Despite a federal push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion and immigration tensions nationwide, District leaders are emphasizing the importance of highlighting various cultures to educate, engage and empower Washingtonians, through programming like the Mayor’s Office for Caribbean Community Affairs’ (MOCCA) Third Annual Caribbean Cultural Concert at Freedom Plaza.
Promoting Caribbean pride through music, parades, food and activities, the seven-hour event included performances by The Image Band, the Pan Masters Steel Orchestra, Trinidadian artist Diann Marshall, Latin band Sol y Rumba, Soka Tribe and East Coast Limers.
“The importance of having these Caribbean cultural events is to connect the Caribbean community to the community at large in the DMV, but also for… Washingtonians to help connect to the Caribbean,” said MOCCA Executive Director Natalie Snider.
When she was 5 years old, Snider left her hometown of Kingston, Jamaica, and arrived in Washington. Since her formative years, Snider has had a deep appreciation for celebrations of Caribbean culture in the city, especially the D.C. Caribbean Carnival Parade, which occurred annually on Georgia Avenue NW from 1993 to 2011– an event that made her feel like she was back home in Jamaica.
While D.C. hasn’t had the carnival in 14 years, MOCCA’s mission is to engage younger generations of Caribbean Americans with their ancestry and go back to the kind of D.C. programming Snider grew up loving. This year’s Caribbean Cultural Concert included the inaugural Kiddie’s Carnival— a parade featuring children ages 3 to 13 from the Maryland-based costume band East Coast Limers.
During the display, participants sported ensembles typically seen at the annual Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, where about 100,000 people gathered in Carnival Village in 2024, according to Trinidad Express.
“One of the things we know is that when you are born in the Caribbean and come to America, sometimes you lose a little of your roots, and sometimes when the children are born in the U.S., you lose a little bit of the culture,” Snider told The Informer. “We want to make sure that for the young people, we are constantly connecting you back to your roots.”
Caribbean Roots Meet American Soil
Approximately 83,400 Caribbean immigrants live in the Washington Metropolitan Area, according to the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University, with the most hailing from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago,.
District resident Michael Yates, who was born in Jamaica and moved to the United States when he was 12, is one of the thousands of people with Caribbean roots who calls the nation’s capital home.
Even though he’s lived away from his birthplace for more than four decades, Yates, 59, still acknowledges his Jamaican roots.
During the concert, Yates, 59, emphasized events like Saturday’s concert are necessary in preserving and highlighting Caribbean culture.
“If you don’t know where you’re coming from, then you don’t know where you’re going,” Yates told The Informer. “You need to be grounded, and I’m grounded in the Caribbean culture, so I bring it along with me.”
Yates actively celebrates his identity by frequently traveling to the Caribbean and visiting restaurants in the District that serve cuisine from the various islands that comprise the tropical region.
“Caribbean culture is everywhere in Washington. It’s spread like wildfire,” Yates told The Informer. “D.C. has embraced the Caribbean.”
Maryland resident Sarah Ross, a first generation Trinidadian-American, also works to remain grounded in her heritage. By frequenting Caribbean parties, festivals and restaurants, the 37-year-old is constantly showcasing pride for not only her ethnicity, but the vastness of Caribbean culture.
“When I go to Trinidad, I feel so free and at home,” Ross told The Informer, “so it’s nice to have a little bit of that here.”
Ross has always been unapologetically proud of her identity and the similarities and differences that are present across different Caribbean communities. She said celebrations like MOCCA’s annual concert are necessary for fostering a sense of unity across the African diaspora and conserving Caribbean culture and history in the U.S.
The Migration Policy Institute reported that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, the Caribbean diaspora in the U.S. is made up of 8.5 million people who were either born in the region or have Caribbean ancestry.
Ross believes that this large concentration of Caribbean individuals warrants recognition that the demographic is an integral and influential part of U.S. history and culture.
“We’re part of the threads of this country,” Ross emphasized. “Many things that have developed in America and around the world are because of Caribbean people, and I’m so proud of having that history.”