SPEYSIDE, Tobago — With a steady rise in violent crime including an alarming increase in homicides, Trinidad and Tobago has overtaken Jamaica as the “murder capital of the Caribbean”.
While homicides increased two percent in Jamaica in 2008, murders were up a staggering 38 percent in Trinidad and Tobago.
see eTurboNews.com article for full story.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The late, great Bob Marley used music as a means to communicate about love, war, and all that we try to do to keep the two in perfect balance. I feel lucky to have been alive during a part of his lifetime, as I do have memories of Bob Marley in life. With some of my family’s heritage in the West Indies (Guyana), I think of reggae as one of the main music forms I heard in the house growing up as opposed to disco and early rap and many children of the 70s and 80s in the US would likely recall. I remember speaking with my cousins about Marley’s death. As young as we were, we understood enough to know that his passing was a big deal.
As an adult, I understand more about Bob Marley, his lifestyle, and the things he did that may have attributed to him getting cancer and ultimately his death. However, nothing could take away from the fact that Marley could write and perform reggae like none other and was a poet and prophet. Whether recording alone or along with the Wailers, he left us with a symphony of music that is absolutely timeless. For any mood you’re in, he has written and/or performed a classic that speaks to your soul. I don’t think I can even pick a favorite.
36 years young, and I gasp as I recognize that Bob Marley died at the very age I am today. What an inspiration, and yet so sad at the same time. In such a short life, he left a profound legacy that I can’t even begin to imagine being able to do in my entire lifetime.
Thinking of you today, Bob Marley, May 11, 2009.
Bob Marley bio…
Bob Marley and the Wailers “Them Belly Full”
Film Screening of the Award Winning Documentary Life and Debt by Stephanie Black and follow up discussion on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Life and Debt is a feature-length documentary which addresses the impact of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and current globalization policies on a developing country such as Jamaica.
(source: Life and Debt website)
Title: The Global Financial Crisis from Our Perspective
Time: Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 7:00pm
Place: The Ohio State University Black Cultural Center Room 145 153 West 12th Street, Columbus Ohio
More information: aaprpohiochapter@yahoo.com or (614) 657-6586
Life and Debt Trailer
Official Film Website: www.lifeanddebt.org
(photo taken in Dominican Republic, source: thisislondon.co.uk)
The Columbus Caribbean Association has launched a Hurricane and Disaster Relief fund in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and now Ike.
Six Caribbean Island Nations have seen the devastating from these hurricanes and tropical storms over the past month. Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Cuba, Jamaica and Dominican Republic. No Caribbean nation has experienced more devastation, however, than Haiti. Cuba, though badly hit twice, has been able to not only coordinate efforts to help it’s people, but also send volunteers to other countries, namely Haiti. The Dominican republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas as well suffered significant damage. In Turks and Caicos Ike did tremendous damage, namely on the main island of Grand Turk.
Our focus currently is on primarily raising money in order to donate to reputable charities that are on the front line. Locally we are working directly with the American Red Cross in Columbus who will be helping us in directing funds to the International Red Cross’ effort directly in Haiti and other islands in the Caribbean. Read more at our home page.
Sites where you can make donations are:
Enas Jamaican Restaurant
2444 Cleveland Ave@ Myrtle
Columbus, Ohio
(614) 262-0988
Roots Records
1357 N. High Street
Columbus Ohio
(614) 294-7611
www.rootsrecords.com
C and L Performance Autos
4136 Indianola Ave
Columbus, Ohio 43214
www.candlperformanceautos.com
Currently we are directly working with the American Red Cross in Columbus, Ohio. You can make a donation on the behalf of yourself and/or the Columbus Caribbean Association via contact Michele Bruce Cenci.
Michele Bruce Cenci
Director, Financial Development
American Red Cross of Greater Columbus
995 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43205
Ph: (614) 253-2740 ext. 2318
Fax: (614) 253-0680
Awesome political t-shirts! I own a few myself.
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