BU SINESSJAMAIC AN AME RIC AN C LUB
Jamaican American Club Newsletter WINTER
2017
Build A Better Jamaica Jamaica is in a dire and deteriorating position. Remittances save those lucky enough to have relatives abroad but for the less fortunate life is a daily struggle for survival. What do you do if your child needs a US$180 MIR scan? Medical treatments are out of reach of many. The growth in crime is not a surprise since our growth industries are poverty and desperation. I believe that if we reduce our fuel bills we could redirect hundreds of millions of USD to education, health, roads etc. Last year our fuel bill was US$4.75 billion. Also, for meaningful change to occur the diaspora must be involved in our decision making. What they're doing works for the few. My name is Dr John Lennon (born during Beatlemania). I'm a British expatriate living in Montego Bay. I was born in the UK but spent my teenage years in Clarendon.
My passions are education and the environment and I want to build the first wasteto-energy plant on the island. The electricity generated would be sold to the grid and the profits used for education.
fited only myself so this was a better arrangement:
This would be the first step towards the creation of a transparent renewable energy industry: paying a living wage and all profits for the people.
Every year 2000 students would benefit.
Making a difference A wise person said "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". I wanted to make a difference so I sold my UK home with plans to finance a solar facility at a school. The leasing proposal would have saved thousands of USD every month.
I'd employ someone to clean/manage two beaches.
The school would inherit the facility on my death. The project did not transpire. I contacted 6 schools and at the time of writing they are all on the grid. Continue on page 2
My home was my pension but the rental income bene-
Trivia Who is Dr. Jacob L. Shirley? What is a Answer is on page 8
John Lennon
TABLE OF CONTENT Build a better Jamaica page 1 Trivia page 1 Book club page 2 FORGOTTEN BRANCH OF BLACK COMMUNITY PERSEVERES page 3
V O LUME 1 , I SSUE 1
P AGE 2
Book Club Dr. Livingstone Thompson’s Jamaica in the 21st Century provides a rich dig into what he describes as “a selective archaeological enterprise” of his commentaries published in the Daily and Sunday Gleaner newspapers between 2003 and 2007. This compendium not only shines a spot-
light on the socioeconomic and cultural issues that dominated public discourse during that specific period but also helps to put in context, nearly a decade later, discussions on the same topics of crime and violence, education, morality and sexuality, the death penalty and the role of
the UK Privy Council in the life of independent Jamaica. 21st century.
Continue from page 1 Jamaica's energy goals. Investors first.... Our leaders have been pursuing energy alternatives since the 1970s which is logical since fuel is by far the greatest contributor to the cost of our electricity. It is around 75% of our bills and our rates are amongst the highest worldwide. A perpetual problem for most people and for economic growth. Hence targeting cheap, clean fuels should be the goal. We receive enough sunshine to supply approximately 5 times our annual energy requirement but 40 years later we
generate only 3% of it from solar. An administration of a decade ago stated that savings of US$60 million per annum could be generated from waste-toenergy. So we should be saving hundreds of millions annually: sunshine and organic waste are free. China recently connected a US$52 million 50 MW solar array to their grid (free fuel) but here investors are constructing a US$330 million natural gas 190 MW power plant ($$$ fuel). Analyse those numbers.... So we're committed to expensive, fossil
Our leaders have been pursuing energy alternatives since the 1970s which is logical since fuel is by far the greatest contributor to the cost of our electricity.
fuel electricity. Here, investors come first and the people and the planet come last.
www.LetsBuildABetterJamaica.com Alternative solution If we generate the finance for a waste-to -energy plant then grants and low interest loans would be seeked for expansion and other projects. The objectives: real job creation; improved waste management: less burning of garbage, less landfill and cleaner environment; solar powered schools so increased spending on education; solar powered street lighting (we owe over US$35m to JPS) and government
buildings (annual bills over US$100m) and vast savings including a reduction in the fuel bill. Cheaper electricity will help the majority and promote growth & jobs. Greener electricity will aid tourism and help the planet. Improved education will create a better and fairer society. We need change All of the above should have been done
years ago. It is inexcusable. Now the parliamentarians are waiting for investors to create the waste-to-energy industry. Their industry will be low wages and profits benefiting the few so it is essential that we step in - facilities in every parish, jobs, recycling... You can read more and contact me at www.LetsBuildaBetterJamaica.com.
J AM AIC AN A ME R IC AN C LU B N E WS LE T T E R
P AGE 3
"FORGOTTEN BRANCH OF BLACK COMMUNITY PERSEVERES" - written by Charles R. Saunders In the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, an unsung branch of the black diaspora persists. The history of the black Nova Scotian community is a singular story of survival that is all-toooften overlooked. It shouldn’t be; it involves not only one small province, but also two continents. People of African descent have been part of Nova Scotia’s history since the beginning of European exploration and colonization – and, perhaps, before that. A black man named Mathieu Da Costa was part of a 1608 French expedition. Da Costa served as an interpreter between the French and local Mi’kmaq people. His knowledge of the Mi’kmaqs’ language suggests that he had prior experience among them. The first major presence of blacks in the
region came in the wake of the American Revolution. Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, offered freedom to African slaves who joined the British in their battle to suppress the rebellious American colonists. Blacks were faced with a choice between rebels who desired freedom for themselves but not their slaves; and a colonial power that promised freedom for the slaves. Many blacks chose to join the British before the Americans belatedly promised freedom to slaves who fought for the rebellion. After the British lost the war in 1783, they resettled most of the blacks who had fought for their cause in Nova Scotia – which had opted out of the revolution. About 3,500 Black Loyalists, as they were called, migrated northward – along with 1,200 slaves held by Loyalist whites who had also fled the newborn United States.
Like the whites, the free blacks were promised land and provisions as a reward for their loyalty to the Crown. Unlike the whites, the blacks received less than they were promised – and sometimes nothing at all. Even so, a group of Black Loyalists founded Birchtown, the first free black settlement in North America. Angered by the lower wages the blacks were forced to accept, whites from neighboring Shelburne stormed Birchtown in North
America’s first race riot. In 1791, John Clarkson, a British agent for the settlement of freed slaves in the West African colony of Sierra Leone, came to Nova Scotia to recruit Black Loyalists for a “back-to-Africa” migration. The blacks’ experience in Nova Scotia had been far from idyllic. Racism was making a mockery of their freedom. Thus, about half of the Black Loyalist population set sail for Sierra Leone in 1792. The half who decided to stick it out in Nova
Within the context of that struggle, some black individuals from the province have made their mark in the wider world. Here are some examples:
William Hall, son of freed slaves, was the first black person and first Nova Scotian to earn the Victoria Cross, in service with the Royal Navy during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. George Dixon became the first black boxer to win a world championship when he took the bantamweight title in 1890.
Sam Langford, a 5-foot-7 pugilist who started his career as a lightweight and ultimately competed successfully at heavyweight during the early 1900s, was so feared that no champion – not even the great Jack Johnson – was willing to give him a title shot. Portia White was an opera and concert singer of the mid-20th century whose voice was favorably compared with that of the legendary Marian Anderson. Daurene Lewis became the first
Caption describing picture or graphic.
The blacks’ experience in Nova Scotia had been far from idyllic.
Scotia – along with another group of freed African-American slaves who arrived after the War of 1812 – formed the ancestral core of the province’s black community. That community remained small and scattered. Some blacks lived in Halifax and other cities and towns; others in isolated rural communities built on those early land grants. African Nova Scotians have struggled against the same racism that besets blacks throughout the diaspora.
black woman mayor in North America when she was elected in Annapolis Royal in 1984.
More recently, poet George Elliott Clarke won the Governor General’s Award in 2001, for his book Execution Songs. Kirk Johnson fought for a world heavyweight title in 2002.
And in 2006, Mayann Francis was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. Continue on page 8
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Click on the photos to get to their website
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Organization
Contact: Jamaican American Club PO Box 62 Elk Grove, IL 60009-0062 USA Www.JamaicanAmericanClub.org
Answer to trivia Dr. Jacob L. Shirley (born 1884), is a native of Jamaica, British West Indies. He graduated from Meharry College, Nashville in 1910. In June 1910, he organized the Union Drug Company, now under different management. He was also the first colored professional man in his section to use an automo-
JamaicanAmericanClub@yahoo.com
bile in his practice. After the epidemic of Influenza broke out in 1918, though greatly rushed and treating many cases, at a disadvantage, he lost only two cases out of first 1,200 treated.
Continued from page 3 Over the centuries since 1783, the core black community has been augmented by newcomers from other parts of Canada, as well as migrants from the United States, the Caribbean, other parts of the diaspora and Africa itself. But the population remains small, and black people continue to face racism in the education, economic and justice systems. Still, the community perseveres and progresses, keeping alive the heritage of ancestors who took a chance on a hope for freedom during a time of slavery. To learn more about Charles R. Saundersis work, visit www.charlessaunderswriter.com
Portia White
George Elliott Clarke