Chairman/Editor-in-chief:
Rovan G. Locke, Ph.D.,
Consulting Editors:
Professor Ali A. Mazrui and
Lloyd B. Smith,
Pesident:
Malik E. Locke
Senior V.P. Operations/
Finance:
Reichland Anderson,
Senior V.P. Marketing and Sales:
Carolyn Kenedy,
V.P. Informational Systems:
Leona Minto,
V. P.  of Marketing:
Leroy A. Gordon -Jamaica;
Paula Powell: Editorial Consultant and Sanchia Allen-Sports/Public Affairs,
Design & Production:
Norris Grandison,
Secretary/Treasurer:
Winsome Vaughn Burke,
Business Development Consultant: 
Ashton Douglas,
Special Consultant Circulation/Distribution Coordinator:
Trevor "Peppa Rock" Wynter
Publisher: The Michigan
Communication Group.

 

 
 
 visit us at www.publix.com

Traveling Notary 786-326-5204 Dade & Broward

The Roasted Pepper 9893 Pines Blvd Pembroke Pines 954-450-8800 WWW.THEROASTEDPEPPER.COM

Need To See A Lawyer On Immigration Matter and Concerns? JNBS Provides The Service Of An Immigration Lawyer FREE OF COST To Our Customers. On The Third Friday Of Each Month Commencing FEBRUARY 20, 2004 The Representative Office 5039 N. State Rd. 7 (Sunshine Plaza) Call 1-800-390-7850 or    954-485-0444

   Publishers Perspective

    Where was the Caribbean Six on Sunday morning, October 12,2003, when the Prime Minister and his delegates took Holy Communion at Pastor Horace Wards Holy Family Episcopal Church? How do you explain the absence of a majority of these six Jamaicans elected officials at the Prime Minister's Book Signing event on Saturday afternoon at the African-American Library and Cultural Center in the heart of the African-American Community in downtown Fort Lauderdale? And yet, they were at the Consul General, Ricardo Allicock's first Anniversary reception at the Hyatt Regency/Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening October 10, 2003 so that they could have their tete a tete with Prime Minister Patterson prior to his " mingling" with the more than two hundred guests in the main ballroom.

    It was an interesting weekend, October 10-12,2003 in Broward County. Are the Jamaican Influentials in the fastest growing expatriate community within the Global community, fully cognizant of the Prime Minister's "exclusive stay" in their midst for an entire weekend on Official business and a brief period of relaxation? This time there was a more amicable environment than his previous trip two years ago in his ill-advised but well intended "Window of Franchising" which led to an unfortunate period of estrangement by the expatriate community against him and the hardworking City of Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Hazelle Rogers.

    On his long overdue return the Prime Minister demonstrated his highly admirable conciliatory characteristics. There is P.J. the Prime Minister and there is P.J. The Senior Member of Parliament from Western Jamaica with strong "rural roots" of deep friendship, tolerance and the right to disagree in a respectful manner without any hard feelings. These are the special gifts, which have made him the "favorite son" within Western Jamaica for more than two decades within the political landscape. It is interesting to point out that there are at least three Caribbean Corporate giants which have be cancelled advertising dollars to this newspaper due to it willingness to engage in rigorous journalistic investigation "and to tell it like it is". On the other hand, in spite of this publisher's withering criticisms of his regime over the past decade, Prime Minister Patterson, unlike the Opposition leader, has kept an Open Door policy and recognizes that in building a nation, there has to be those independent thinkers who must present him an alternate road map.

    In an autobiographical vein, it must be stated that this particular writer gave the Prime Minister "critical support" over the past decade. And yet, I have uncut umbilical ties to The Jamaica Labor Party. At one end, Dr. Carl Blythe is terrified of my physical and political presence especially in the town of Savanna-La-Mar. However, I would be less effective to my society as a Member of Parliament than as a Journalist/Entrepreneur. Politics is a big money game in Westmoreland and the rest of the country. In the case of Central Westmoreland, Jamaica Labour Party lost its brief dominance in the 1980's due to Mr. Seaga's unacceptable decision to close down the shipping of sugar from the downtown and transferring this " livelihood of the area" to the piers of Ocho Rios, more than a hundred miles from the historic Frome Estate. Additionally the Judasitic, Bruce Golding, as the then Minister of Construction stopped a housing project in the heart of the inner city in the strongest J.L.P.'s enclave in Western Jamaica now known as Twelfth Street. Twenty years later, the sons and daughters of these die-hearted Labourites retaliated against the present Edward Seaga/Bruce Golding team by refusing to vote in the most recent Local Government elections and this decision led to the P.N.P.'S Candidate winning the Savanna-La-Mar district and becoming Mayor. Let us hope that Mayor Morgan engages in reciprocal goodwill. If he engages in tribalistic politics or donmaship, he will become a one term Mayor.

Separate We March/Together We Strike

    It is not an easy road to remain a journalist in Jamaica or a publisher in South Florida. At home the politicians "have you up and keep malice" for years if you criticize them too harshly. The pay is very low and the ruling regime does not give you an opportunity to get lucrative consultants unless you compromise your intellectual and journalistic privileges for "thirty pieces of silver".

    In South Florida, there is not a Caribbean literary environment where people buy newspapers and engage in heated debates. It can be argued that middle and lower income Caribbean people at home buy and read newspapers more that their "Kith and Kin" in the Tricounty of Metropolitan Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. There are at least six Caribbean based newspapers within this region and our readers expect us to cover events and publish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. They will take you to task if you have more commercials than hard news and sports in the newspaper. And yet, it is the commercial, which allows you to pay the printer and your staff. This "freeness mentality" towards Caribbean newspapers is not a healthy development within our community. 

    Another disquieting development is the behavior of our political, and Civic Voluntary leaders. They will pay huge sums of money to have their events at Signature Grand, The Riverside Hotel's on upscale Las Olas, downtown Fort Lauderdale or at the Airport Sheraton and Hilton. They will pay the entertainers, and the limousine drivers to bring their Keynote Speakers to their functions. They pay more than $150.00 per night for their Keynote Speakers to stay at Five Star Hotels. However, they expect the Caribbean newspaper owners to send writers and photographers to cover their functions but they will not put aside at least a hundred dollars to pay for their events to be placed in the newspaper. However, they get "their jaws tight" and swear that "you have them up" if you don't give them coverage in the newspaper.

    These Caribbean political influential and Civic Organizations will invite you to their function, give you a meal and expect for you to give them from page coverage of their events. This type of "pimping the Caribbean newspapers should stop". We need to ask them why should we take Corporate America's advertising dollars to cover their functions when they take their business, personal, civic organizations and pay exorbitant fees to white establishments who give them restricted time for their Luncheons and Gala Events. Is it possible if the South Florida's Caribbean publishers were white or light skinned these leaders of the various organizations would have been more receptive to our corporate interests. How can an ambitious politician hold a launching function for his organization in a Five Star Hotel and expect free coverage by Caribbean American newspapers. How can a Caribbean professional live in the exclusive residential area of Parklands, Florida and expects free advertisement in this newspaper or in any other owned Caribbean newspaper. Is this a case of asking us to do free public relations for them?

    Prime Minister Patterson did not have a live and direct session while he was in South Florida. Perhaps, he avoided such an encounter because he would be asked about his Tourism Ministry's US$31.5 million with White Advertising/Public relations agencies in New York. How can he see himself as a Garveyite and has not intervened in this matter so that the Caribbean print and electronic media get a piece of the action. The appointment of an executive director of tourism is nothing more than old "wine in a new bottle". The more things change within the Jamaican Tourism Ministry and its related agencies, the more they stay the same.

    For the planners of the Peter Tosh's Symponum on the North Miami Campus of Florida International University, there are some pertinent questions. How come there is not one person on the panel from Westmoreland? Isn't it a contradiction of the lightest order that the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davis, is an expert on Peter Tosh and he has not yet raised his voice in support of Posthumous National Award? Let us hope this issue is brought up at this weekend synopses.

That is the bottom line.

Need a Mortgage in
Jamaica?

Need to use the equity in your property in Jamaica?

Contact the JN Representative Office Sunshine Plaza
(corner of North State Rd 7
and Commercial Blvd)

Phone:(954) 485-0444 or
1-800-390-7850

**************************

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Hosted by: A.A.A. Services Inc.
Send mail to support@aaaservices.homeip.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003 The Caribbean-American Commentary News Paper
Last modified: December 17, 2003