It may take a while to determine if the region's tour de force at the U.S. capital during the June 19-21 "Conference on the Caribbean - A 20/20 Vision" - which also attracted non-CARICOM member representatives such as Haiti's President Rene Preval, Belize's Prime Minister Said Musa and top representatives of institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the Organization of American States (OAS) - was merely an extravagant "talk shop" or, in fact, laid the groundwork to achieve tangible benefits from Caribbean-U.S. relations on thorny matters, including trade, security, economic development and immigration. What the Caribbean publicly said it hoped to accomplish at the three-day conference was to tell the U.S. of its new-found evolution and plans to bond more closely as a region in pursuit of prosperity. At the end of the conference a joint US.-Caribbean communiqué acknowledged the region's requests and expressed "unequivocal commitment to a secure and prosperous region and future benefits for all our citizens." "I don't believe it will just be a 'talk shop'," said Dr. Basil K. Bryan, Jamaica's consul general to New York. "I think thing will happen, but at a policy level I think it will take a little time for things to germinate. But we're all looking forward, positively, for something to happen out of this conference."
Among the big talking points of the current immigration debate in the United States is the type of labor that should be admitted into the country. Many believe the entry of "unskilled" laborers should be severely restricted. Jamaican-born Eleanor Brown, a Reginald Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law School, is not one of them. Shortly after addressing the "Conference on the Caribbean: A 20/20 Vision " last month, Brown explained to Caribbean Today's Managing Editor Gordon Williams why more of the Caribbean's labor force should allowed to go overseas.
While some forget that the United States does not have a monopoly over the title "America," the term, with some exceptions, encompasses most of the Western Hemisphere. As such, many of the communities of African descent that reside within this range possess equal claim to the name "African Americans." The event commemorated "Black Consciousness Day," an annual holiday that is celebrated in Brazil on November 20. The public holiday pays tribute to an African ancestor, Zumbi dos Palmares, revered by Blacks in the country for his fierce resistance to slavery in the 17th century. The day was consciously chosen to symbolize the ongoing struggles of Blacks to achieve social and economic equality in Brazil.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
187 p., Alas/ Graciela Rojas Sucre-- Y se hicieron amigos/Alicia Castro Argüello-- Amor de mulata/ Argentina Díaz Lozano-- La sombra de la otra/Victoria Urbano -- El negro/Leonor Paz y Paz -- El penador/ Luisita Aguilera Patiño -- Juan Negro / Dina del Carmen Rodas Jerez --Al negro le pagan por bailar /Matilde Elena López --Siervo de siervos/Rima de Vallbona -- ¿Hombre raro o sensitivo? / Catalina Barrios y Barrios -- ¿Y yo?/ Julieta Pinto -- Amor se escribe con G/ Rosa María Britton -- El horno de la vida / Bertalicia Peralta -- La aristócrata y su mulato /Irma Prego -- El talingo / Consuelo Tomás -- Cuando Claudina camina /Consuelo Tomás -- Hay que tener vergüenza/ Moravia Ochoa López -- El secreto de Lola / Moravia Ochoa López -- El veredicto / María Dávila -- Atrapado / Aída Judith González Castrellón -- El mulato/ Marta Susana Prieto; Includes biblipgraphical references ( 175-186)
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
509 p., Presents a diverse, richly textured picture of Africans' experiences during the era of the Atlantic slave trade and offers the most comprehensive explanation of how African lives became entangled with the creation of the modern world. Includes Emmanuel Kofi Agorsah's "Scars of brutality : archaeology of the Maroons in the Caribbean."
Investigates the Islamic heritage of the Maroon societies in Jamaica and the Islamic nature of the Baptist Rebellion which brought an end to slavery in Jamaica and in the British West Indies. The Maroons are the enslaved Muslims who took flight or ran away from plantations in Jamaica. An overview of the African diaspora in the Americas, including Jamaica and the West Indies is presented. The strong Islamic faith of the Maroons are manifested in their use of Qur'anic terms, Islamic salutation, Islamic governance, Muslim names and Islamic actions.
Jamaican [James Beckford], a two-time World Championship medallist, posted a long jump victory at 8.09 metres, while Trinidad and Tobago's Ato Modibo and the U.S. Virgin Islands' Láveme Jones logged victories on the track. Jones clocked a wind-assisted 22.67 seconds to land the women's 200 metres, chased by American Wyllesheia Myrick (23.05) and Britain's Emily Freeman (23.15). In the women's 400 metres, Guyana's 2002 Commonwealth Games champion Aliann Pompey clocked 52.41 seconds for the runner-up spot behind Ireland's Joanne Cuddihy (52.26).
