Little Caribbean (Flatbush, Brooklyn)
The Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn has, since at least the 1980s, added many immigrants from the Caribbean. “We stopped in East Flatbush, known as Little Caribbean” was printed in the Toronto (ON) Star in 2006. “Gotta luv Flatbush… Shud be called Little Caribbean!” was posted on Twitter by Troy the Boy on July 16, 2010.
In 2017, parts of Flatbush, East Flatbush, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens were officially designated as “Little Caribbean.” This was mainly through the efforts of Shelley Worrell and her organization, CaribBeing.
Some of the area of “Little Caribbean” has also been designated as “Little Haiti.”
Wikipedia: Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Founded in 1651 by Dutch colonists, the neighborhood, which consists of several subsections, had a population of 110,875 as of the 2010 United States Census.
(...)
The Flatbush community has been receiving an influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, mostly from Guyana, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Belize, since the 1980s, as well as immigrants from South Asia, primarily India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and African countries like Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Kenya. Haitians are the largest ethnic group in Flatbush.
Little Caribbean
WHAT IS LITTLE CARIBBEAN?
For more than a century, Caribbean people have been settling in Brooklyn, making the New York City borough home to one of the largest, most diverse populations of Caribbean immigrants in the world. In September of 2017, this vibrant area was introduced as an official cultural hub known as LITTLE CARIBBEAN. The designation of Little Caribbean stimulates the promotion and development of food, culture, and small businesses in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatbush, East Flatbush, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
(...)
WHERE IS LITTLE CARIBBEAN?
Located in the heart of Brooklyn, the footprint of Little Caribbean runs along Flatbush Avenue from Empire to Nostrand Avenues (known as the Junction), Church Avenue from Ocean to New York Avenues, and Nostrand Avenue from Empire to Flatbush Avenues.
4 February 2006, Toronto (ON) Star, “Back in Brooklyn and still a ‘bum’; Borough hasn’t lost old character; Districts reflect immigrant heritage” by Dominick Merle, pg. K10:
We stopped in East Flatbush, known as Little Caribbean because of its immigrant island population, and then Flatbush itself, made famous by all those movies over the years.
Twitter
Troy the Boy 😊
@aeroDynaMiXx
I hear it…. Redemption Song comin thru the window…. Gotta luv Flatbush… Shud be called Little Caribbean!
9:50 PM - 16 Jul 2010
Twitter
Aisha
@dulcevidaa
In flatbush, Brooklyn aka little Caribbean. About to break my fast for some of my aunties roti! #BigUp
5:09 PM - 14 Aug 2011
Twitter
Supahead 🌊
@LRDSPITTYFLVCKV
Replying to @PocaHAWTness_
@PocaHAWTness_ Lol, what part? All my fam’s in little Caribbean, aka Flatbush lol
7:49 PM - 18 Aug 2012
31 August 2017, New York (NY) Times (online; printed on September 3, sec. WE, pg. 2, col. 2), “How Shelley Worrell, Creator of CaribBeing, Spends Her Sundays” by Annie Correal:
Growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Shelley Vidia Worrell saw her Caribbean roots reflected everywhere. So as an adult, in an effort to celebrate and preserve them, she created CaribBeing , which hosts film series and art exhibitions, and which just completed a monthlong residency in a shipping container at the Brooklyn Museum. When not at the museum or working with the mayor’s office to designate an official Little Caribbean in Flatbush, Ms. Worrell, 40, has been checking out her neighbors’ preparations for the West Indian American Day Parade , which will be held on Sept. 4 in Crown Heights.
21 September 2017, New York (NY) Beacon, “Flatbush gets recognized as Hub of Caribbean Culture,” pg. 2:
New York-September 15, 2017 - A neighborhood in Brooklyn will soon be home to the first official “Little Caribbean” community in New York, the U.S. and the world.
Cultural venture Caribbeing, an organization that illuminates the global Caribbean experience through arts and culture, is announcing the recognition of Little Caribbean as the city celebrates the golden anniversary of the West Indian American Day Parade in NYC September 4. Little Caribbean will stimulate the promotion and development of food, culture and small businesses in Flatbush, East Flatbush, home to one of the largest populations of Caribbean immigrants in the country.
DNAinfo—New York
Flatbush to Become City’s First ‘Little Caribbean’ Neighborhood This Week
By Rachel Holliday Smith | September 26, 2017 8:27am
FLATBUSH — Welcome to the Little Caribbean.
Though Flatbush has been a hub for Caribbean people, food and culture for years, the area will be officially dubbed the “Little Caribbean” of New York City this week.
A large area of southern Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and Flatbush will be included in the designation, to be announced Thursday by Borough President Eric Adams, New York’s tourism group NYC & Company, several local merchant associations and caribBEING, a Flatbush arts and culture group that spearheaded the effort.
Bklyner.
Little Caribbean v Little Haiti – Not So Simple To Designate A Cultural Area In Flatbush
By Liena Zagare - September 28, 2017
FLATBUSH JUNCTION – This morning around 10:30 am about two dozen neighbors, activists and members of the press gathered at the Flatbush Junction to hear a large swath of Flatbush, East Flatbush, and PLG be pronounced – Little Caribbean.
The driving force behind this designation is Shelley Worrell of CaribBEING, a local cultural institution that started as Flatbush Film Festival back in 2010 and has grown to include creating experiences and curating exhibitions.
(...)
The issue at heart? Designation for a “Little Haiti.” The Haitian community supports the designation of both “Little Haiti” and “Little Caribbean,” said Assemblymember Bichotte, who is the first Haitian-American to be elected to the State Legislature from New York City.