Houston: A Caribbean City?

I don't know what made me think of it, but I was remembering an article that I penned in March of 2012 that ran in the newsletter for the Caribbean American Heritage Foundation of Texas. (http://caribbeanheritagetx.org/) I decided to dust it off and offer it here for the consideration of anyone with an interest in the Caribbean and its people or anyone with an interest in my hometown, the city of Houston.
--Enjoy--

Houston: A Caribbean City

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated that “San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, D.C.” He said this to make the point that actions in Latin America are much more significant to Americans lives than perhaps we tend to think. To take that point in another direction, Latin American and the Caribbean are much more significant to the city of Houston than we tend to recognize. The concept of Houston as a city with Mexican culture is undeniable. But perhaps Houston needs to broaden its view and think of itself as a cosmopolitan Caribbean city. This is not to suggest that Houston will supplant Miami as the “Capital of Latin America” but the substantial, yet undefined influence that Caribbean nations and the Caribbean diaspora have on the city should start to be examined. 

One of the reasons that Caribbean influence has remained undefined in many places is due to the fact that the US census does not have a way of tracking Caribbean ethnicity. The census accounts for Hispanic ethnicity and within that identification, subgroups of Cuban or Puerto Rican. Of those two groups, the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce lists the Puerto Rican population in the city at about 7000. There is also evidence that Cuban migration to Texas has been increasing over the past decade, partly as a result of the ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy. In an article than ran in the Houston Press, 2007 saw about 11,500 Cubans enter the state of Texas by way of the Mexican border. For those Cubans who do not have family already in Miami, the risks of crossing the Florida Straits only to be picked up by the US Coast Guard and denied access outweigh the reward. Instead, they opt to cross the Yucatan Channel to Mexico where they can eventually make their way towards the Rio Grande and seek asylum as a ‘dusty foot’. As a result, the Cuban population in Houston has seen significant growth recently.
There was a push around the time of the 2010 census to have people of Caribbean ethnicity who were not Hispanic to identify themselves as non-Hispanics of West Indian decent. Without any clear count, Caribbean influence is simply conjecture. But you would be hard pressed to find any Houstonian who does not know at least one person with ties to the Caribbean region. Populations from Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, and Venezuela are well represented in Houston. There are also population centers from the English-speaking Caribbean from Baytown to Katy. Unbeknownst to many, Houston is home to a Consulate or Honorary Consulate for six Caribbean island nations. 

A prime example of how the Caribbean presence in Houston has gone undefined comes from the Consulate for St Lucia, based in Miami. In a conversation with Peter Rene, Chairman of the Houston-based Caribbean American Heritage Foundation of Texas, he revealed that there are more St Lucians living in the Houston area than there are in Miami. 

While the diaspora footprint in the city may be hard to quantify, the business influence of the Caribbean region is a little bit clearer. Houston’s energy sector does quite a bit of business with regional energy producers such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad & Tobago. The Port of Houston, likewise, does a good deal of business in the region. In 2010, Venezuela ranked 2nd in volume of imports to the Port and Panama ranked 5th in volume of exports from the Port.
Events like Houston CaribFest provide a great one day celebration of the Caribbean heritage that is present in the area. But the time has come for the Caribbean community in Houston to be more consistently engaged in their city and recognize the footprint that they leave on a daily basis.  The time has also come for Houston to embrace its Caribbean population and start looking at itself as the cosmopolitan Caribbean city that it is, even if it hasn’t yet recognized it.