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What’s in store for the Caribbean? |
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Monday, 17 November 2008 |
The Caribbean celebrated when Senator Barack Obama was elected the 44th
president of the United States on November 4. Prior to the elections, a
survey undertaken in Jamaica showed that 94 percent of Jamaicans
favored an Obama victory, and after he won, the Antiguan government
announced renaming Antigua’s highest mountain, Mount Obama. Like
Americans, and people in several countries, the Caribbean anticipates
great things for the region from the Obama administration.
Putting aside the euphoria, how realistic is it to expect significant
benefits for the Caribbean from an Obama administration? Of course, it
is too early to make speculations, and he will be pressed with domestic
issues here in America, but nonetheless there are several policies that
the new administration should be able to pursue to improve relations
with the Caribbean region.
Over the past eight years, the Bush administration’s policy towards the
Caribbean lacked substance and the few attempts that were made turned
out to be photo ops.
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It’s been a long time, but change has come |
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
Over 40 years ago the Reverend Martin Luther King told America he had a
dream that Blacks would rise up and one day make it to the mountain
top. On Tuesday night that dream was realized when Barack Obama
shattered the color barrier, set so high in this country, just as high
as it was set in South Africa, and like Nelson Mandela did in South
Africa years before, made it to the mountain top, to lead an entire
nation. Change has truly come to the United States of America.
Americans of all ethnicities, colors, ages and classes openly shed
tears upon the announcement that Obama was elected as president of the
United States. Some shed tears because they witnessed something they
never thought possible, a fellow Black man, defeating all the odds to
be elected president. Because of this significant change, an entire
race felt vindicated. Others cried because a man was elected who
promised real hope for them to meet unfamiliar challenges, inspiring
them to obliterate an often outdated racial divide, and others cried
because they simply were caught up in the change sweeping across this
nation.
That change was very evident on Tuesday night, but not only in Obama’s
historical victory. His opponent, John McCain, in defeat, gave one of
the most gracious concession speeches, offering his service as a symbol
of the spirit of bi-partisanship that is going to be needed to help the
country to make positive strides as it goes forward. And, in Grant
Park, Chicago, where Obama gave his victory speech, there was the
strong evidence of changes as people of all colors and races joined
each other sharing in the joy as they acknowledge their new leader.
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
It has been a long and storied journey, from the days when Blacks in
America were assigned to the cotton fields, journeying through a time
of Jim Crow – separate and unequal schools, restrooms, movie theatres,
hospitals, water fountains... to civil rights. In short, being Black
then, made you a second class citizen and the prospect of achieving
equal education and equal opportunities was but a dream a la Martin
Luther King Jr.
But glimmers of hope emerged over the years, as Black people fought
through the civil rights era paving the way for post-civil rights
achievements. Some Blacks even dominated predominantly white fields –
the likes of Oprah Winfrey, a pioneer in entertainment; Tiger Woods,
golf great and the Williams sisters who excelled in tennis – after all,
even today, it is still a struggle for a Black man to get into a
country club. Be that as it may, sports and entertainment seemed to be
the popular areas in which Blacks stood at the pinnacle.
Now, with Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the United States
of America, the sky is the limit for the African American community.
His ascension to the highest office in the land proves that Black
people can no longer just dream, but in fact, our dreams can become
reality.
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Byron Lee: From Ska to Soca |
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
What started out as a group of ecstatic high school boys musically
celebrating the victory of a football match at St George’s College in
Kingston, Jamaica – late 1950s – laid the foundation for the formation
of one of the most popular and renowned musical bands in the Caribbean,
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.
For 52 years, Byron Lee led the Dragonaires on a musical journey from
Jamaica to the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and throughout
the Caribbean. He took the popular music of Jamaica, at the time Ska,
created from the rough realities of the underprivileged living in the
poorer sections of downtown Kingston, refined it and made it more
palatable for the world to enjoy. Impressed by the spectacle and
splendor of Trinidad’s Carnival, he immersed himself into the twin
island republic’s annual carnival and added calypso and soca to the
band’s repertoire.
Byron Lee was one of the first Jamaican musicians to take a
businesslike approach to operating his band, disciplining musicians for
infractions such as tardiness, improper dress and holding all members
of the band to a higher standard. This approach paid dividends for
Lee, as the band became a household name throughout the Caribbean,
drawing full houses wherever they performed.
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Sunday, 02 November 2008 |
Our economy is in deep trouble. America lost 159,000 jobs in
September--the worst month in five years. The unemployment rate is
over 6% and rising. Gas prices are sky-high. Home prices are falling,
banks are failing and food prices are climbing.
Clearly we need a comprehensive plan to revitalize the American
economy, expand jobs for American workers, reduce energy prices for all
Americans, and make America more energy independent.
Fundamentally changing the way we produce and consume energy will
create vast economic opportunities and millions of new jobs. A recent
study by the University of Massachusetts, in collaboration with the
Center for American Progress, showed that a near-term investment of
$100 billion in the clean energy sector would create 2 million jobs
nationwide in two years and set America solidly on the path toward
greater energy independence. Here, in Florida, 123,000 jobs would be
created in the manufacturing, construction and transportation sectors.
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