IRWINE CLARE: LITTLE MAN WITH A BIG HEART, WORKING TIRELESSLY FOR JAMAICA AND JAMAICANS

If any Jamaican or Caribbean person living in the USA were to be  asked to name the one person who demonstrates a passion for, and loyalty to Jamaica above all others; and if in addition they were asked to name the one person who backs up those qualities with tangible acts of voluntarism and community service, one name would immediately come to mind – Irwine G. Clare, Snr.

Almost everything about Irwine Clare belies this big-hearted man – from his relatively small physical stature and easy going personality; to his origins and early turbulent life growing up in Jamaica; and to his latent radicalism that was born and nurtured during the turbulent years of 1970s Jamaica. He is not ashamed to admit that not only was he a bastard child before Michael Manley abolished that pejorative status, and one who never knew his father before he was 16, but that he also became a ‘barrel baby’ after his mother migrated to the USA in 1969.

Before leaving Jamaica in search of a better life for herself and her only son, she had set for him an example of community activism through her involvement in every conceivable civic duty in the St Ann village of Bamboo, where Irwine was born. Like so many children before and after his time, Irwine was raised by his grandmother, an extended family of aunts and by Mrs. Gladys McDowell who became like a mother to him. In the absence of his biological father, Clare found in Burchell Whiteman a father figure whom he credits with ‘saving’ him on more than one occasion. Burchell Whiteman was first his headmaster at York Castle High School and his principal at Browns Town Community College. Whiteman of course, went on to serve with distinction as a Minister of Education and in the latter part of his career as Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the UK.

Although he was no dunce, Clare did not perform particularly well in academics for the simple reason that he became involved in student activism when he was chosen as the first president of the York Castle High School Students Council and later elected as a Vice President of the National Students Council. Attention to school work gave way to a passion for organizing and educating fellow students to understand and appreciate what democracy in schools was all about. In the process, his activism led to his suspension from school on more than one occasion. Looking back, Irwine says the experience taught him what it was to be a martyr which meant sacrificing himself for the benefit of the greater good.

His life was to change radically when, on the insistence of his mother, he aborted his tertiary education at Browns Town Community College and went to join her in New York. The change was not only physical and cultural but also philosophical because out of necessity Clare had to reconcile his juvenile antipathy for capitalist enterprise by accepting work as a clerk in one of New York’s largest banks. In between working 60-hour weeks he completed his community college diploma studies and in 9 months had saved enough to purchase and move himself and his mother into their first house, before moving to yet another bank owned by Israeli interests. The Bank of Leumi not only funded his further education at Adelphi University and at Ohio State, but soon after, appointed him a Vice President, a position that gave him the opportunity to hire a lot of Jamaican and Caribbean nationals. The working, or as Irvine would have it, the capitalist phase of his career, came to an end when he was given a separation package consisting of an office for 6 months and a year’s salary.  He never worked for anyone after that. Clare proudly claims that he has never given up on his true feelings and that in all those years of personal conflict working for capitalist banks he remained a ‘radical in pin-stripe blue’. He had simply learned how to finance the revolution. Thus began what was to become the core of Irwine Clare’s life’s work and his enduring passion.

Caribbean Immigrant Service 

In 1995, Clare and his partner Winston Tucker established Caribbean Immigrant Services Inc. (CIS) in Queens New York with the goal of mobilizing and empowering Caribbean nationals living in the USA. In effect this meant on a day to day basis educating and helping them to regularize their status and importantly, to become citizens. This service is based on a simple philosophy that Jamaican and Caribbean immigrants have an obligation to formalize their status by becoming citizens if they were to keep the business in the family, build a legacy for their children and use the community to build their community. At the height of its operation CIS was processing 2,000-3,000 persons a week to become citizens and in the almost 25 years of its existence Clare claims the operation has impacted over 150,000 persons to become citizens. But Clare being the activist, is not just about helping undocumented immigrants to become citizens. His philosophy is unapologetically political – not in the party political sense but getting people into positions of political power and influence on platforms promoting issues of relevance and concern to Jamaican and Caribbean immigrant communities. In this regard the Irwine Clare of student council days in Browns Town, Jamaica has never changed or wavered.

The CIS service is not a free one as Clare believes that Jamaicans should learn the value of paying for something and not expect to receive everything for free. At the same time the modest fees they are asked to pay compared to those charged by city law firms have helped to fund Clare’s relentless immigration advocacy across the USA and even extending into the countries of the Caribbean.  Clare and CIS are so well-established, respected and known within Caribbean immigrant communities, that he does not advertise his services, yet maintains a significant client list which includes a number of musical artistes and performers.

Team Jamaica Bickle

Jamaicans at home may not have heard about Caribbean Immigrant Service (why should they?) but they would certainly have heard about Team Jamaica Bickle, a non-profit spin-off from CIS which is also celebrating its 25^th anniversary in 2019. What began as a modest attempt to provide nutritional support for teams participating in the annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia, has grown into what for Irwine Clare represents ‘voluntarism at its best’. In its current manifestation, this volunteer service has grown from just nutritional support to a fully equipped pavilion staffed by volunteer heart and other medical practitioners and nurses, providing a full range of both emergency and diagnostic care including, chiropractic and dental services!

Clare acknowledges the early encouragement he received from former principal of Vere Technical High School, Ben Francis, legendary athlete Herb McKinley and Ryland T. Campbell who as then CEO of Capital and Credit Merchant Bank, was the first sponsor. Most of the funds available to support this volunteer effort come from donations and in recent years the organizers have deliberately shifted their appeal from corporate sponsors to ordinary stakeholders, the idea being to make each fan who comes out to support the school teams from Jamaica see himself or herself as a stakeholder. As a non-profit organization, Team Jamaica Bickle cannot retain profits so most of its funds are distributed mainly to schools in Jamaica. Its current programme is an ambitious one – to equip all Jamaican high schools with Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDS) used to treat sudden cardiac arrest. The programme which began in 2014 with the presentation of the first AED machine to St Jago High School, has now been expanded to include 45 high schools to date and includes training of staff and students in the operation of the equipment.

*Since uploading this story, Jamaica Global Online is saddened to learn of the passing of Ben Francis who was the person that inspired Irwine Clare to establish Team Jamaica Bickle.

On Diaspora Engagement

As one who lives and breathes issues affecting the country Jamaica, and its relationship with its people living abroad, Clare has very strong views that, in typical style, he is not afraid to express. Among these is an apparent lack of appreciation in Jamaica of the sacrifices that family members have to make in their adopted countries to make those at home happy. It is not unheard of for some to send money home even without knowing where the next meal is coming from. Jamaicans in immigrant communities are a giving people but some face difficult circumstances and are as much in need of help where they live as their families back in Jamaica. In spite of his disquiet Clare says:

“I am driven by the mandate when my mom says if I am in a position to help someone, it means that I am obligated. That’s where it starts and ends.”

Clare is also unhappy with the use of the generic term ‘Diaspora’ to refer to Jamaicans living outside the country and the way the concept of Diaspora Engagement has been interpreted and applied. To him both the word and the concept emphasize a high trust deficit which can be reduced to an ‘Us’ in Jamaica and a ‘Them’ abroad, with a one-sided obligation to ‘send us your barrels and your remittances’ while we give you nothing in return. Lumping Jamaicans living abroad as the amorphous ‘Diaspora’ has become almost an affront and does not serve us well at this point. Says Clare:

“I have not felt the kind of support to help us push the movement forward”.  However, he is hopeful that the proposed leadership summit scheduled to be held in Atlanta in November will see the unveiling of some new policy that will signal a change in approach. But perhaps anticipating a possible backlash for his outspoken views, Clare declares:

“I am passionate about what I do and if I err in anything I say I apologise; but when I start speaking about my nation I make no apologies.”

Clare loves what he doing and is back and forth between New York and Jamaica every five or six weeks. One of the biggest causalities for him was the loss of his marriage and he ruefully admits “I didn’t manage my own affairs well.”

Does he have any regrets about migrating to the US?

 

“America did me well. It’s the best thing that could have happened to me, even if it was against my wishes at the time. I am convinced that had I not left when I did, I would be dead already.”

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Also, read this article about Irwine Clare’s Daughter, Dr. Kayla Clare – Click Here