International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
By: Marsha M. Hall “Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant”- Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, humanitarian and Holocaust survivor The world has witnessed numerous atrocities of…
Distant Relative: African Influences in Jamaican Patois
Written by: Chelsea Stephenson The continent of Africa has been characterized by migration and mobility whether voluntary orinvoluntary for millenniums. Africans over the centuries have migrated for different reasons toevery corner of the world but none as profound as the forced migration of…
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
“Fighting slavery’s legacy of racism through transformative education” For decades, the institutionalized system of slavery and its horrific effects and traumatic presence have lingered within the global community, whether in the faces of descendants of the former enslaved African people; powerful images;…
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People – The Legacies of the Taino
Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. In Jamaica’s…
“Never Again”: International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in
Established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 23, 2003, and adopted by Resolution 58/234, the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is commemorated annually by UNESCO on April 7th. This date marks the start of…
THE 1865 MORANT BAY Rebellion
THE PRELUDE TO THE REBELLIONWith the British government’s passage of the Emancipation Act in 1834, the enslaved population throughout the colonies was granted freedom from working on the sugar plantations, and the right to establish themselves as free persons. However, by the…
Two to One … Ghana
The Republic of Ghana is a West African nation believed to be the ancestral home of the vast majority of Jamaica’s Black population. Its national flag – much like the Ethiopian flag, which is revered by Jamaica’s Rastafari community – consists of…
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
The United Nations’ World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is recognised and celebrated around the world on May 21. The designation came in 2001 when the UN adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and, in 2002, the UN…
UNESCO International Youth Day
Despite almost every nation grappling with its own challenges, there is a global push for diversity, equity, and inclusion for everyone – regardless of race or ethnicity. At the core of this thrust are common topics and pervasive societal issues ranging from…
UNESCO International Literacy Day
This year, UNESCO is celebrating International Literacy Day (ILD) 2022 on the 8th of September under the theme – Transforming Literacy Learning Space – a global call to action that informs and inspires people of the importance of literacy learning spaces to…
Jamaica’s Highest Honour: The Order of National Hero
Established in 1969 through the National Honours and Awards Act, Jamaica’s Order of National Hero is the highest award that can be bestowed in the country. It, along with the other National Honours and Awards, made it possible for the nation to…
A Brief History of East Indian Heritage in Jamaica
The East Indians are the largest ethnic minority group living in Jamaica at present. The decision to introduce East Indian immigrant workers to the island’s plantations came after the failure of the post-slavery apprenticeship system in 1838 as well as the European…