Palherino sits right above the main docks where ships brought Africans into the country for slavery. The area was given the name Palherino because it was the place where African people were punished. When you walk into Palherino you are greeted by four large Catholic churches that rope off a section of Palherino where a main stage is usually built for free concerts. During the festivities, barbeque pits with seasoned chicken grilling are set up everywhere. And families sell fruit, foods, drinks and beer, all the while dancing to Rhumba or Merengue. Walking through Palherino you will see women of all sizes, shades and colors dressed in big, elaborate head wraps with full white skirts or dresses. This is the traditional Brazilian dress for black women, most of whom earn their living by assisting tourists to restaurants or around Palherino.
Enrique Patterson, a columnist at Miami's El Nuevo Herald, recently spoke at Baruch College in New York City about racial discrimination in Cuba. Patterson, who is Cuban-American, said Cuban culture has a tradition of racism that developed before Fidel Castro and has not ended under Castro's reign. Patterson said racism is preventing a transition to democracy.
Davis' recipe of curried lamb and rice and peas proved to whet the most appetites and now supermarket giant Sainsbury's is preparing to sell it as a ready-made meal in its stores nationwide. "I don't know what will happen next, if something comes out of this it will be great and if it nothing does, then that will be my 15 minutes of fame. But I would love to be a full-time TV chef - I'm in a different world when I am there," he grinned. Check out the follow-up programme which sees Garfield's TV Dinner being created for Sainsbury's supermarket on BBC1 on June 3.
Biographer Delia Jarrett-Macauley stumbled across Marson's name while doing research for another book. The book has been well-received throughout Britain. Copies have sold out during every one of Jarrett-Macauley's book-signings and scheduled talks. "I saw this clipping that said, `Una Marson, the well-known BBC producer is now on holiday in Jamaica.' And I said: `What! You mean we had a black woman producer at the BBC as early as 1945 and we don't know about it.' I decided her story must be known," she said. Marson joined the BBC in 1936 and made an immediate impact, rising rapidly through the ranks. In 1942 she became the West Indies producer and created the Caribbean Voices programme, which won exposure and respectability for Caribbean writers and poets.
Randall Robinson, founder and president of TransAfrica will speak at 12:30 p.m. at the Black Business and Professional Association's (BBPA) 4th Annual African American Economic Summit to be held Saturday, May 20 at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Robinson is a noted activist and author of Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America. He is best known for his leadership in spearheading the movement to influence United States policies toward Africa and the Caribbean. Robinson played a significant role in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and the restoration of Democracy in Haiti.
Beneficiaries thus far include: West Yorkshire's Cosmos, assigned L30,000 to stage a year-long exhibition for local ethnic communities; Liverpool's Nigerian Community Development Project, given L90,000 to refurbish its Grade II listed building; Wales's Gateway historic parks and gardens access project, granted L113,000; Brixton's National Museum and Archive of Black History, handed L302,000; and central London's Coram's Fields play area for children, awarded £1m for a complete restoration. [Helen Jackson] says there are many ways in which HLF can benefit the black community and that it is particularly keen to address issues such as social exclusion, depravation and young people's concerns. "We want to ensure lottery funding goes to all groups," she says. "We are aware we have more to do in really promoting equality of access to our funding.
Prime minister Musa Said and his delegation highlighted the annual `Day in the Park' program sponsored by the Concerned Belizean Association at Hollywood Park in Inglewood on Sunday afternoon. "You should register to and vote in the United States," he said. "Your being active improves our capabilities in relations between the governments of the United States and the government of Belize. You can be an American, but you'll always be a Belizean!" In their comments, members spoke of progress toward their election goals of 15,000 thousand new jobs, 10,000 new homes and 1,000 new classrooms" to meet the needs of the Belizean people.
"You must understand that we are very different in Cuba," insisted Gabriel Molina Franchossi, director of Gramma newspaper, the official organ of the communist party in Cuba. "To Afro-Cubans, big lips and big backsides are objects of beauty. To us, such images represent the feminine ideal." Afro Cubans also seem naive. Cubans are fond of saying that Fidel Castro abolished racism when he came into power 40 years ago, as though this can be accomplished by a simple decree. What they really mean, of course, is that Castro outlawed discrimination And again, who am I to say he hasn't? In the United States, discrimination didn't become illegal until the mid-60s when Congress passed a series of civil rights laws effecting voting rights, equal employment, and fair housing. By 1968, Richard Nixon was ending a wave of white backlash into power and the process of undermining those gains began. Blacks appear to have had a different experience in Cuba, where better than 40 percent of the population is either Black or mestizo (mixed) and where a fair percentage of those who are considered "white" acknowledge some degree of African or mestizo blood in their heritage. "We in Cuba are not so easily categorized as in the United States," said Reynaldo Calviac Lafferte, director of the International Press Center. He pointed to a wall in his office. "In the same family, there are some who are as white as that wall." Then he slapped his patent leathers. "And there are some who are as black as my shoes. For us, race is not an issue like it is for you."
Oonya Kempadoo has been praised for her debut novel, Buxton Spice, a coming-of-age story set in the Caribbean. The book is a breathtaking glimpse into the inner life of Lula, a lively, highly imaginative girlchild growing up in a racially mixed family in Guyana in the 1970s. Kempadoo's unique and vibrant prose is the camera lens on the lushly exotic world that Lula inhabits. Through her eyes readers are introduced to the colorful denizens of Tamarind Grove. We see the village prostitutes (Sugar Baby, Bullet and Rumshop), the eccentric families, the gentle town spinsters, and Aunt Ruthy, the obeah voodoo lady.
