support.^[35]

The Dinkins administration was adversely affected by a declining economy, which led to lower tax revenue and budget shortfalls.^[36] Nevertheless, Dinkins’ mayoralty was marked by a number of significant achievements.^[36] New York City’s crime rate, including the murder rate, declined in Dinkins’ final years in office; Dinkins persuaded the state legislature to dedicate certain tax revenue for crime control (including an increase in the size of the New York Police Department along with after-school programs for teenagers), and he hired Raymond W. Kelly as police commissioner.^[36] Times Square was cleaned up during Dinkins’ term, and he persuaded The Walt Disney Company to rehabilitate the old New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street.^[36] The city negotiated a 99-year lease of city park space to the United States Tennis Association to create the USTA National Tennis Center (which Mayor Michael Bloomberg later called “the only good athletic sports stadium deal, not just in New York, but in the country”).^[36] Dinkins continued an initiative begun by Ed Koch to rehabilitate dilapidated housing in northern Harlem, the South Bronx, and Brooklyn; overall more housing was rehabilitated in Dinkins’ only term than Giuliani’s two terms.^[36] With the support of Governor Mario Cuomo, the city invested in supportive housing for mentally ill homeless people and achieved a decrease in the size of the city’s homeless shelter population to its lowest point in two decades.^[28]

1993 election
In 1993, Dinkins lost to Republican Rudy Giuliani in a rematch of the 1989 election. Dinkins earned 48.3 percent of the vote, down from 51 percent in 1989.^[37] One factor in his loss was his perceived indifference to the plight of the Jewish community during the Crown Heights riot.^[38] Another was a strong turnout for Giuliani in Staten Island; a referendum on Staten Island’s secession from New York was placed on the ballot that year by Democrat Governor Mario Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.^[2]

LATER CAREER
From 1994 until his death, Dinkins was a professor of professional practice at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.^[39]

Dinkins was a member of the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association.^[40] He served on the boards of the New York City Global Partners, the Children’s Health Fund, the Association to Benefit Children, and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Dinkins was also on the advisory board of Independent News & Media and the Black Leadership Forum, was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served as chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.^[41]

Dinkins’ radio program Dialogue with Dinkins aired on WLIB radio in New York City from 1994 to 2014.^[42][43] His memoirs, A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic,^[2] written with Peter Knobler, were published in 2013.^[44][45]

Although he never attempted a political comeback, Dinkins remained somewhat active in politics after his mayorship, and his endorsements of various candidates, including Mark J. Green in the 2001 mayoral race, were well-publicized. He supported Democrats Fernando Ferrer in the 2005 New York mayoral election, Bill Thompson in 2009, and Bill de Blasio in 2013.^[46][47] During the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, Dinkins endorsed and actively campaigned for Wesley Clark.^[48] In the campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Dinkins served as an elected delegate from New York for Hillary Clinton.^[49] During the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Dinkins endorsed former Mayor Michael Bloomberg for president on February 25, 2020, just before a Democratic debate.^[50]

Dinkins sat on the board of directors and in 2013 was on the Honorary Founders Board of The Jazz Foundation of America.^[51][52] He worked with that organization to save the homes and lives of America’s elderly jazz and blues musicians, including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina. He served on the boards of the Children’s Health Fund (CHF), the Association to Benefit Children, and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF). Dinkins was also chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.^[41] He was a champion of college access, serving on the Posse Foundation National Board of Directors until his death in 2020.^[53]

PERSONAL LIFE
Dinkins married Joyce Burrows, the daughter of Harlem political eminence Daniel L. Burrows, in August 1953.^[54][55] They had two children, David Jr. and Donna.^[56] When Dinkins became mayor of New York City, Joyce retired from her position at the State Department of Taxation and Finance. The couple were members of the Church of the Intercession in New York City. Joyce died on October 11, 2020 at the age of 89.^[57]

Dinkins was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi (“the Boule”), the oldest collegiate and first professional Greek-letter fraternities, respectively, established for African Americans. He was raised as a Master Mason in King David Lodge No. 15, F. & A. M., PHA, located in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1952.^[58]

In 1994, Dinkins was part of an Episcopal Church delegation to Haiti.^[59]

Dinkins was hospitalized in New York on October 31, 2013, for treatment of pneumonia.^[60] He was hospitalized again for pneumonia on February 19, 2016.^[61]

Dinkins guest starred as himself on April 13, 2018, in “Risk Management”, the 19th episode of the 8th season of the CBS police procedural drama Blue Bloods.^[62]

Death
On November 23, 2020, just over a month after his wife’s death, Dinkins died from unspecified natural causes at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at age 93.^[56][63]

Source: Retrieved November 25, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dinkins

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Appendix AUDIO-VIDEO – Someone You Used To Know – https://youtu.be/C5t_LmWYukw

Uploaded December 28, 2014 – “Someone You Used To Know” by Collin Raye.
This is an old song that my father used to play in the house when I was a young child. My father loved to sing romantic country songs to my mother so I grew up with this genre 😀

Music in this video

• Song: Someone You Used To Know
• Artist: Collin Raye
• Licensed to YouTube by: SME (on behalf of Epic/Nashville); LatinAutorPerf, LatinAutor – Warner Chappell, CMRRA, Warner Chappell, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, ASCAP, BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., PEDL, and 12 Music Rights Societies