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Reading Time 7 minsAugust 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback)   “It is the British who by their action in past centuries are responsible for the presence in these islands of the majority of their inhabitants, whose ancestors as slaves contributed millions to the wealth of Great Britain, a debt which the British have yet to repay.” Sir Arthur Lewis All four of my grandparents, like others throughout the Caribbean, took… Read More »GREAT EXPECTATIONS: GOING FOR THE WIN – CARLYLE G. LEACH

Reading Time 1 minsAugust 6, 2022 All Herb McKinley, Don Quarrie, Merlene Ottley, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt, etc., and cultural artists and others ever wanted in life to succeed was a fair chance and to have a good start. Yet, in 1962 on the eve of Independence, Britain denied Jamaica any compensation for the three hundred-plus years of what Hilary Beckles refers to as ‘extractive colonization.’ The case laid out by Sir Alex Bustamante and the Jamaican people at the London Independence talks was clear and compelling: Britain bore responsibility for Jamaica’s underdevelopment and for raping the country and walking… Read More »Jamaica @ 60 — BDN Celebrates Jamaican Independence

Reading Time 3 minsAugust 6, 2022 Today marks 60 years of Jamaica’s ‘flag’ independence from colonial Britain. This event follows Emancipation Day, which was celebrated on August 1. Undoubtedly and understandably so, there was much celebration for the former, and August 6 will follow likewise. After all the celebration and hype have died down and as life returns to normal, what is the objective reality of Jamaica’s 60-year ‘independence’? Jamaica’s success and failure in stock-taking are imperative for a critical and judicious examination of the meaning of the independence of Jamaica and its sovereignty. This question further begs two others of… Read More »Jamaica At 60 – Have The Sacrifices of The National Heroes Been Honored? — Richard Dunn

Reading Time 1 mins July 9, 2022 Big Drum Nation joins others worldwide in recognizing ‘Sparrow Day,’ Slinger Francisco’s 87th birthday. In Grenada, Sparrow will be honored by the state today, July 9, 2022, for the first time, with “The Mighty Sparrow Day.” Grenada’s Sparrow Day adds to his many recognitions worldwide, including Nigerian Chieftaincy, a “Rey del Calypso” received from the Venezuelan government during the Chavez era, and an Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC). In 2014 Sparrow also received Trinidad and Tobago’s highest award, The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. To acknowledge the Mighty Sparrow’s 87th… Read More »CELEBRATING THE MIGHTY SPARROW ON HIS 87th BIRTHDAY!

Reading Time 5 minsOriginally published June 19, 2021 Also known as Liberation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, “Juneteenth”[1] is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The celebration marks the events of June 19 (“Juneteenth”), 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas (General Order #3), effectively freeing over a quarter million enslaved Blacks in the state. The problem was that the Proclamation was two and a half years old by then. (While there are varying theories explaining the deferment of freedom, it is believed that this delay… Read More »Juneteenth is our Emancipation Day too — Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 7 mins May 10, 2024  ‘No civilization of significance surrenders its riches easily… the transplanted Indian, even the most urbanized, will occasionally dream, like Walcott’s Saddhu, of the river Ganges and the sprawling fields of Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.’ The Moving Finger writes; and having writ Moves on; nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it (From Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) I am the descendant of immigrants from India. My ancestors would have arrived in Trinidad between 1845 and… Read More »Crossing Dark Waters–Ken Jaikaransingh

Reading Time 3 minsMay 25, 2022   “Continued use of similar mobilization moments is necessary because the task is not yet accomplished. As revolutionary thinkers, we will not engage in stifling the creative thrust of the people as they modify and sharpen their mobilization tools.” Some ask, Is African Liberation Day meaningful in this day and time? Has it outlived its usefulness? Well, for revolutionary Pan Africanists, African Liberation Day has always been a mobilization moment, a day, a weekend, a week, when Africans pause to reflect on their liberation journey, assert their identity, strengthen their resolve, to support their… Read More »AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY 2022–KAMAU ODINGA

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Reading Time 6 minsApril 30, 2022 ‘I love New York. The confluence of cultures and parades, from St. Patrick’s Day to the West Indian Day Carnival on de Parkway means there’s never a dull moment.’   I am a native New Yorker. I was born in Brooklyn in 1979 (to Trinibagonian and Jamaican parents), and except for a brief stint in Washington D.C. to attend Howard University, I now reside in Harlem. Lately, there have been fierce social media debates about who a New Yorker is or when a transplant (someone not from New York) can claim they are. Five… Read More »New York City’s Subway Shooter: Savage Inequities In a Post-Covid World?–Kanene Holder

Reading Time 3 mins April 24, 2022 ‘With thoughtful lyrics, arresting melodies, and gorgeous harmonies, [Kitch] became a pulse of the people, the voice of carnival, bending phrase after phrase.’ April 18th, 2022, marked Aldwyn “Kitchener” Roberts’ birth centennial. The Grandmaster in the art of calypso, Kitchener’s music provides unique insights into Trinidad and Tobago’s culture. He was a griot, singing colorful tales about a colorful and complex society. Born in Arima, Trinidad, Aldwyn learned to play the guitar at an early age, becoming a local sensation. Soon after, he started performing in calypso tents in Port of Spain and… Read More »Kitchener – King of de Road–Garvin Blake