Four year old girl raped and abducted in Jamaica!!!

 

 

A four year old girl was raped and abducted by a 53 year old man in St.Ann’s Jamaica on Friday. The Gleaner newspaper reported that the little girl was found wondering the streets naked after she was abducted from the home of a family friend.

A man is currently in police custody as the little girl recovers in the hospital from bruises and cuts she received in the assault.

You know, sometimes when I read stories like these it makes me glad that I don’t have kids because I honestly don’t know what I would do if that little girl was my daughter.

Economic and racial inequality exposed in French Caribbean protests

 IF you grow up black in the Caribbean you grow up as a member of the majority and you enjoy all its accompanying rights and priviledges.

In history class kids are taught that their country, the region and by extension most of the North American continents was built on the backs of African slaves and that they are a descendants of these slaves.  All black children in the Caribbean grow up knowing that their dreams are not limited by race and that if they truly work hard they can accomplish anything. Be it a doctor, lawyer, fire fighter or even prime minister black children in the Caribbean KNOW that he/she will NEVER be asked, ” Can a black person really become prime minister? ”

In many cases White and East Indian West Indians have retreated from the political arena. Many choose not (Trinidad and Guyana are the exceptions) to participate in the political life these island states.  Since the granting of Independence (which for many of these nations occurred in the 1960s) political power was swapped for economic power.

It has long been obvious to Caribbean populations that the members of the business elite, mainly the descendants of former colonial masters, East Indian and Chinese indentured labourers, that these handful of families and (in many cases it really is just a few families) exert disproportionate economic influence based on their relative small numbers. In many cases these descendants make up less than 1% of the population yet control 80% of the economic resources with two exceptions once again Trinidad and Guyana.

Granted political power has allowed many in the Caribbean to enjoy a relative high standard of living but Caribbean leaders have often expolited and in many cases fail to seriously address lingering racial tensions that have exploded periodically in the last 50 years-the business class are not solely to blame. 

However,  with the deepening of the global economic crisis and its consequences become clearer and clearer every day for the average citizen those who have controlled the reigns of power for so long have now become targets of popular anger and protest not just in America but across the globe.  Americans aren’t the only ones who are mad as hell!

Sadly, the social structure in the Caribbean a product of its colonial legacy has remained almost unchanged and its accompanying inequalities have led to brief but destructive periods of unrest and resistance.

Martinique and Guaduloupe may now be  experiencing one of those periods, other Caribbean islands are also at risk.

Violent rebellions and revolts once the most powerful weapon in the masses arsenal have long been abandoned for more peaceful protests. But with economic discontent spreading and global resentment rising 2009 may become known as the ‘Year of Violent Discontent’.

Gay people need not apply to Jamaican cabinet

Well, Well, Well…

So now the whole world is exposed to Jamaica’s ugly underbelly; the extreme homophobic aspects of their society.

Bruce Golding, the Prime Minister of Jamaica in responding to harsh criticisms and a call for action by a Canadian gay human rights group Egale Canada, to protect gay Jamaicans from abuse and sometimes murder responded via a British talk show, Hardtalk by emphatically declaring that there would be no room for gays in his cabinet and that acceptance of homosexuality is not necessarily the direction in which he wants to take his nation.

 

 

 

All of this from an educated, businessman that leads one of the more developed countries in the Caribbean!

How can the Caribbean progress when ideas like these are held and perpetuated by the intellectuals and elite in the upper echelons of West Indian society?

 

 

Michelle Bernard has West Indian blood, not a surprise..

 

If you happen to watch MSNBC as much as I do (I know, I know I have no life…lol) then you know the name and the face Michelle Bernard as CEO of a conservative women’s group and a Republican party supporter I’ve always wondered why she seems supportive of Obama’s candidacy and believe me  I’m not the only one who’s noticed this.

After a comment by Chris Matthews on tonight’s Hardball about her heritage I now understand the enthusiasm she has repeatedly showed for Obama’s candidacy.

Bernard is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and if you understand anything about the Caribbean and its people then you will understand why Michelle leans towards social and fiscal conservatism so that explains her political leanings.

However, at the same time she probably has a deep understanding of what it means to grow up black in America and also how significant and monumental it would be not only to America to have it’s first black president but also how much it would mean to all those in the black diaspora as well and this explains her Obama championing!

Hmm..now it all makes sense and by the way she’s separated from this guy..

BTW Sandy Leidholt took that awesome pix, check her out…

**Update** Why didn’t Michelle Bernard get her own show on MSNBC?