Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Photo courtesy Office of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
The Guyana Independence Celebration Committee New York (GICCNY) said on Tuesday that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will on Sunday, June 1, present a posthumous award to the parents of Adriana Younge during Guyana Independence Anniversary Celebrations in Brooklyn.
GICCNY said the parents of Adriana Younge, Mr. Subrian Younge and Ms. Amecia Simon, as well as other family members, are currently in the United States to accept the posthumous honor for their deceased daughter, murder victim Adriana Younge, 11.
While in the United States, the family will be briefed by pathologists on the findings of a second autopsy conducted on Adriana’s body in the US, GICCNY.
It said Adriana’s parents and other family members will also participate in the annual Guyana Independence Parade in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday.
GICCNY said this year’s parade has been dedicated to the memory of Adriana.
“The Committee, therefore, calls on all Guyanese and friends of Guyana to come out on June 1, 2025, to join the family in honoring Adriana’s memory, as well as support the family’s cry for justice for Adriana,” the statement said.
GICCNY said several top US officials are confirmed to attend the event including Jeffries, other members of Congress, as well as State and local elected, government and community leaders.
New York Mayor Eric Adams is also expected to attend, GICCNY said.
The Guyana Independence Parade will commence at Church and Brooklyn avenues in Brooklyn, at noon on Sunday, and will proceed on Church Avenue to Utica Avenue to Glenwood Road, at the venue for the Unity Concert, 1450 Utica Ave., between Glenwood Road and Farragut Road.
GICCNY boasts that the New York Independence celebration is the largest Guyanese celebration outside of Guyana, and one of the largest for West Indian celebrations in New York City after the West Indian American Day Labor Day parade.
GICCNY said, each year, its parade attracts thousands of attendees, and over one million online viewers via its website and social media.
Additionally, GICCNY said it has designated June 1, 2025 as “Guyana National Flag Day” in the diaspora.
Consequently, it calls on all Guyanese to carry a Guyana flag to the parade and concert, as well as to “proudly display the Guyana flag on their homes, businesses and vehicles, as a symbol of patriotism, and to demonstrate unbreakable solidarity with the homeland, as Guyana repels Venezuela’s false and ludicrous claim to Essequibo County – two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, as well as recent Venezuelan aggression towards Guyana.”
