On Thursday August 12th, the Democrats Abroad- Guyana Country Committee was formally launched.
According to a statement from the local chapter, Democrats Abroad is the official US Democratic Party arm for the 9 million Americans living outside the United States. The organization strives to provide Americans abroad a Democratic voice in its government and elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the overseas vote.
Present at the launch were Democrats Abroad Americas Regional Outreach and get out the vote (GOTV) Coordinator – Roz Rymers.
The statement said that Thursday’s meeting saw the election of a national executive committee. Those elected to serve were, Dr. Dawn Stewart – Chairman, Lawrence ‘Larry’ London- Vice Chair-man, Mark Archer -Secretary and Fitzroy Corlette- Treasurer. The meeting also adopted the by-laws that will govern the operations of the local chapter.
Speaking after her election as chairman, Stewart outlined the chapter’s agenda for the next two years and called on Guyanese-Americans and Americans living in Guyana who are registered Democrats to get involved in its work.
Guest Speaker at the event was Co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund La Tosha Brown. In her address the statement said that Brown asked the question to the audience “Can we imagine what our world would look like without Racism”. She emphasized five key areas of importance that included the five “V’s”: Vision, Voice, Victory, Values, and Voting.
The statement added that she spoke on the importance as humans to demonstrate care and humanity. Brown suggested the need to have a new agency called the Department of Democracy to address the issue of the rights of all persons regardless of colour, creed, religion and ethnicity.
The statement said that Democrats Abroad has 48 country committees throughout Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It added that Democrats Abroad is recognized as a “state” party by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and is represented on the DNC by eight voting members, as well as at the quadrennial Democratic National Convention.
