Recently, while in London, I attended the play Get Up Stand Up, reflecting the life and music of the legend, Robert Nesta Marley. I was supremely proud of that experience, even becoming emotional, especially as I witnessed the audience, rocking and...
The Resurrection is the centre-piece of Christian faith. Without it, Christianity crumbles like a bag of cookies accidentally sat upon. So the Resurrection isn’t something that can be taken on trust. It must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I...
After more than two years of tireless efforts to balance economic survival with the protection of the health and wellness of global population, through a range of restrictive measures, it is certainly welcome news that the last several months have...
The proverb, anything too black, no good, is intelligible to everyone in Jamaica. It is a peculiar expression of self-hate that prods the average person to put a little milk in the coffee. Literally and figuratively, such expressions tell a...
April 18 is recognised as the ‘International Day for Monuments and Sites’ with ‘Heritage and Climate’ as its 2022 theme. This call stems from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) advocating through open, constructive, and...
Since Edward Seaga’s passing, meaningful efforts, including by the news media time and again, to goad Andrew Holness into addressing the structural issues that present challenges and confusion at the apex of Jamaica’s judicial system have been met...
“If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government then you are doomed to live under the rules of fools,” Plato. According to recent polls, Jamaicans from all the socio-economic parts making up our society have hopped off the...
The public health impacts of the bauxite-alumina industry in Jamaica are the focus of this article. These impacts have been explored using community complaints from across the island reported in the media and the review of the only three known...
Jamaicans are among the world’s best in many things, including reggae music, Olympic sprinting, and creating political storms in tribal teacups. Recently, it was announced that Jamaica’s Government had nominated its Foreign Affairs Minister, Kamina...
The Government’s nomination of the Hon Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, for the position of secretary general of the Commonwealth, has left many Heads of Government in the region angry because of what they...
A little over a week ago I interviewed an 18-year-old man who was waiting on the call to begin his short training course in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). He was quite honest with me and did not express any noble ideals driving him to join...
Prince William, aged 39, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and his wife Kate, aged 40, recently concluded a three-day official visit to Jamaica. As is the norm when members of the royal family visit, the government, as host, went beyond the call of...
The ability of Jamaicans to survive on Jamaican salaries, paid in local currency in Jamaica, is a wondrous miracle to behold. Jamaicans are not only blessed with the skill to stretch their salaries to cover basic needs, but they also possess the...
Recent public discourse on Jamaica’s attempt to manage oil price risk suggests that there are major issues and misconceptions about how and why the Government manages this risk. For instance, there is a concern that a previous government might have...
So after two decades of prompting from me, a conversation about constitutional reform appears to have started. As usual in these matters, the conversation is mostly muddled and (surprise, surprise) tribal. Too many contributions have been...
The social impact of the bauxite-alumina industry on Jamaica’s small rural communities has been, for the most part, very hurtful. Communities were directly impacted by being forced to relocate or face mining pits literally in their front gardens....
On March 23, 2022, yet another Jamaican prime minister – this time in the person of Prime Minister Andrew Holness – made yet another commitment that Jamaica would be “moving on” to become a republic. This latest commitment coincided with the letter...
While I was completing a short biography of the first African and the first Arab United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, word came through of the death of his nemesis: the then United States (US) Ambassador at the UN under...
In December 2021, bell hooks, 69, became an ancestor. This caused her admirers to revisit their memory caches to contemplate the tremendous contributions that this academic and activist made to transformational thinking and praxis. With over 30...
Single-family dwelling houses across suburbs in Kingston, Jamaica, are now a threatened and endangered species. In Jamaica and across its diaspora are several millennial generations, born between 1981 and 1996, who are desirous of owning a single-...
Most Jamaicans are hardly ever mildly lukewarm on the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). They fall somewhere along the spectrum of tolerating it with conditions, hating it, or recognising that no matter the training, the JCF simply mirrors our...
“Jamaica is unique and wonderful!” I heard this exclamation again and again over the past several months, whenever I told colleagues that I was examining economic issues associated with the bauxite-alumina industry in Jamaica, for JET’s Red Dirt...
In March 2018, I set foot on this beautiful island, Jamaica, for the first time. During my tenure here, I have climbed the scenic Blue Mountain, visited the natural Dunn’s River Falls, watched the glorious sunset over the Lover’s Leap, visited the...
“I have the right to do anything,’ you say – but not everything is expedient: All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any…” biblically wrote St Paul to the Corinthians. What is lawful for multifamily residential...
In this edition of Reparation Conversations, Verene Shepherd shares her reflections on Hilary Beckles’ new book, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean, which, along with his Britain’s Black Debt and Barbarity Times, expertly showcases the...
