"We're trying to work in compliance with the principles of Durban," Judge [Graciela Dixon], the current president of Panama's Supreme Court, said. "There's an emphasis on establishing the precise policies our countries need to assure inclusion for African descendants in Latin America." Late last year, Congresswoman Campbell hosted some 75 delegates from 20 countries who came to Costa Rica to attend the third Conference of Afro-Descendant Legislators in the Americas and the Caribbean. "I don't come from the activist Afro tradition," [Edgard Ortuno Silva] confesses, "but from the militant tradition of change. I admit that what has happened to me is that I overcame the problems of Blacks in Uruguay, of people of my skin color. And most people who have overcome no longer have a consciousness of being Black. But in my case, the political process I have been a part of made me aware of the African activist movement and I have talked with them and they have made me conscious."
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.
Benedita da Silva, the first black vice-governor of Rio de Janeiro, is profiled. Through her efforts to keep hope alive for impoverished Brazilians, laws were recently enacted to protect the rights of Rio's street children and domestic employees.
Bermuda's Progressive Labor Party, supported by the island's black population, won a second term in general elections on Jul 24, 2003, but Jennifer Smith, who led the party to victory, has been ousted by a rebel Cabinet faction that claimed she was too autocratic and aloof.
"With the exception of the local corner bar, which they could patronize, Black Cubans did not share recreational activities with white Cubans. They were not hired as clerks or even as menial help in the restaurants. There were no Black Cuban entrepreneurs, except for a tailor, a barber and a very successful dry-cleaning establishment," Grillo says in the book. "In the main, Black Cubans and white Cubans lived apart from one another in Ybor City." While slavery may have been different in Cuba, Afro-Cubans wound up with a social status not much different from that of African Americans. Even Blacks who were financially successful had to deny their ethnicity in order to be accepted within Cuba's white society: "In Cuba, affluent Black Cubans moved within the society of the affluent. 'Es Negro, pero es Negro blanco' ['He is a Black man, but he is a white Black man'] was an expression I heard often."
Eastern Caribbean nationals will feel at home, as their region's music seems to dominate the lineup. Brother Marvin, Singing Sandra and Crazy are all from T&T. Each offering a different style of delivery, they represent calypso's many flavors. To add to that element, ADLIB Steel Orchestra will add instrumentation to the islands' unique genre. Winners of last year's steel band and calypso competitions at the West Indian-American Day Carnival Association's Labor Day gala on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, the 30-member, 11-year-old group promises youth from 7 years old to deliver the beat. St. Paul's J.O.B. Young Adult Choir represents New York in drama, song and dance. Traditional island-style Christmas carols are promised by Charles Dougherty and Circle of Friends Caribbean ensemble.
The political awareness of Afro Cubans remains exclusively tied to the Revolution. "And [Fidel Castro] is the one sustaining the Revolution: the reason Cuba is so strong is because of Fidel," said a prominent U.S.-based Afro Latino journalist who preferred not to be named. "After Fidel, the Cubans in Miami will simply pounce on the island," this journalist contends. "They have connections in Cuba; they have their people in place in Cuba already. When they take over they're going to be opening up the political arena to the U.S. again. Cuba has ostensibly been "independent" since Dec. 10, 1898, following decades of fighting between the nation's independence army, the Cuba Libre, and Spain. By 1898, the war was between Spain and the United States, but Cubans had declared their independence as early as Oct. 10, 1868. At that time, they'd also called for the island to end its enslavement of Black people, but emancipation from slavery was not made law until Oct. 7, 1886.
The Caribbean branch of the Toronto-based Global Afrikan Congress (GAC) this week welcomed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on the horrors of slavery, saying he has done much more for the cause than "our own" Black-led governments in the region on the issue. Maxie Fox, a spokesman for the GAC formed in Barbados in 2002, said the GAC and other Afro organizations have been trying for years to persuade regional governments to "have a discourse" on slavery, its effects on Blacks and even reparations, but only Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, a Hindu, has seen it fit to acknowledge correspondence.
In his farewell address as outgoing Caucus chair, U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to serve as chairman during the 108th Congress and praised [Melvin L. Watt]'s intellect, skill, and balanced approach to solving today's public policy challenges. The new officers of the CBC for the 109th Congress are: Watt, chair; U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, 1st vice chair; U.S. Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, 2nd vice chair; U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, secretary; and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, whip. "We have to have dialogue, and we're trying to create opportunities for that dialogue to take place," said Watt, who admitted that it's hard sometimes for the CBC to take aggressive positions in the areas of trade because of differing views among its own constituents. "We have not been aggressive in the area of trade, advocating one trade policy over another, as we have on some of the more core issues."
Another question is why Shaggy's "Hot Shot" was overlooked by voters. Released last summer, the album made it under the Sept. 30, 2000, deadline and fulfills the requirements with original material. The fact the album went virtually ignored for almost a half-year probably contributed to its absence on the list of finalists. Reportedly, the single "It Wasn't Me" gained life when a KIKI-FM deejay down-loaded the tract from the Internet and put it on the radio. The Honolulu station played the track, winning appeal from all of Hawaii. These months later, BET and MTV have spirited the video to return the Boombastic Lover Lover to the charts. The album is now No. 3 on Billboard Magazine's album chart, but nowhere on the Grammy list of five selections. Favored to place, show or win, The Baha Men of the Banamas were a sure bet. Their baseball-friendly "Who Let the Dogs Out" is awaiting verdict in the dance recording category.
New York elected officials and foreign dignitaries from the Caribbean and Africa among them were state Sen. Johns Sampson, Assemblymen Clarence Norman Jr. and Nick Perry, Councilwoman Una Clarke, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Councilman Ken Fisher as well as Jamaican Consul General Dr. Basil Bryan and former Trinidad and Tobago Consul General Babooram Rambissoon. CACCI's founder and president, Roy A. Hastick Sr., said those honored as year 2001 visionaries were "recognized for their willingness to take the risk and accept the challenge to start and operate a small business in today's economy."
Yvonne J. Graham, CEO of the Caribbean Women's Health Association, discussed the health disparities that continue to plague racial and ethnic groups in the New York City metropolitan area at the Brooklyn-based group's annual benefit reception. The CWHA's chief mission is to respond to problems affecting immigrants from the Caribbean region.
Amsterdam News publisher emeritus Wilbert Tatum was among eight people saluted by the Caribbean Women's Health Association on Mar 15, 2001 at the group's annual benefit reception at the Brooklyn Museum. Tatum and the others were honored for their records of leadership and commitment to community service.
As if her precious life and freedom were a game of poker, the FBI upped the ante or bounty on [Assata Shakur] to $1 million two weeks ago. In a television address last Tuesday, Cuban leader Fidel Castro rejected calls to hand over Shakur, stating that she was not a terrorist but a victim of racial persecution. "They wanted to portray her as a terrorist, something that was an injustice, a brutality, an infamous lie," Castro said in his televised speech, while never mentioning Shakur's name. "They have always been hunting her, searching for her because of the fact that there was an accident in which a policeman died."
Vesey knew the horrors of slavery first hand. Since he had lived in St. Dominique as a youth, he followed the events there with particular interest. Men from the area and surrounding plantations would attack the city, take control of the guardhouse and block the bridges and roads, killing every white person in sight.
Shunning warnings that Cuban Pres Fidel Castro was using them for propaganda purposes, eight US residents have taken Castro up on his offer to grant them free medical education, provided they return to poor communities in the US. On Apr 4, 2001, the eight African-American students took part in welcoming ceremonies hosted by Cuba's Latin American School of Medical Sciences.
The fundraiser night titled "Brazil Comes to Harlem" will feature "live performances from NYC's hottest Afro-Brazilian dancers, musicians and capoeristas!" [Lorelei Williams] said. "It should be a lot of fun and interesting as well." The New York-born Williams, who has a twin sister, admitted that her humongous task of founding and helping to coordinate POMPA activities across the sea and here has been exhausting but very rewarding. "We launched POMPA in 2004."