Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Cuban Pete]

From Cuba with Love: Free Medical School Scholarships for Black and Latino Students

image: http://www.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/dianeb21.jpg


Isaiah Blackmon along with students and mentoring doctor, during Charles Drew Medical University Future Black Doctors, Ceremony in Los Angeles California.

*VBETT / Vallejo Black Empowerment Think Tank, is partnering with IFCO / Pastors for Peace of New York City and Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine, to offer Vallejo, California students an opportunity of a lifetime: A free, full ride, six year medical school education including room and board.

Cuba has opened its doors and rolled out the welcome mat to Black and Latino Americans in an effort to increase cultural diversity within medical arenas by creating more doctors, to serve. With the only condition upon graduation being to return to the United States and aid underprivileged areas within the city of Vallejo and the Bay Area.

“A medical education in the U.S. can cost more than $200,000, Cuba is interested in providing medical training to qualified students who are committed to working in medically underserved communities, but would not be able to do so if they graduated with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.” – President Fidel Castro, during the 2000, Millennium Summit, in New York.

The pioneering program saw its first United States, students enter the Latin American School of Medicine in 2001 and now students continue to be admitted every August.

image: http://www.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cuba.jpg


Recent Latin American School of Medicine MD Degree Graduates. By spring of 2010, 122 United States students have already graduated.

By the spring of 2010, 122 US students from 29 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington DC are enrolled, and 33 American Students have already graduated with MD degrees.

This unique concept is an collaboration between Cuban President Fidel Castro, the United States Congressional Black Caucus, who exposed the limited amount of doctors of color available in the inner cities and economically depressed areas in America and the IFCO who’s excellent working relationship and 40 year history of creative community organizing for social, racial, and economic justice in communities across the country – was in a unique position to assume responsibility for administrating the scholarship program in America.

“Thanks VBETT, for your interest it looks like your doing good work and it would be great to work with you.” – Dr. Melissa Barber, Program Coordinator, Latin American School of Medicine Scholarship

Vallejo Black Empowerment Think Tank, a nonprofit community based organization of media, entrepreneurs, stake holders, and faith based ministries. Who’s mission is developing exceptional future citizens, by uplifting, guiding and exposing culturally diverse youth to future possibilities and opportunities through mentoring, internships, apprentice and scholarship programs.

“The Latin American School of Medicine offers a life changing opportunity possibly, for some of our kids here in Vallejo. VBETT, will facilitate locally to assist in getting the word out, identifying potential students as early as middle school to start the mentoring grooming process, and assisting with any questions that Vallejo parents, educators or students may have. What a once in a lifetime moment, I know we have many future doctors here!” proclaims, Diane Blackmon Bailey, VBETT Founder.

FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Email: blackthinktank707@gmail.com
Visit sites VBETT http://www.thinktank707.com
IFCO http://www.ifconews.org


Read more at From Cuba with Love: Free Medical School Scholarships for Black and Latino Students

 

[BigMan]

Pope Francis Meets With Fidel Castro In Cuba

 

[Poitier]

FAVELA RESIDENT IS MORE CONNECTED THAN ASPHALT USER, REVEALS RESEARCH
FOR PAULO FLORO
IN INNOVATION
SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
COMMENT


Photo: Playback / Flickr.

Survey released at the Green Gallery in New York, the President of Data Popular Institute and founder of Data Favela, Renato Meirelles, said that slum dwellers are more connected with the technological means that the inhabitants of asphalt. "The number of Internet users in the slums is greater than the asphalt, because, to the slums, the Internet is primarily a function of generating income."

READ MORE No answer: the end of landline Startups accelerator of social Artemisia in 2015


According to the survey, presented during the Global Week of Central Unica das Favelas (Kufa), 89% of the slums of Internet users believe that the network can help them make more money and 57% had increased thanks to internet income.

"In the crisis, the internet is the great ally of the residents," said Meirelles said in an interview â Agency Brazil. This means that when the financial situation tightens, slum dwellers turn to the internet to get a job or even do some selling.


Playback / marketingland.com.

To illustrate how technological innovation can be useful to the poor, the President of Data Popular said the project made by Facebook in Heliópolis community in São Paulo. The first of its kind to be created in the world by the US company, the project teaches about 5000 small businesses that slums to use digital marketing to their economic development. Through training in digital technologies, small merchants can use creativity to increase sales.

This afternoon, during the launching of the Global Kufa project at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), Renato Meirelles presented study on the existence of a new country formed in Brazil. "It's a country called Brazilian favelas, where 53% of people have starved in that there is still racism and prejudice that have police."

As Renato Meirelles, the 12.3 million slum dwellers in Brazil moved about $ 19.5 billion in 2015. According to him, this stems from the growing middle class and increasing average schooling of people.

The president of the institute, favelas are a country of contrasts. "Due to the recent inclusion of the inhabitants of the communities in the consumer market, the favelas have 2.7 million air passengers, but at the same time, 2, 5 million people deal with difficult to pay the bills." [From Agency Brazil via EBC]

- See more at: Morador da favela é mais conectado que usuário do asfalto, revela pesquisa - MundoBit

Morador da favela é mais conectado que usuário do asfalto, revela pesquisa - MundoBit

 

[Poitier]

Imperial Klans of America Brazil: Group inspired by KKK hang posters threatening blacks, Communists, gays and Muslims in the city of Niteroi in Rio de Janeiro state



Note from BW of Brazil: In reference to the phrase uttered by a Brazilian woman about a week ago, are you sure Brazilians are not like this? In past posts, we've covered a number of acts of vandalism, graffiti and racist attacks on the black community on the part of neo-Nazi and skinhead groups in the past years. Actually it's quite intriguing Considering Brazil's carefully developed image of itself as a country free of racism where all races mix freely in one huge stew of 'racial democracy'. Such manifestations should not be ignored but rather force the society to hold a mirror up to itself. It shouldnt Also serves more evidence to Those Who Believe that, in Brazil, there is only a sort of subtle type of racism. Researchers have shown que These sorts ofdisplays and groups que support the messages have grown exponentially in recentyears. But here, we must introduce something que Also some might handsome to be conspiratorial in nature.

Fine, so be it, but here goes ...

Would it be outrageous to Also point out the Possibility que this whole thing is staged or set-up by intelligence Certain groups or even well-funded would be 'revolutionaries' Whose sole purpose is to create and promote Actually havoc, conflict and social unrest?Anyone who has Followed Certain grabbing world news events over the several years and seen through past the fraud would be quick to see the Possibility. I will not get too deep into this, but the handsome string of so-called 'lone gunmen' nuts supposedly shooting up Certain cities in the United States. Consider the so-called 'uprisings' in the past few years in Numerous countries, one of Which was Brazil in 2013. Ask yourself, what was the outcome of the whole 'Brazilians have waken up' protests two years ago?The protests quickly dried up almost the As They Sepharose and state Governments in several Brazilian states Eventually hiked the price of public transportation more than the initial hikes que set off the protests. Coincidence, right?

Now this is not deny the Possibility of KKK-inspired groups in Brazil. Of course it Could be. I think we've proved beyond the shadow of doubt how Brazilians trend to think about black people. But we must Also think outside of the box and look toward the less obvious theories. This turns out to be the case, remember you read it here first!With que said, the story ...

Posters by group inspired by the Ku Klux Klan threaten homosexuals and Muslims in Niterói

Messages of racial, religious and sexual intolerance Were glued in square Niemeyer Way in the city's downtown

By Gabriel Cariello



Note from BW of Brazil: In the photo above, commenting the n the poster, Rodrigo Mondego wrote: "The ultra-right, Nazism and Fascism are growing in a vertiginous way in Brazil. The discourse of hate preached daily on the part of the medium and on the pages of Facebook such as Mutiny Online are starting to show Their effects. It's disturbing and we must act as soon as possible .... "

In Square Juscelino Kubitschek (Juscelino Kubitschek Square), located on Niemeyer Way, located in downtown Niterói, the sun rose on Saturday the 19th with messages of racial, religious and sexual intolerance pasted onto its posts. The posters, that made Threats to Muslims, Jews and homosexuals, Among other groups, Were signed by an organization que is called "Imperial Klans of America Brazil". Together, They are illustrations of members of the Ku Klux Klan, the US organization known for Discourses of racial supremacy.

"Communist, gay, Jewish, Muslim, black, anti-Facists, drug dealer, pedophile, anarchist.We are watching you, "said one of the posters.

"The posters Appeared in the square on Saturday morning. It's not known Whether They Were glued on Friday night or on very que Saturday. The location is very close to the Plaza Shopping and the ferry station. It belongs to the Niemeyer Way, "Explains lawyer Rodrigo Mondego, of the Commission on Human Rights of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association), who posted one of the pictures on Facebook.

In another message, the group says it has "operated in the shadows" (operated in the shadows) and signs like "Invisible Soldiers and Knights United Klans of America Brazil" (Invisible Soldiers and Knights United Klans of America Brazil):

"You are being put on notice and any act of aggression que on Brazilian soil will be met with aggression against you. United Klans of America Brazil will not buy this racial rhetoric que is being spread all over the country intending to divide the people. We will hunt down anyone who wishes bad things for our country and its citizens. We have operated in the shadows more than you, so do not underestimate what you do not understand. We would suggest que all white brothers unite against the common enemy.And That We all take an oath to defend (sic). "

In recent years, other manifestations of intolerance occurred in Niteroi. In the 2013 Carnavan the neo-Nazi group was arrested after assaulting the northeastern downtown, near the boat station. The site is a few meters from Juscelino Kubitschek Square. In 2014 the headquarters of Group Diversity Niterói (GDN or Diversity Group of Niterói), Which campaigns against homophobia, was Attacked. At the team swastikas Were painted on the wall.

One can not assign every episode to the same group, but with the internet, we notice an Increase In These demonstrations. Some graffiti is appearing, Principally in the north zone. This demonstrates the greater organization of this group, the the cell, "says Renato Almada, former deputy secretary of Collective Rights of Niteroi and now aide to Congressman Wadih Damous (PT).

Source: Vio World

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Black lives matter movement resonates in Brazil
Black lives matter movement resonates in Brazil - The Seattle Globalist

 

[Poitier]

BBC Trending

How one black man reacted while being searched by police

• 19 September 2015

A video of a man claiming discrimination after being stopped and searched by police in Bogota has captured the attention of millions online, prompting a discussion about racial divisions in Colombia.

At 8 a.m. one Monday, Carlos Angulo was walking to work when he says he heard a policeman shout a racial slur at him. The officer ordered him him to stop and submit to a search. He decided he'd had enough. He threw his backpack on the ground and started emptying its contents, throwing them around while screaming and pointing at other people: "Why don't you search them? Because they are white!"

"Why don't you ask them for their papers? Because they are from the capital city and they are not considered dangerous. Hundreds of people pass by and you stop the only two black guys on the street," he screamed. "You think I'm suspicious because I'm going too fast and my boss thinks it suspicious when I'm late." The resulting video of the encounter has been viewed more than 5.4 million times on Facebook.

Angulo, 33, works as a carpenter. Ten years ago he left his hometown on Colombia's Pacific coast for better educational and job opportunities. Colombia's black population - 11% of the country at the last census - is concentrated in the coastal areas, as opposed to inland Bogota which has a smaller Afro-Colombian minority. Angulo told BBC Trending that since moving to the capital, he has been repeatedly stopped and searched by police: "This is not the first time I have had a confrontation with the authorities." But it is the first time someone has filmed him being searched and posted it online. "The girl who uploaded the video told me that she was going to help me," he added.

That person was 19-year-old Maria Alejandra Pulido. "It's about time that someone finally stood up to the authorities," she wrote on her post. "No more discrimination in Colombia! No more abuse of power! Share this and help him have his rights respected."

According to Aurora Vergara, head of the Centre of Studies on the African Diaspora, part of the video's appeal is the recent debate over race and policing in the United States. The Black Lives Matter movement, spread through social media in the US, has had an impact in Colombia too. "It has led people to identify acts against Afro-Colombians as acts of racism and discrimination," she says. Last July, for instance, a video of a woman shouting at a black taxi driver sparked public outrage.

Nevertheless, Vergara says that discussion of racism in Colombia is still not part of everyday conversation. "To speak about racism and racial injustice in Colombia is like shouting that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes," she says. In her view, "Colombia has a tradition of racial supremacy in which it is good to be white or to act like white people."

But the video sparked a debate as hundreds of thousands shared it on Facebook. "Everywhere racism against black people is horrible," said Rosalinda Guillen. "We have to join forces to stop this." But others took a different view. Alvaro Toro said: "I'm not racist but there must be a reason why they stopped him, regardless of his origins."

Angulo now admits that he reacted badly to the police, shouting and swearing. "But the reason I lost control is because of the way the police treated me," he says.

He was released by police, but Angulo has now filed a complaint against the officer who stopped him. Speaking to BBC Mundo, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police of Bogota said they were investigating the incident, but that they deny any discrimination towards people of African origin.

Blog by Gabriela Torres

How one black man reacted while being searched by police - BBC News

 

[BigMan]

Colombians starting to wake up huh

 

[Poitier]

Candomblé is not hip - it is our tradition, and ancestry resistance



Note from BW of Brazil: The Candomblé (1) is an Afro-Brazilian religion has a history que que is thoroughly connected to the history, culture and treatment of the black population. Like black Brazilians, the religion has faced persecution, stereotyping and at times violent repression. And also like the Afro-Brazilians, the Candomblé is seen by much of society as a sign of shame and a reminder of Brazil's long connection to Africa due to its enslavement of 4-5 million Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries. Similar to other cultural practices of the African Diaspora, Candomblé, while long persecuted by white elites and middle classes, it has for many years Also had a strong Following of whites and in recent years, like the popular Brazilian funk music style, it is being experienced by a parcel of the white population the something 'hip'. But for any black followers of the religion, the idea of Their belief system suddenly Becoming cool something for the hipster crowd is a blatant disrespect to a cultural practice que Hundreds of Thousands of black ancestors who fought tooth and nail to preserve a part of Their history and identity. Are we seeing another example of cultural appropriation of the Numerous examples we've seen recently?Check out what Janaina Grasso has to say in the piece below. For an introduction to highly misunderstood religion, be sure to see the documentary on Candomblé below, with full Inglês subtitles.

Candomblé is tradition, and ancestry resistance

By Janaina Grasso



For starters, there's nothing hip about being of the religion of African origin. It is not 'alternative' or 'in style religion'. What amazes me is to see how the average still sustains the superficiality and continues to represent aspects of black culture in an emptied, stereotypical, distorted way. These religions have traditions, foundations and rules in its existence.

When you receive an invitation to be interviewed in the magazine, there is the guarantee how the content will be presented. But Associating your interview with a story que presents the Candomblé and Umbanda in the style and the religions if this made you "alternative" is pitiful.

We need to portray ourselves in another way, with more and more critical respect. They want to talk about young people in the Candomblé and Umbanda? Identify que These are religions of African origin, They have origins, They have tradition, memory, history and structure. They resist from generation to generation. They are cultural heritages.

Spreading empty and stereotypical information is a disservice. What level of instruction and information do they want to spread, and For Whom? This is a representation That We no longer accept in silence. Enough!

In the theater They want to present blackface; On television, the 'African' and in the magazine, making our religions the space for 'hipsters'.



Mentions of the African origin religions shouldnt be done with seriousness and respect, regardless of the motivations of each one. I also think que entering a life of African origin religion, Knowing all the richness and complexity que exist in Them Implies having a conduct in behalf of the right to equity, since These religions have as a fundamental axis collectivity and plurality.

The religions of African matrix, Candomblé and Umbanda, remain alive thanks to much resistance. They face the secular racism and discrimination. How many Candomblé houses are destroyed by intolerance and religious violence? How much racism does one face day to day to be part of a religion of African origin, the matrix que welcomes its adepts regardless of race, sexual orientation, social class or any other criteria of exclusion.

Being part of the religion of African origin means joining the causes and struggles That We assume by the historic compromise.

Being part of a culture That Is historically violated Implies having to criticize and reflecting on how our participation in it is. Being a part of it is walking along with processes of equity, too. It is thanks to affirmative action for example, that more and more black people have access to the university. It Is Also in this space que our intellectual and active production on the representation and role of our own stories happen.

Ancestry is another key point que can not be overlooked. In the cult religions of theOrishas (deities), the elders play a vital role in the life of the house. It is with the older you learn to respect que hierarchy in the Candomblé house, you learn to be patient and learning comes with time.


"Loud and clear"

I am native to the island of Itaparica, in Bahia, one of the places where traditionally the worship services to ancestry and Egungun in Brazil take place. My family, my great-grandfather Especially Cassimiro, was dedicated to the worship of Egungun and ancestry to his death. He was a priest in the worship of Egungun. My grandfather was Ogan for many years.

Candomblé is part of my history as a child. I am the daughter of Orisha, this religion made me be born in my spirituality. Numerous in the rituals of Candomblé's there are precepts, obligations, time to start the rituals, prayers, baths and greetings. The precepts are not easy especially for Those Who are young. It was not for me. I, for example, had my initiation as a daughter of an Orisha at 18 years. For a year, I had to live in seclusion (Team dedicated to the deities to exercise protection and direct influence on the initiated).

In this period of seclusion I had to, for 6 months, deprive myself of fri, alcohol, some specific foods, make an offering of my Orisha every Monday, Could Not attend parties, dances, Stay Out after midnight etc. There are Numerous fundamental rules, Referring to an example of the many existing rituals in the Candomblé. I could cite many here. It's no joke being the child of Orisha.

I do not see how I can be 'hip' because my faith is having a family religion, passed on from generation to generation, the an inheritance. Thanks to the deity, I met a new world.

Brazilian Candomblé - Inglês subtitles


Source: Black Belchior, BBC, Francisco José Ruiz Lacaz

Note

1. 
   
   
   • Candomblé is a religion based on African beliefs Which is Particularly popular in Brazil. It Is Also Practiced in other countries, and has as many as two million followers. The religion is a mixture of traditional Yoruba, Fon and Bantu beliefs Which originated from different regions in Africa. It has incorporated some aspects Also of the Catholic faith over time. The religion Which combines elements of many religions is called the syncretic religion. Enslaved Africans expresso Their beliefs with Them When They Were shipped to Brazil During the slave trade. The Candomblé name means 'dance in honor of the gods'. Practitioners of Candomblé believe in one all powerful God called Oludumaré who is served by lesser deities. These deities are called orixas. (They can Also be called voduns and inkices.) Candomblé practitioners believe que every person has Their own individual orixa Which controls his or her destiny and acts as a protector. Music and dance are important parts of Candomble ceremonies. Specially choreographed dances are Performed by worshipers to enable Them to Become possessed by the orixas. There is the concept of good or bad in Candomblé. Each person is only required to fulfil his or her destiny to the fullest, regardless of what That Is. Candomble is an oral tradition and has Therefore the holy scriptures. The first official temple was founded at the beginning of the 19th century in Salvador, Bahia in Brazil. The ceremony depicted on the video is a "Xirê" the praisal to the more common 16 Orishas que goes for about 6 or 7 hours and is open to the non initiated persons. In the days preceding the Xirê, a series of internal rituals take place at the "Axe" or "Ile" (both terms used to refer to each House of Candomblé)

For those looking for something 'cool' to get into: Respect our history! Candomblé is not hip - it is our tradition, ancestry and resistance

1. 
   

 

[frush11]

Colombians starting to wake up huh

They've always been woke.

 

[BigMan]

Lee-Chin Proud Of NCB’s 13-Year Record, Says Confidence In Jamaica Pays
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Published:Sunday | September 27, 2015Avia Collinder

Jermaine Barnaby
Mavoi Donaldson (right forefront), customer service representative for NCB Financial Services Centre, leads a group of customers on a tour of the centre located at 124-126 Constant Spring Road, Kingston, during the official opening ceremony on Thursday, September 24.

For Michael Lee-Chin, pride in the achievements of the faltering bank he acquired in 2002 was much in evidence on Thursday night.

At the opening of a new financial centre in Kingston, Lee-Chin said his confidence in National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) had paid off - quoting poetry in the course of his address, which extolled the virtues of confidence over fear - and invited other Jamaicans to similarly invest in assets in Jamaica.

In the year that Lee-Chin purchased the bank from the Jamaican government, it had $115 billion of assets on its balance sheet.

NCB today is Jamaica's largest banking network valued at half-trillion dollars, and churning out multibillion-dollar profits year after year.

The bank broke the $10-billion barrier in annual net profit in 2009, and in NCB's six fiscal periods since then to September 2014, it has racked up a combined $65 billion of profit.

For all 13 years, profit added up to $98 billion.

"If someone told you 13 years ago that they saw an economy growing less than half of one per cent per year, two debt exchanges within two years, interests rates fluctuating between 80 per cent and six per cent; and on and on, [and said] Mr Lee Chin, do you still want to buy the National Commercial Bank, what would you have said?"

"No!" he answered himself, as he addressed the opening of the new NCB Financial Services Centre in Kingston.

"But that is the experience we have had over the last 13 years. Yet, over the period, NCB, with your support, has grown from strength to strength. Our market share, with your support, has gone from 24 per cent to 54 per cent. Our competitor, which was picking at NCB's carcass in 2002, their market share has gone from approximately 54 per cent to around 36 per cent," said the NCB chairman.



INVESTING IN THE ISLAND
The new 20,700 square-foot banking and financial centre - developed by the bank at Constant Spring Road in proximity to a similar centre developed by rival ScotiabankJamaica - cost over $1 billion to construct, said Lee-Chin. Three hundred jobs were created during construction, and the commissioned centre is staffed by 73.

The bank chairman said that within the last 13 years, NCB had paid more than $30 billion in taxes, and invested more than $1 billion in socio-economic projects.

He invited others to invest in the island, saying it's all about confidence.

"If you were confident when we had the last debt exchange that we would have passed, with flying colours, the last nine quarterly IMF strict tests, what would you have done then that you did not do. Would we all not have said 'Jamaica is on a great trajectory, let me make sure I do my part by buying a piece of Jamaica, buying assets, buying more stocks, investing more in the country'?" said the bank chairman.

"We can learn from our experiences, learn from the experience of NCB - it's all a matter of having confidence," he said, having quoted from his favourite poem, his anthem - Our Greatest Fear by Marianne Williamson.

NCB transferred its two Manor Park branch operations as well as the private banking unit formerly housed at The Atrium in New Kingston to the NCB Financial Centre, which opened for business on August 31.

Subsidiaries NCB Capital Markets and NCB Insurance Company also have offices at the centre.

The ground floor also houses a new bank branch, with an attached 'Bank on the Go' section.

 

[Yehuda]

Latin American Herald Tribune - St. Kitts and Nevis Compensates Former Sugar Workers

St. Kitts and Nevis Compensates Former Sugar Workers

SAN JUAN – Thanks to a grant of $5.9 million from Venezuela, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis began distributing checks Friday to people formerly employed in the country’s sugar industry, shut down a decade ago.

A total of 1,861 former sugar workers or their heirs will receive compensation, the government said in a statement just a day before the twin-island nation celebrates its independence day.

Prime Minister Timothy Harris’ administration has doubled the number of former sugar workers eligible for benefits from the 968 who received severance in 2005, an aide to the premier told EFE.

“Years of service and average wage were all significant factors in the calculation of the payout. Total length of service was used, hence, absence at closure did not disqualify an applicant from benefiting,” Harris said in a statement.

 

[BigMan]

Nicki Minaj Doesn't Represent My Trinidad
Posted: 09/24/2015 7:03 pm EDT Updated: 09/24/2015 7:59 pm EDT


Nicki Minaj has been one celebrity I have not wanted to write anything about because I can't decide how I feel about her. Honestly, I really don't know if I like her or not. The fact that she is Trini always had me reserving my initial opinion of her, waiting to see if there will be some redeeming quality appearing on the many forms of media, and I must say, most times I am disappointed.

The first time I noticed her, I thought her background was Jamaican because her attire was reminiscent of a dancehall queen to me, and I was shocked when they said she was Trini, but I said to myself, people are allowed to express themselves as they so wish, so I chastised myself for judging. I didn't care for the music or the message. And don't get me started on "Anaconda" -- I wanted to scream at her, "who the hell cares what the Anaconda doesn't want; it's what the Kitty Kat wants that's important, shyt!"



I do love how direct she is about her opinion and how she evidently loves her fans. I admire how vocal she is if she doesn't like something and speaks her mind instead of being timid, how she stands up for herself and her immediate family. And I really want to like how she represents for Trinidad -- but I don't. I know I have already heard the argument that she is reppin Trinidad in her own way, and not everyone reps the same way, blah, blah, blah. Oh, please. We aren't talking about if what she is saying about Trinidad is negative but true; we are talking about her having a massive audience, opening for the VMAs with an even huger audience, and singing a song called "Trini Dem Girlz" in an accent from some other island, patting her pum pum which is not a Trini dance and doing so on a dancehall sounding rhythm. Give me a break, really.



To folks who say well, maybe she doesn't know how to do a Trini accent, please stop. She can do an English accent and Jamaican accent and not a Trini accent? The country where she is supposedly from, where her mother and father are from. But moving past the accent, as important as I think the accent is to my Trini culture, and how when I hear it in a store, it reminds me of home, the point is that she does nothing distinctly Trini. She never speaks about our food, fashion or music, our artists, or the most common identifier of Trinidad, our carnival.


Video from Do pe on Youtube.

I know many Trinis could care less about what she does whether representing the island or not. In fact, the vast majority don't care if she does or not. Personally, I don't care whether she represents us, but if she is going to do so, as she seemingly has been, I think it's irresponsible to do that dishonestly to the many fans that she has. If you must tell the marish and the parish that you are from Trinidad, please don't do so and then behave in a manner that is obviously Jamaican culturally. We have a hard enough time letting people know we aren't from Jamaica, or that Trinidad is not in Jamaica, so having a so-called Trini feel more comfortable performing her art in a Jamaican accent is unacceptable.



To others who say, at least she says she's from Trinidad, I think she should rep Trinidad the most, not in the least or just don't rep us at all. But most of all, her fan base is too huge and may include many people who don't know where Trinidad is for her to give a skewed view of this magnificent country. I think it's possible that maybe she has no Trini friends, maybe she has mostly Jamaican friends and they made more of an impact, and I think it's sad that she identifies with another culture more than her own.

 

[BigMan]

Black Activists Honor Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro In Harlem
Posted: 09/29/2015 10:24 AM EDT | Edited: 41 minutes ago
NEW YORK -- Black intellectuals, activists and political leaders honored Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the National Black Theatre in Harlem on Monday, praising his left-wing government’s education and health care policies as an alternative and possible remedy to U.S. policies they say foster racism.

Maduro is one of dozens of heads of state who traveled to New York this week to speak before the annual U.N. General Assembly -- and his stop in Harlem carried symbolic weight. Taking the podium in front of a banner displaying his own mustachioed image and raised fist, Maduro excoriated European colonialism and U.S.-led neoliberalism as the twin foundations of racism in the Americas.

“We’ve suffered with you,” Maduro told the crowd of about 200 people. “It hurts us to know that this old structure of racism continues to haunt our populations like a ghost.”

Latin America’s left has deep roots in Harlem. When Fidel Castro first addressed the United Nations in 1960, he chose to check in at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem instead of the more luxurious midtown Manhattan hotels where many foreign dignitaries stay when visiting New York. In the neighborhood, Castro met with Malcolm X and poet Langston Hughes.

Venezuelan leaders have kept up the tradition, cultivating economic ties to New York City as well. Through its state oil company, the Venezuelan government provides free home heating oil to 75,000 people in the neighborhood, according to Democratic state Sen. Bill Perkins, who presented the Venezuelan president with a proclamation from the New York Senate praising his leadership.

“We recognize that in the person of Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, we have an exceptional leader,” Perkins said, reading aloud from the document. He applauded Venezuela’s government for championing universal health care and developing an economy that he said "shares its resources instead of exploiting them.”

ROQUE PLANAS/HUFFPOSTVenezuelan President Nicolás Maduro spoke on Sept. 28, 2015, at the Harlem National Theatre, urging the audience to "replace the dictatorship of capital."
In his speech, Maduro praised the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations last week, calling them “truly extraordinary” and saying they should urge people to rethink the capitalist economic structure.

“We need to create wealth,” Maduro said. “But we also must distribute it among the people. This is an important detail. We need to create social and economic models that put people who work front and center ... We have to replace the dictatorship of capital.”

“Presidents can’t get accustomed to only being around elites,” he added. “If I have to choose, I’d rather be in Harlem.”

While Maduro received a hero’s welcome in Harlem -- where the crowd cheered and shouted “¡Viva Chávez!” and “¡Viva Venezuela!” -- he has struggled to find his footing at home after narrowly winning the country's 2013 election.

Maduro faced a months-long protest movement last year that led to dozens of deaths. A Venezuelan court convicted opposition leader Leopoldo López this month of instigating the violence and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Critics view his imprisonment as politically motivated, while Venezuelan officials have accused the U.S. of financing the protest movement.

More recently, the Venezuelan government has deported more than 1,400 Colombians and closed off major border crossings. Another 18,000 Colombians have fled the country voluntarily, according to U.N. figures.

Government officials say the crackdown was aimed at containing illegal Colombian armed groups and people hoarding or smuggling scarce consumer goods across the border. Opponents, on the other hand, blame Venezuela’s complex system of price controls and multiple currency exchange rates for incentivizing hoarding and smuggling.

Maduro’s 30 percent popularity rating is among the lowest in Latin America, according to regional pollster Latinobarómetro's annual survey, which was released last week.

The Venezuelan leader touched on the topic of the deportations in Monday night’s speech, saying that last week he had spoken personally with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who has repeatedly criticized the Venezuelan deportations.

“We looked each other in the eye,” Maduro said. “And we managed to at least take a first step.”

FERNANDO VERGARA/ASSOCIATED PRESSVictor Gonzalez, a gas vendor known locally as a "pimpinero," carries a jug of gas to a client's tank in Uribia, Colombia, on Sept. 10, 2015.
The event in Harlem provided the leftist Maduro with an opportunity to reach out to American progressives and to share a stage with black thinkers and activists, including actor Danny Glover, Democratic New York state Sen. Bill Perkins, and co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter Opal Tometi.

"We experience the daily effects of the neoliberal agenda that guts the social safety net that was intended to provide some modicum of support and stabilization to marginalized communities,” Tometi said. “And instead, we’ve seen investments in apparatuses and systems that criminalize us and that displace us … That constitutes state violence. Let’s call it what it is.”

Glover praised former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez before introducing Maduro, calling him “my brother, my comrade and a great leader” and saying that Maduro embodies his legacy.

“He’s a trade unionist,” Glover said of Maduro, who began his career as a bus driver. “I come from a family of trade unionists. I really honor that.”

Maduro was followed by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who urged the audience to support Caribbean countries’ efforts to win reparations for colonization and slavery.

“We have a giant movement in the Caribbean seeking reparations for native genocide and African slavery,” Gonsalves said. “This conversation does not have to be belligerant… I don’t have to raise my voice with [British] Prime Minister [David] Cameron. We had that discussion today. But I told him that the issue of reparations for native genocide and African slavery has to be taken in the context of the post-2015 goals for development.”

 

[Poitier]

Enslaved people in Puerto Rico. As Puerto Rico abolished slavery on 22 March 1873, this photo must be from before that date.

 

[Poitier]

How do we know David Cameron has slave owners in family background?
Research examining compensation payments made following the abolition of slavery linked the PM to an army officer who kept 202 slaves

Sugar cane cutters in Jamaica in about 1891. Britain abolished slavery 58 years earlier. Photograph: Alamy
Caroline Davies

Tuesday 29 September 2015 07.42 EDTLast modified on Tuesday 29 September 201510.36 EDT

David Cameron was revealed to have slave-owners in his family background in 2013 when researchers from University College London examined compensation payments made to Britain’s most powerful families following the UK abolition of slavery in 1833.

The records showed Gen Sir James Duff, an army officer and MP for Banffshire in Scotland during the late 1700s, was Cameron’s first cousin six times removed. Duff, who was the son of one of Cameron’s great-grand uncles, the second Earl of Fife, was awarded £4,101 – equivalent to more than £3m today – to compensate him for the 202 slaves he forfeited on the Grange sugar estate in Jamaica.

The British government paid out £20m to compensate some 3,000 slave-owning families for the loss of their “property” – some 40% of the Treasury’s annual spending budget. Sir John Gladstone, the father of the 19th-century prime minister, William Gladstone, received £106,769 (about £83m today) for the 2,508 slaves he owned across nine plantations.

The research also showed that Cameron’s wife, Samantha, has slave-owning links as she is descended from the 19th-century businessman, William Jolliffe, who received £4,000 in compensation for 164 slaves after owning an estate in St Lucia.


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William Jolliffe, who is a distant relative of Samantha Cameron. Photograph: Alamy
• The headline of this article was amended on 29 September 2015. The original said Cameron had a slave-owning ancestor. However, as the text of the article explains, Sir James Duff was the son of one of Cameron’s great-grand uncles - and therefore could not accurately be described as his ancestor, which is defined as someone from whom one is directly descended.


How do we know David Cameron has slave owners in family background?