Closing Out African Immigrant Heritage Month, BP Adams Holds Commemoration At Borough Hall With Socially-Distanced Celebration

Press release from the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President:

October 1 2020

Brooklyn, NY – Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams concluded African Immigrant Heritage Month by holding the first-ever commemoration of this observance at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Borough President Adams, who marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to America with a trip to Senegal and sister-city agreements with Gorée Island and Malicounda, hosted an outdoor, socially-distanced cultural celebration that featured a display of flags, song, drumming, remarks from a representative to the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations, as well as posthumous recognitions of Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) founder Dr. Roy Hastick and Amarachi Restaurant owner Johnathan Adewumi, who both tragically passed earlier this year due to complications from COVID-19.

“As we close out African Immigrant Heritage Month, this is a reminder to proudly #EmbraceYourHyphen. As Brooklyn’s first African-American borough president, this means so much to me. Our resilience comes from our ancestors’ roots, and diversity enhances all that our city can be,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Brooklyn has nearly 900,000 African-American residents according to the latest Census figures — a larger population than major metropolitan areas in the US such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, and many others. The richness of African culture is on display throughout the borough, from annual cultural events that celebrate the diaspora to the various businesses run by African merchants. Brooklyn is also home to one of the few museums in the country dedicated to the arts of the diaspora in the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA).

This press release was produced by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. The views expressed are the author's own.