Barry Carlton Sample passed away on April 27, 2025, at his residence in Albany, New York. He was 74.
Barry leaves his beloved wife of 40 years, Jacqueline Lake-Sample, his dear daughter, Serwa Sample-Adams, and son-in-law, Corey Adams. He is survived by his sister, Jeanne Wilson; his nephews, Jason Wilson and Gary Wright; and a number of nieces, nephews, family, and friends throughout New York, Virginia, in the Caribbean islands of St. Martin, Curaçao, and Aruba, and in Europe.
Born in 1951, Barry “Chuck” Carlton Sample was a native of Long Island, New York. He came from humble beginnings on his family’s potato farm. During his early teens, he spent his summers working with Long Island fishermen, who initially thought he was too young for the demanding work – but soon learned that Barry was a hardy and determined youth.
However, more than the farm and the sea, it was music that stayed with Barry throughout his journey from a teenager into adulthood. From a young age, he took to singing and playing the guitar. He performed in bands in high school and during his college years in the late 1960s and 1970s. He continued his passion for music throughout his life. An avid lover of jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and, of course, Jimi Hendrix, he attended jazz and blues festivals and clubs in New York City and Montreal yearly.
Barry was an ardent lover of the arts and the theater, especially the plays of August Wilson. He closely followed the development of the annual St. Martin Book Fair and was a great friend and confidant of the indie press, House of Nehesi Publishers.
Barry was an alumnus of the State University of New York at Albany, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating magna cum laude in 1973, followed by a Master’s degree from the university’s School of Criminal Justice in 1977. From 1978 to 1982, he served as a lecturer in African American history, social science, and public policy at SUNY Albany.
His commitment to education and public service laid the foundation for an active career in public administration and political advisory roles – positions for which he became widely respected in Albany, New York City, and Washington, D.C., both in community and political circles.
While he did enter the corporate sector – serving as President of Instructional Systems Incorporated in New Jersey from 2013 until his passing – Barry Sample held several prominent public positions between 1993 and 2013. These included Chair of New York Gaming Commission; Deputy Director of State Operations for the New York State Executive Chamber; Chief of Staff at New York State Office of the State Comptroller; Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Community Relations of New York State Comptroller’s Office; and Deputy Budget Director at the New York State Division of the Budget.
Barry Sample’s public service career began at the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, where he held several roles between 1981 and 1993. These included Deputy Director of Criminal Justice; Executive Deputy Commissioner; Chief of the Bureau of Program Development and Planning; and Senior Criminal Justice Program Analyst.
In 1985, he married his devoted wife, Jacqueline Lake, marking the beginning of a lifelong partnership alongside his distinguished public service.
Barry counted among his friends, colleagues, and associates several prominent figures from his public and private careers. However, he remained a private, serious, and deeply caring man who held his family closest to his heart, with his beloved Jacqueline as its heartbeat. He offered a rare glimpse into this deeply personal side in 2012, at the funeral of his 26-year-old son, Bakari “Baki” Masso Lake-Sample, when he quietly said to the congregation, “Baki was my best friend.”
To several of Barry’s closest family and friends, he will be remembered not just with admiration, but as their dearest confidant. As his brother-in-law, author Lasana M. Sekou recalled: “Barry was my wise counselor.”
The funeral service for Barry Carlton Sample will be held at New Comer Cremations and Funerals, 181 Troy-Schenectady Road, Watervliet, New York 12189, on Saturday, May 3, 2025. The calling hour will begin at 10:00am, followed by the funeral service at 11:00am. Interment will take place at Graceland Cemetery, 680 Delaware Avenue, Albany, NY 12209.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Barry Sample’s memory to the Bakari Lake-Sample Scholarship at Macedonia Baptist Church, 26 Wilson Avenue, Albany, NY 12205. To leave a message of condolence for the family and for directions to the funeral live stream, please visit
www.newcomeralbany.com/obituaries.
Farewell, Barry.
House of Nehesi Publishers
Dear Editor,
The National Alliance extends heartfelt congratulations to Ms. Silveria Jacobs on her appointment as the Executive Director of Charlotte Brookson Academy for the Performing Arts (CBA).
Ms. Jacobs has long been a pillar of leadership and dedication in St. Maarten, having served as Leader of the National Alliance; Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport; and Prime Minister of St. Maarten. Her passion for education, culture, and the arts has been evident throughout her career, leaving a positive and lasting impact on the nation and its people.
The National Alliance recognizes that Ms. Jacobs’ commitment to uplifting youth and promoting creativity makes her exceptionally well-suited to lead CBA. Under her guidance, the academy is poised to continue its growth as a beacon for performing arts education in St. Maarten.
Her vision aligns perfectly with fostering innovation, supporting the Orange Economy, and empowering the next generation of artists and leaders. The faculty, students, and wider community of CBA can look forward to a bright future with Ms. Jacobs at the helm.
The National Alliance is proud to see one of its own take on this important role and offers full support as Ms. Jacobs embarks on this new chapter of service to the community.
National Alliance
Dear Editor,
Not too long ago I saw a response from our Prime Minster to the Dutch member of Parliament Baudet. I also did not receive what was said well, but … . Yes there is a but. I would have not expressed myelf in a manner which Baudet did, but there has to be a reason why Baudet believes that he is entitled to that kind of attitude towards us. We afforded him that opening. Since 10-10-2010 we have demonstrated what I consider unacceptable behavior on all levels of government. There was a lull for four years and then we went right back to our ignorant and irresponsible behavior, affording every politician of the kingdom of the Netherlands to ridicule us.
Even if there were tons of adjectives I could add to Baudet, that would not take away our shortcomings. The word is “list”. I would always want to be in the list of positives than on the list of negatives. If your name is on a certain list, no matter how you describe it, your name is on that list.
Unless someone proves me wrong the decline in the behavior of the people on St. Maarten began with the change of the government of St. Maarten. The different Ministers who did not know how to handle and maintain discipline would interfere with the maintainance of public order by the police and became enablers. In so doing they would interfere with the police work with all the ensuing consequences. To add to that in mind the behavior in general became more visible with the arrival of a Dutch chief of police who walked all over in uniform with his cap under his arm. There is a saying in Dutch “De kleren maakt de man” which also helped and is still vital in the decline and disregard of law enforcement. I lived through this so I know.
Beside that I constantly have to tell people who ask me why the police officers don’t wear caps anymore, I tell them to ask Chief John, he wears his cap when he is in uniform.
I will end by stating one of my father’s sayings: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Russell A. Simmons
~ Serves Dutch interests, not the people ~
Dear Editor,
Dutch Special Envoy Edison Rijna, former governor of Bonaire, is being deployed by the Dutch government to the Global Sustainable Island Summit (GSIS) in May 2025 in St. Kitts and Nevis. Framed as an advocate for increased funding to the Forum for Subnational Island Jurisdictions (SNIJs), Rijna’s real function is to advance Dutch strategic interests. His presence risks misleading CARICOM partners, as he represents the colonial state – not the voices or needs of the people in non-sovereign island territories.
It’s crucial to clarify the actions of the so-called Dutch Special Envoy engaging with CARICOM and St. Kitts and Nevis. While he presents himself as a representative of Bonaire, he truly serves Dutch interests, not those of Bonaire’s people. He is working on behalf of the Netherlands, not reflecting the struggles or voices of the local population.
The narrative being pushed is misleading and deceptive. The envoy is attempting to secure funding under the guise of representing Bonaire's climate vulnerability and challenges, but these claims are fundamentally false. Bonaire is not located in the hurricane belt, and our island does not suffer from major natural disasters like many other Caribbean nations. While climate change is a global concern, it is not the pressing issue that is currently affecting our people.
The true crisis in Bonaire is not environmental, but a human rights one. The Dutch government imposes high taxes and collects all with zero accountability to the people. Our schools are stripped of cultural identity, forcing native children into a system that ignores and erases their language and rights. Unrestricted migration from the European Netherlands is driving overpopulation on Bonaire, straining the island's infrastructure, resources, and social framework – an undeniable example of modern colonial exploitation.
Healthcare in Bonaire is no longer serving our people – it’s being used as a tool of Dutch colonial control. The forced imposition of Dutch European laws like “euthanasia” violates our moral and cultural values, leaving families traumatized and the elderly afraid to seek care. Since its enforcement, the death rate has doubled, and our native population has plummeted from 80% in 2010 to just circa 30% today. This is not coincidence – it reflects a deliberate policy of displacement and cultural erasure.
It is misleading and harmful for this envoy to present a false narrative to the Caribbean, diverting attention from Bonaire's real struggles and reinforcing Dutch colonial dominance. We urge CARICOM leaders and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis to distinguish between a Dutch envoy pushing for Dutch interests and the true voice of Bonaire’s people, who are fighting for their survival, rights and self-determination.
James Finies
Bonaire Human Rights Organization
Dear Editor,
Following years of tracking by the Israeli foreign intelligence service, Mossad, Adolf Eichmann, the logistical brain, architect and one of the major organisers of the Holocaust, was captured in Argentina on May 11th,1960. Eichman was thereafter flown to Israel where he was made to stand trial and subsequently convicted for the gruesome murders of millions of Jews killed in the extermination camps during the operationalisation of Nazi Germany’s final solution. It was during Hannah Arendt’s coverage of the Eichman’s trials that she coined the phrase, banality of evil. Incidentally, Arendt was a German-American novelist who at one point in her illustrious and celebrated career became stateless.
Arendt’s conceptualisation of the term, Banality of evil, popularised in her book, “Eichman in Jerusalem”, provided scathing insights and depth of understanding into the psyche and moral world of Adolf Eichman. Arendt concluded from her analysis of the testimonies and actions of Eichman that he wasn’t necessarily an inherently charismatic murderous villain, but instead was blindly following orders, executing his duties without questioning the moral implications of his actions - the essence of the term banality of evil.
Eichman for his part, on all occasions when he was asked to plead during his trial, promptly pleaded not guilty to the crimes he was being accused of committing against humanity: he confidently maintained his innocence by merely proffering he was simply following orders and so wasn’t personally responsible for his morally complicit behaviour. Adolf Eichman’s desecration and attempted annihilation of the Jewish people was reportedly a deep source of pride and joy to him since as it is documented that he on occasion exclaimed that he would happily leap to his grave knowing he had six million Jews on his conscience.
It is horrifying if not nauseating to entertain the thought, even cursorily, that us humans possess such horrendous and diabolical capacities to commit such atrocities on scales that boggles the very mind that does the conceiving. If we were to survey the current global political landscape seeking to examine the moral turpitude of potential candidates vying for political office and those too who have already attained and dangerously consolidated political power we might very well unearth albeit frighteningly potential Eichmans in our midst.
If true, meaning, there are Frankenstein the likes of Eichman already in our presence, how do we vigilantly guard against the repetition of one of history’s darkest hours? How many likely Eichmans may be lurking silently in the shadows awaiting the battle call in service of their enablers, sinister political agendas and dystopias? Adolf Hitler’s orchestrated plan to exterminate the Jews and repopulate the territories of Europe with the purity of the “Aryan race” was for the most part aided and abetted by Adolf Eichman - the once average student who eventually found his “calling” in the industry of efficient mass killings.
Fascist and totalitarian regimes are enabled and perpetuated by those who, according to Hannah Arendt, refuse to critically examine the moral correctness of dictates emanating from authoritative figures. Blindly conforming to commands without self-reflection and robust interrogation requires the voluntary suspension or refusal to employ a critical aspect of what essentially makes us human - our capacities for agency and moral reckoning.
Eichman’s moral failure wasn’t necessarily an unprecedented low point in the brief history of enlightened and civilised man, as daily we continue to witness - albeit on a smaller scale - and at times are affected by the actions of those whose sole role in existence it seems is to unquestionably execute what they are instructed to do.
The banality of evil interpreted in the context of Eichman’s horrors highlighted the bureaucratic, routine thinking devoid of independent thought which made possible the misery of the holocaust. As a theoretically useful conceptual frame for examining the actions of Adolf Eichman the term banality of evil in my considered view doesn’t provide an absolute explanation of Eichman’s and his peers behaviour. As since it is quite plausible to conjecture that Eichman could have indeed critically examined and found wanting the orders he received to exterminate the Jews but was nevertheless motivated by a greater cause, namely: to aid in the realisation of a world ruled and populated by a “superior Aryan race”.
So, while some among us may find laudable Hannah Arendt’s mental labours to coin a theoretical construct to explain Eichman’s actions, does this in itself make the outcome or product of critical thinking as advocated by Hannah Arendt adequate enough to dissuade us from exhibiting incorrect moral behaviour? Or are we, despite our critical efforts, continuing to remain at the discretion of other yet unknown factors or forces deluding us into thinking we are agents morally responsible for our conduct?
As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them” logical reasoning or critical thinking is just one mode of apprehending and examining ourselves and the world we inhabit. There are those among us who don't employ critical thinking for reasons known and unknown to us as a basis for ethical and moral guidance.
Orlando Patterson
