Caribbean American Passport News Magazine - February 2019

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Feb/Mar 2019

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CELEBRATE

Each year beginning on February 1, an entire month of events are planned nationwide honoring the contributions of African Americans.

The theme for Black History Month in 2019 is "Black Migrations" tracking the continuous movement of blacks from the American South to the industrialized North and beyond.

Beginning in the early 20th century, a growing number of black industrial leaders and black entrepreneurs emerged as families relocated from farms to cities, and from the South to the more industrialized Northeast and Midwest.

Along with the emergence of new music genres -- like ragtime, blues, and jazz -the Harlem Renaissance in New York Citry also signaled a blossoming of the visual and literary arts.

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Julian Marley talks New Album " As I Am"

The Caribbean American Passport Team had the recent honor of interviewing Julian Marley about his newest album, 'As I Am'. Special thanks to Wah Gwan Ah Road Entertainment for their help in this project.

CAP: So, before we jump into it, it’s February and that’s a very important month. Reggae History Month, Black History Month, your father’s birthday… is there a particular reason why you chose to release the album now?

Julian: Really, everything just happened naturally. I’ve been working on this album for the last two years. At one point I thought it’d be released last year, but it didn’t happen so I just said ‘alright’. That’s how it goes, you know.

New album out right in our history month, Black History month and Reggae History month.

CAP: This is your 4th album? You published your first album back in ’96, was that when you really started touring and traveling?

Julian: Well, not really. The first show I ever did was when I was like 14, and that was a show in Paris.

It was the first show that wasn’t in my homeland, I had went away to Paris just to perform. But even before then, I used to sing with a little group in Miami called Copacetic, playing in Coconut Grove and areas around there.

I started really making music on the professional level in my early twenties.

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L I F E S T Y L E Samuel J. Roberts, Publisher/Editor

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Guenet Gittens-Roberts, Publisher/Editor

It's February and life seems to be giving me what I need

t is February and my cup seems to be filling to overflowing. This year, I am try-

ing to stay in the moment, and to reach out to enjoy the life that we have created. I have got to tell you, being in the present is a wonderful feeling.

It sounds so simple, being in the present. But many of us are actively striving for a better life and so we are focused on the future or we are wrapped up in our past and the decisions that we made. We lose the beauty of now and being fully in the moment that we are living.

Two major life moments happened for me recently - I able to meet Julian Marley and as my daughter interviewing him, I stood to the side marveling at the that because of our work, our daughter was interviewing Marley's son. Big moment for me personally there folks!

suffer from." The other quote that I think reflects her stake on life says, "I'm where I need to be, so my heart is light. Whatever happens, I know - I mean, I feel - that this is absolutely where I should be and I've lived up to my own expectations."

Are you loving yourself? Are you living up to your own expectations? The only person who needs to be satisfied with your life is you...are you creating the life you want to live?

was was fact Bob

But only just a few days later, I had the pleasure of attending an interview with Alice Walker widely known as the author of the Color Purple. She was grounded and sincere in a way that most of us aspire to be without knowing what we are aiming for.

Contentment is a wonderful state of being and sometimes we are so caught up in what we didn't do or what we plan to do, that we lose the beauty of contentment in the life that we are living. Listening to Alice Walker speak was one of the highlights of my life and I know that for the many people in the room that she had in silent tears, she fed our souls something that many of us didn't even know we needed. Her message most of all said to be happy with who you are...simple right, but really so hard for many of us.

We just are hard on ourselves and don't love ourselves enough.

Love yourself...simple right, but again so hard. Why do we find it hard to simply love who we are...fat, skinny, pretty, ugly...we are who we are and frankly if we cannot simply love ourselves, then are we really going to truly accept that others love us? She reminded us that people like Martin Luther King Jr and many others knew they were going to die, but they loved us enough to die for a better future for us. Many of our ancestors did. They loved us. We are loved.

Isn't that powerful. Let that roll over you and think about everyone in your life who loves you. Whether it is 1 or 100 let their names roll over you and know that you are loved.

I found two quotes from Alice Walker that I had to share "Love yourself. Just love yourself. In fact, the love of the self cures every kind of problem you have with yourself. For instance, if someone calls you nappy-headed, it rolls right off your body, if you love nappy hair. Or if someone calls you buck-toothed or too black, that won't be a problem if you love being buck-toothed or black. If you love it, then so what.

The development of self-love cures many of the ills that people

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Toll Free: 877-220-8315 For Media Information email: Publisher: sroberts@caribbeanamericanpassport.com Info: .Info@caribbeanamericanpassport.com

Should you desire to review past copies of the publicationgo to http://caribbeanamericanpassport.com and click on the 'Print Archive'.

Editor & Publisher............................................................... Sam Roberts Publisher ........................................................... Guenet Gittens-Roberts Graphic Design & Layout .................................................Samuel Roberts Contributing Writers: ............................................................ Tony Dyal ................................................................................................Ryan Davis .............................................................................................Sandra Fatmi ...............................................................................................Gail Seeram ...........................................................................................Sasha Watson ..........................................................................................Kamal Abdool Contributing Photographers ............ ...................................Ted Hollins ..................................................................................................Dilia Castillo .............................................. .......................................Nancy-Joe Brown Central Florida Distribution...................................................Roy Benn South Florida Distribution ...........................................Norman Williams NorthFlorida Distribution ......................................................Theo Jack Jr. Tampa Distribution ...........................................................Kadeem Roberts Copyright (C) 2016 GGR Marketing & Public Relations. All rights reserved.

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A quiet return could reshape region As a little girl growing up in New York City, Linda Sharpe Haywood, remembers her father being very clear about something: He was never going back to the South. His family told too many stories.

Born in 1929 in Knoxville, Tenn., James Sharpe was one of millions of African Americans who pulled up stakes and moved north, part of what would later come to be called the Great Migration. His family had left Tennessee by the time he was 10. He ended up in Harlem and he eventually found a job as a New York City policeman.

Sharpe and his wife, who ran women's shelter services for the city, raised a family comfortably on a tree-lined street in the Bronx. Linda Sharpe Haywood remembers a prosperous, happy middle-class childhood, complete with a dog and a yard to play in.

"He had no desire to move back to Tennessee," she says.

"He wanted to live in a place that was comfortable, that he would feel safe."

But 60 years after he arrived in New York, Sharpe did move back to the South. He retired to Palm Coast, Fla., about an hour and a half north of Orlando on the Atlantic Ocean. Along for the ride were his daughter and son-inlaw, by then both retired New York City cops as well.

The family returned to a new, more tempered South as part of what is now being called a reversal of the Great Migration. The quiet return of African-American retirees and young professionals has the potential to reshape the South again over the next few decades, much as the exodus to northern cities reshaped it in the 20th century.

The reversal "began as a trickle in the 1970s, increased in the 1990s, and turned into a virtual evacuation from many northern areas in the first decade of the 2000s," says William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer who has laid out the reversal in painstaking detail in his new book Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America. The movement, he writes, is driven largely by younger, college-educated African Americans, as well as baby boomers like Sharpe Haywood who are nearing retirement.

"When you leave metropolitan cities like New York, you want to come down to some bedroom community where you don't have to worry about much," she says. For Sharpe Haywood and her family, Palm Coast's biggest selling point is something that isn't there:

segregation, formal or informal, among any of its neighborhoods. "You're free to live where you can afford to live," she says.

The story of the Great Migration begins about 100 years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated 6 million African Americans left the South. When it was done, it had transformed the USA. At the turn of the century, about nine in 10 African Americans lived in the South, predominantly in rural areas. At the time, the three states with the biggest black populations were Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. By 1970, New York, Illinois and California had the most African Americans.

They went for jobs in the industrial West, Midwest and Northeast, but they were also seeking refuge from what author Isabel Wilkerson has called the "feudal caste system" of institutional southern racism: restrictive Jim Crow laws, separate public facilities and a dearth of economic opportunities. In recent years, the reverse migration has seen hundreds of thousands of blacks migrate to the South in the last generation. From 2005 to 2010, the average result each year was a gain for the South of 66,000 blacks. In The Warmth of Other Suns, her comprehensive 2010 look at the Great Migration, Wilkerson calls it "the first mass act of independence by a people who were in bondage in this country for far longer than they have been free." The shift, she writes, would transform urban America and "recast the social and political order of every city it touched." It would also force the South "to search its soul" and figure out how to shake off its well-worn patterns of discrimination.

In an interview, Wilkerson says that any migration is a referendum on the place that people are fleeing. But this one was unrivaled by any our country has ever seen, "a major redistribution of a people" that reshaped the USA's demographic map in profound ways.

U.S. Census Bureau statistics suggest that nearly as soon as the Great Migration ended, it began reversing. Between 1965 and 1970, generally considered the migration's tail end, the South lost about 280,000 African-American residents.

Just a decade later, between 1975 and 1980, it gained more than 100,000, a trend that has only picked up steam since.

At last count, New York still had the USA's largest AfricanAmerican population, but the next two states aren't Illinois and California anymore. They're Florida and Texas.

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Can Breastfeeding reduce Cancer Risk

CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH CONT'D FROM PG1

A new survey shows that although nearly 60 percent of breastfeeding mothers knew about the link between breastfeeding and breast cancer risk reduction, just 16 percent say they learned this from a medical professional.

This is concerning, says study principal investigator Bhuvana Ramaswamy, MD, because women should be informed that breastfeeding can reduce breast cancer risk and improve mother's health. Epidemiological studies show strong correlation between prolonged breastfeeding and reduced risk of developing triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of breast cancer. This knowledge is especially relevant for African American women considering whether to breastfeed, who are two times more likely to develop triple negative breast cancer when compared with women of other ethnicities.

Previous studies suggest that giving birth and breastfeeding lowers a woman's overall risk of developing breast cancer, with the most recent data pointing to breastfeeding being protective specifically against triple-negative breast cancers.

African-American/black women have a disproportionately high rate of developing aggressive triple-negative breast cancer while also having higher birth rates and lower rates of breastfeeding. Research has also shown that women native to Africa have higher rates of breastfeeding and lower rates of breast cancer.

Well into the century, blacks continued to break the color barrier in sports, business, and politics, and have recently challenged the traditional bastions of wealth and power to gain popular support at the local, state, and national level.

Today, black migrations are worldwide. In fact, an influx of black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa are more likely to become citizens or to be proficient English speakers when compared to other immigrant groups.

Ironically, African-American millenials have reversed the historic trend in recent years with an uptick in black populations looking for jobs and cheaper housing in Atlanta and Houston. The sudden shift is not lost on economist and historians, who now see the North-South migration coming full circle.

Black History Month first originated as part of an initiative by writer and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who launched Negro History Week in 1926. Woodson proclaimed that Negro History Week should always occur in the second week of February — between the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Since 1976, every American president has proclaimed February as Black History Month. Today, other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom also devote an entire month to celebrating black history.

The reasons how breastfeeding affects breast cancer risk remain unclear but research suggests that it may be related to pro-inflammatory processes coordinated by STAT3 activation.

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Julian Marley talks New Album " As I Am"

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CAP: How would you compare the reaction you get from the crowd when you perform in Caribbean communities versus other groups of people from different cultures?

Julian: As an example, we just came from New Zealand two weeks ago. At that event, we found out that we were the only reggae band from Jamaica or even from this side of the world. The rest of the bands were all from New Zealand.

Obviously, we were wowed that all these people love the culture. We don’t even know how great the music is outside of our little circle. To be able to spread that message and keep the music alive is something that we as Jamaicans, as reggae musicians, take as something serious.

CAP: Speaking of reggae music, we were actually discussing your album and Aleia had pointed out that you could hear different genres of music featured in the album.

Julian: Yeah, I love all kinds of music. I grew up in a musical home. My father was a musician, my mother loved to dance and loved music. I grew up in a house where she had every kind of music playing. Growing up in London, you get to feel a whole deeper set of influences. In my youth, reggae was blowing up in England and you also had these crossover bands like Sting, which was called The Police back in the day. I picked up a lot of different influences: jazz, classical, Fela Kuti, you name it. We love all music and a lot of the inspiration ends up coming put in the music here and there.

CAP: On the album, “What’s New Pussycat” was one of the songs that stood out to us, as well as “Too Hot to Dance” featuring Shaggy. They didn’t sound like what you expect to hear on a reggae album, and we loved that.

Julian: That’s a part of the musical love. Pussycat is a Tom Jones song, but even before knowing it was Tom Jones I was listening to Skatalites ft Bob Marley and the Wailers and they sang that song. I have a couple songs that I play that sometimes give you energy and that’s what made me want to remake it.

CAP: Being a part of the Marley family, people expect cultural music. Do you try to venture outside of that?

Julian: Love is culture. Dancing is culture. No matter what we sing, what song it is, it’s something that’s for all of us and it’s still a cultural song. Yes, our life has been a little ordained to sing this message. My brothers and I grew up with this consciousness in us, and through the music of our father around us we couldn’t miss it. It connects with the soul.

CAP: That makes me think of my personal favorite song on the album, “Straighter Roads”. Can you talk about that song and the message behind it?

Julian: Compare it to the road of life. You can use a street to describe the world today. People are driving crazy – on the news people are doing crazy things. If everyone was more conscious, the road would be smooth. It’s just another way of analyzing how you see the world today. This is the road of life, everyone is on it, and you have to just do the best you can. You have to do good and you have to keep on trying.

CAP: Do you have a personal favorite on the album?

Julian: I can’t say that I have a favorite one, but there are some that are more meaningful to me. Magic of Love, for example. It’s not just about this or that, it’s about something that exists more in the depths of yourself.

CAP: What influenced the title of the album?

Julian: The first thing that influenced the title was not having any title at all. Listening and vibing to the music, I realized this is a body of music that is different and varied, so it can’t have a title that is leading to one side more than another. You might not have heard riddims like this from me before. You might here ska, funk, dancehall, jazz. So it’s called ‘As I Am’ because it’s what I love and it’s the inspiration that comes out of me.

CAP: So reggae was recently added to UNESCO’s list of culturally intangible objects and basically that gives reggae a protected status, similar to other genres of music that have been around a little longer than reggae, but now that reggae is being recognized even more on that worldwide platform. What do you think of that as a reggae artist? .

Julian: Well, I agree with it. Reggae music is the music of the suffering people no matter where you go. Its uplifting, freedom music. Anywhere you go in the world, reggae music is lifting these people up and getting them through their difficult situations. So when I hear that, I say YES it’s about time. Reggae music is tailored cut for humanitarian reasons so we love the recognition of it.

CAP Are there any upcoming performances where people will be able to hear your album live that you’re excited about?

Julian: We have Kaya Fest coming up, as well as 9 Mile Fest.

Hopefully we’ll be doing some other things as well.

CAP: Is there anything else you want the public to know about this album?

Julian: We have a few videos out, “Straighter Roads”, “Hey Jack”, and “Are you the one? ” with “Hey Jack” being the latest release. This album is just upliftment for the people, we made it with a full and open heart for everyone so check it out.

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Highlander Mas Band Launch

Orlando Carnival Band Launchings Orlando Carnival Band Launches have started the countdown towards Orlando Carnival 2019. This year, more than 10 bands have already signed up and are ready to celebrate Unity under the Theme "One Carnival, One Caribbean...separated only by water." Highlander Mas was the first band to host a band launch, their theme was Splendor of the Serengetti. It was held in Kissimmee at Shipwrecked in the Islands. For more information on Highlander Mas contact Victor or Barbara at 646-387-1850 or 917-561-6146; Email: bwatson59@live.com.

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University Of The Virgin Islands Becomes First Four-Year HBCU To Offer Free Tuition

The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) has become the first four-year HBCU to offer free tuition to students.

The Virgin Islands Higher Education Scholarship Program (VIHESP) is available to residents of the islands who have graduated from a private, public or parochial high school. Age, date of graduation and household income do not matter; anyone can apply to UVI for free tuition as long as they meet the requirements. Individuals need to apply to the university and submit their FAFSA before the March 1 deadline to qualify.

There are, however, a few requirements. Recipients have to maintain at least a 2.5 GPA and must also complete a work service requirement ranging from two months to three years within seven years of graduation.

This is the first Historically Black University and one of few four-year colleges and universities in the United States to offer free tuition. Some schools, however, have made strides toward educational equity.

Rice University in Texas, for example, recently launched an initiative to pay for the tuition of students with family incomes under $130,000. Individuals with family incomes under $65,000 get aid with fees and room and board. The program also helps families who make household incomes between $130,000 and $200,000 by providing grants that cover at least half of their tuition. As Dr. Hall put it, in a world where college degrees are necessary, education shouldn’t be priced as a luxury.

University president Dr. David Hall made an important statement regarding the importance of higher education.

“A college degree is no longer a luxury that the rich and the academically and athletically gifted individuals can obtain,” he said. “Higher education is a basic necessity and must be provided in the same way we provide other basic necessities.”

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Guyana's Election Commission says it cannot hold election by March The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says it cannot hold elections by next month, the deadline by which polls should be conducted following the coalition government’s loss of a no-confidence motion last December.

The seven-member commission – comprised of three government-nominated commissioners, three commissioners nominated by the main opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and a chairman – yesterday voted to formally advise that it cannot hold elections by March 19. One of the three oppositionnominated commissioners abstained from the vote on that issue, while the other two voted against.

Under the Constitution, elections should be held within 90 days after the passage of a no-confidence motion unless an extension is agreed to by at least two-thirds of the members in the National Assembly.

The Guyana Chronicle quoted him as saying that: “Based on the advice that we got from the Ministry of Finance, we do not have the resources, the monies to run an election at this time….They have indicated that we cannot use the money for registration to move it over to elections. What we have to do is go back to the National Assembly for a special appropriation for elections.”

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire last month ruled that the no-confidence motion against government, passed on December 21, 2018 when then government backbencher Charrandass Persaud voted with the Opposition, was valid, and elections should therefore be held.

However, government is appealing the decision.

But GECOM said it does not have the necessary funding.

On that issue, as well as the vote on GECOM continuing with its work plan for 2019 – which includes the start of the house-to-house registration process, for which budgetary allocations were already made – all three opposition commissioners voted against and the chairman used his tie-breaking vote to side with the commissioners nominated by the Government.

With regards to the possibility of using monies allocated for the house-to-house registration for an election, Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield approached the Ministry of Finance for advice.

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Profiles in Leadership: Marlon Hill When I started my own law firm, my wife Carla was going through a medical crisis and she had a successful kidney transplant at Jackson Memorial Hospital. A few years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Miami Foundation helped us start the Carla Hill and Hazel Bethel Breast Cancer Awareness and Organ Donation Fund using money from a birthday party. Now, the Fund helps provide more women access to mammograms and raise awareness of the high impact that breast cancer has on young women of color.

Marlon A. Hill is a partner in the Miami office of Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel, LLP. Mr. Hill is an experienced corporate, intellectual property and government lawyer of over 21 years in an array of areas, including corporate governance, strategic development for startups; intellectual property prosecution and licensing; and government transactions.

Mr. Hill serves as outside general corporate counsel to a number of entrepreneurs, corporations, sovereign governments and related agencies, and not-for-profit organizations, especially in the tourism, hospitality, and media/entertainment industries. Mr. Hill is one of the Inaugural Fellows in the Miami Foundation’s Miami Fellows Initiative; a model of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation National leadership Program. In recounting his story for them, He said, "My Miami story is that of a young kid from Kingston, Jamaica who tries to find his way, understand a new culture, and eventually settle in to find a purpose. It is one about assimilating, acclimating and integrating into the new community –and making a contribution that is exponential.

I hope that in 50 years we have a community that communicates more and invests in each other.

Philanthropy is democratic. I learned that it doesn’t matter if you have millions, or if you have hundreds. Every citizen in Greater Miami can make an impact to transform this community. Each of us must engage.

Whether we engage with our talent, with our checkbook, or with our time, at the end of the day, Miami will only be as great as the investment we make in it."

Mr. Hill is a past president of the Caribbean Bar Association (2001-2003), former Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board Member for the Southern United States (2006-2011), and member of the board of directors of the Miami Parking Authority, Miami Book Fair International, and the Orange Bowl Committee. Mr. Hill is a weekly commentator on “The Peoples Politics”, Caribbean Riddims, WHIM 1080AM, every Saturday at 4 pm, an op-ed writer for the Miami Herald and SunSentinel covering public affairs and legal issues, and a recurring contributor to WPLG Local 10 “This Week in South Florida” Roundtable.. He has recently announced his candidacy for Miami-Dade County Commission District 9 seat in 2020

After returning to Miami from law school at Florida State University, I knew that I wanted to continue working with students of immigrant descent, especially those from the Caribbean. I was looking for ways to get more deeply connected with the community, and I heard about an emerging leadership program called the Miami Fellows at The Miami Foundation.

My time with the Fellows, 1999 to 2001, was a huge turning point for me, and I knew then that I would live in Miami for the rest of my life. Since completing the program, I started my own law firm, served on a number of different boards as a corporate lawyer, written several op-eds for different newspapers and began a radio program to exercise my voice and have a greater impact. All that came because of the space for self-discovery that the Miami Fellows gave me.

As a Fellow, you build the confidence and courage to civically engage in your community. A leadership development program like this has a residual impact 10 or 20 years later. The professional growth of the Miami Fellows experience – whether they start a business, get appointed to a board or run for elected office – is a direct result of the skills they gain and relationships they build.

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Profiles in Leadership: Barbara Chandler Winter Park. I became a volunteer with the Hannibal Square Heritage Center — I served on the Winter Park Library Board, Keep Winter Park Beautiful and was a member of the Winter Park Rotary Club.

Currently, I serve as a Board Member for the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. I’m still serving the community every day — full time — just 4 blocks from city hall. I believe in service. That’s why I’m running to be your next Winter Park City Commissioner."

Barbara Chandler was born in St. Thomas Virgin Island, but moved to Florida at the age of 8 years old.

"One of my earliest memories of Winter Park is my 5th grade track meet at Showalter Field. I have great memories of the relay races I ran there. They meant a lot to me. I’ve worked for years in Winter Park to help lift up and strengthen families. In 2007, my three sons and I moved to

Barbara is the Cultural Arts Manager for the Hannibal Square Heritage Center where she educates visitors on African Americans' contributions (past and present) to the Winter Park community.

Barbara fosters dynamic cultural exchanges, organizes educational events and oversees all center operations.

Her vigorous work ethic and talent for peopleto-people engagement have flourished with over 20 years of non-profit experience in community relations, fundraising, and management.

Barbara is running for Winter Park, City Commission.

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Profiles in leadership: Mayor Wayne M. Messam National Preserve, adjacent to the Everglades and just five miles from our city.

Joined mayors across the country to oppose climate denialism and pledge to support the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Taken on the Trump administration to protect immigrants, proposing our city as a safe zone for those who come to this country seeking a better life.

Sued the state of Florida to protect our residents from gun violence and overturn a law backed by the NRA. Proposed and passed relief on water bills for federal workers who were impacted by the shutdown.

"I learned the values of hard work and pride of community from a young age. My parents immigrated to South Florida from Jamaica with just a 5th grade education, seeking greater opportunity for our family. My father labored for 16 years in the sugar cane fields of the Florida Glades after coming to the United States, and my mom would cook to feed the migrant workers. I was born in Belle Glade, Florida.

Thanks to the opportunity this country provided for my family, the support of my parents and mentors, and lots of time and effort in class and on the field, I earned a full scholarship to Florida State University, where I started at wide receiver and was a member of the 1993 National Championship Football Team under legendary coach Bobby Bowden.

Recruited companies with high-paying jobs to hire Floridians.

My college sweetheart, business partner, and better half Angela and I have been married for more than 20 years as we’ve built our lives in Miramar and raised our kids.

Our three children, Wayne II and twin daughters Kayla and Kyla, attend college in South Florida."

After my NFL dreams were cut short, my wife Angela and I built one of the fastest-growing, minority-owned construction businesses in the country and our projects in the educational and non-profit space have garnered national recognition, including from the U.S. Green Building Council for building one of the greenest schools in the Southeast.

I then went into public service, first as a city commissioner, then rising to become the mayor of Miramar—one of Florida’s most diverse cities.

Today, Miramar ranks as one of the fastest-growing city economies in the country. We actively foster innovation and development, from starting an aviation expo and tech camps to expose young people to the tools that can solve the problems of today and tomorrow.

I am proud of our record in Miramar as we’ve led the fight against the oil industry’s campaign to drill in Big Cypress

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"My Jamaican born father, the late Hubert Messam, spent 16 years as a contract sugarcane cutter for 75 cents per row of cane in Belle Glade to give his family a shot at the American Dream. His hard work is all I know, for that, I’m forever grateful." Mayor Wayne Messam

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Nominees for Jamaica National Civil Honours & Awards 2019

VISIT FLORIDA Announces an All-Time Record 126 Million Visitors in 2018

Nominations are being accepted for the Jamaica National Honours and Awards for 2019. The nomination forms and guidelines are available online through the Chancery of the Orders of the Societies of Honour, Office of the Prime Minister, (www.opm.gov.jm) or through the overseas locations of the Jamaican Foreign Missions. The deadline for submission is Friday, March 29, 2019.

Completed nomination forms can be submitted via email (chan-prot@opm.gov.jm), or by mail, to The Chancery of the Orders of the Societies of Honour, Office of the Prime Minister, 1 Devon Road, Kingston 10, Jamaica.

VISIT FLORIDA announced that Florida welcomed an all-time record number of visitors last year with 126.1 million out-of-state visitors coming to the Sunshine State in 2018. This announcement marks the eighth consecutive record year for visitation to Florida, exceeding the previous record of 118.8 million visitors in 2017 by an astounding 6.2 percent.

Nomination forms, once submitted, will remain confidential and should be accompanied by a current and brief biographical outline of achievements of service rendered by the nominee. In cases where the candidate is not a citizen of a Jamaica, the Government of Jamaica is required to obtain the approval of the relevant Commonwealth or foreign government prior to the award of any Order of Decoration to that nominee.

National Honours and Awards are administered by the Chancery of the Orders of the Societies of Honour in the Office of the Prime Minister, under the National Honours and Awards Act, of July 1969, to formally recognize those who have contributed through their service and have had a meaningful and significant impact on national life.

Orders are used to recognize merit relating to achievement and service while Decorations and Awards acknowledge nominees for bravery, meritorious long and/or valuable service and/or good conduct. Honourees will be announced on Jamaica Independence Day, August 6, 2019.

Candidates can be nominated for honours and awards in the following categories:- The Order of Merit (OM); The Order of Jamaica (OJ); The Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD) or rank of Officer (OD).

Decorations and Awards are given for Badges of Honour for Gallantry (BHG), Meritorious Service (BHM) or Long and Faithful Service (BHL).

Dana Young, President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, said, "VISIT FLORIDA is known across the world for delivering innovative destination marketing to ensure that we are reaching the right people with the right message.

With today's announcement of an eighth consecutive record-breaking year, it's clear that by focusing on value and data-driven campaigns, VISIT FLORIDA and the tourism industry have achieved unprecedented success.

We appreciate Governor DeSantis for his support of our organization and Florida's entire tourism industry.

Working together, we will continue to deliver results to Florida taxpayers who rely on VISIT FLORIDA to protect and enhance our iconic tourism industry."

VISIT FLORIDA estimates a record 111.8 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida in 2018, reflecting a 7.1 percent increase over 2017. Estimates also show 10.8 million overseas visitors and 3.5 million Canadians came to the Sunshine State last year. Total enplanements at 18 Florida airports during 2018 increased 7.6 percent over the previous year, with a record 93.9 million airline passengers. Florida's average daily room rate (ADR) rose 3 percent.

VISIT FLORIDA estimates that a record 30.3 million visitors traveled to Florida in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 4.6 percent over the same period last year.

This Q4 number breaks down to 26.8 million domestic visitors, 2.9 million overseas visitors and 688,000 Canadian visitors. Total enplanements at Florida's 18 major airports in Q4 2018 increased 6.6 percent over the same period the previous year, with 23.3 million passengers. Florida's average daily room rate (ADR) during this quarter increased by 2.7 percent

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Tony Deyal - | Sons of biches “My son is under a doctor’s care today and should not take PE today. Please execute him.”

Since my father and mother never saw my report card or homework book because I relieved them of the hard labour of signing those useless documents, this is the kind of explanation I might have written. However, my older cousin, Cynthia, used to cover for me as I covered for her, so there was no need to write.

In only my second year at elementary school in Trinidad, I learnt about ‘breaking biche’ (pronounced ‘bee-shh’). It is the local expression for truancy. ‘Breaking biche’ of ‘L’ecole biche’ means leaving home as if you were going to school or leaving school as if you were on your way home, and then exiting stage left to parts and places desirable but hopefully unknown to the police, principal or parents.

STUCK TO MY BOOKS

The origin of the phrase is French. ‘L’ecole’ is ‘the school’ and ‘biche” comes from ‘bisse’ which is from ‘bissoniere’ to ‘play truant’. My friend Ross, from Siparia, my hometown, had created a tree house in which he resided after leaving home in the morning until the other kids were returning.

In his entire life, he never worked (supported mainly by ladies) and the only thing he studied was how to mark cards and what time football practice or a wake would start. At one point in my life I wanted to grow up to be like him but when I heard about the experiences of Ross and two other boys from the neighbourhood, Boyie and Bread Boy, in the Youth Training Centre (YTC), a jail for underaged boys, I stuck to my books.

A group of boys from the post-primary class in the school I attended in the city, literally big men in short pants, headed by one youth we knew as ‘Saddle Head’, was lined up in front of the entire school. Most of my classmates were from Laventille, even then a tough place to live or visit.

TRULY A CIRCUS

Our school, aptly named Picadilly E.C. after the street on which it was located, was truly a circus that could rival the one in London.

A teacher from the YTC was badly beaten and disappeared from the school. The full story was never told but he was a big Cont'd on page 18

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Tony Deyal | Sons of biches man who thought terrorising and threatening the boys was the way to go, and he did.

So, there we were, the entire school, waiting for the proceedings to begin in the same way, I believe, crowds attended hangings in medieval times. Standing stage right was the headmaster armed with his beloved leather strap, an instrument with which I was already very familiar. My father, for some reason, thought that the gentleman, despite lacking any principles, was the greatest principal of all time, and so when he was transferred from the school in our village to one in the city, I was sent there.

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So what had the boys done? With nothing to do and their teacher Mr Gordon absent, they had left school for the day and went to the mudflats of an area on the bank of the Gulf of Paria known as Corbeau Town to hang out. In this case it was literally ‘L’ecole beach’.

It is difficult for me to blame them because, as I think of those times, I realise the extent to which we had failed that and future generations.

MANY WITH NO FUTURE

He once beat me very badly with a double-dose for smiling instead of crying, and while I did everything possible to avoid a recurrence, it is not my nature to stay quiet or not get into mischief.

Right now, throughout the Caribbean, after every Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, there are many children who have no future because our education system still does not harmonise with the job opportunities available and we feed them schooling without education and dreams which, for most of them, are unattainable.

It was tough on Saddle Head and the other boys. They were already deemed failures by everyone, including themselves, because they had not passed the College Exhibition Examination (equivalent to the Common Entrance or 11plus examinations). They were left mainly on their own to sit and hopefully pass the ‘School Leaving Examination’.

When I drive through any country in the Caribbean at around 10 or 11 in the morning, I see them gathered, staring, some smoking, all thinking and planning. They generally congregate at a basketball court in the later evening and then they’re out for most of the night. They want the Nikes and the lifestyle but have no earning capacity except by their wits or through crime.

A magician, Jang Bahadoor Singh, who charged five cents per student to attend his show, was mugged and robbed in the intermission. While his act was of a very poor quality, he had survived all the other schools in which he performed intact. Our boys forced his retirement.

Saddle Head and my other classmates were beaten mercilessly that day and many other days to come, until they all left to become apprentices of tradesmen, hustlers or petty thieves.

DEEMED FAILURES

One very rare spirit, a quiet boy, became a ‘pupil teacher’. A couple of the girls were sent to commercial schools to learn typing and shorthand so that they could qualify for bookkeeping jobs in the civil service.

GROWING DUNG HEAP

Others were sent to learn to sew or stayed home to get married or pregnant, whichever came first.

Those boys with big feet and with the right height, complexion and connections became policemen. Many still do, getting into the police service through ‘godfathers’ or contacts as Special Reserve officers so they could bypass the academic qualifications and then get accepted and subsequently promoted.

In a way, I am glad that some of the young people survive the pain of their schooling and find things to do that have meaning and money for them. But even that does not hide the dung heap on which our young people are dumped and which is growing higher and increasingly impossible to manage or ignore.

In some ways, this excuse from a parent to the teacher has, as in my case, more than a grain of truth in it but it does not deal with the whole story, “Please excuse Jim for being. It was his father’s fault.”

Tony Deyal was last seen shaking his head at this explanation, “Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.” www.caribbeanamericanpassport.com

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