Jamaica is hoping to benefit from the emerging 'canibus-infused' tourism and hospitality industry.
(Photo: Google Images)
Jamaica is hoping to benefit from the emerging ‘canibus-infused’ tourism and hospitality industry. (Photo: Google Images)
Caribbean 360 is reporting Jamaica is trying to cash in on the multi-billion-dollar health and wellness tourism sector that several Caribbean countries are turning to in order to boost visitor numbers. The country will focus on the emerging ‘cannabis-infused’ tourism and hospitality industry. Currently, tourists who are interested in CBD products can order online at sites like CBD Canada. CBD has been proven to have many healing properties so it’s no surprise that tourists want in on the action and explore what CBD has to offer. If you’re looking to read into CBD some more, you can read The CBD Insider reviews for more information on how the medicine is transforming many patients’ lives, here’s to hoping Jamaicans will be able to benefit the same. The author writes:
“Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said Jamaica’s lush and rustic southwestern coast is ideally suited for the concept of ‘cannabis-infused tourism’ where products made from the herb would play a major part in the tourism sector. Health and wellness tourism has been identified as one of the key areas of focus under the ministry’s plan to grow visitor arrivals to five million annually, generating earnings of US$5 billion by 2021…
The Tourism Minister said Jamaica should not be a destination with only all-inclusive properties and mass tourism: ‘We believe that we can do product differentiation and we can do a level of product diversification which enables us to be attractive to all demographics.”
An element of that, Bartlett added, was ‘rustic luxury’ which combined nature with the benefit of a luxurious lifestyle, while enabling the utilization of “the nutraceutical values of the rich biodiversity of your neighbourhood.”
He said the global market for that kind of tourism stands at around US$494 billion and Jamaica wants a piece of it.”
Social justice activist Darren Seals (r) was found dead on Tuesday, Sep. 6, 2016 in a burning vehicle.
(Photo: Google Images)
The Twitterverse if in an uproar over reports that Ferguson, Mo. social justice activist and protester Darren Seals has been found dead. Victoria M. Massey of Vox writes:
“According to the St. Louis County Police Department, officers found 29-year-old Darren Seals’s body with a gunshot wound in a charred car in Riverside, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. The police are investigating the case as a homicide. The police told Fusion there are currently no suspects at this time.”
Social justice activist Darren Seals has been found dead. (Photo: Twitter Screen Grab)
Some are speculating that Seals was murdered, while others are remembering his unwavering commitment to ending police brutality, social and economic justice in Ferguson, Mo., which was thrust into the spotlight after the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a police officer. Many are posting online tributes to the slain activist.
Seals, 29, was also a factory line worker and hip-hop musician.
The Own Network’s highly anticipated new scripted drama, ‘Queen Sugar’ debuts tonight at 10/9 Central. Starring Rutina Wesley (True Blood), Dawn Lyen-Gardner (Luke Cage) and Kofi Siriboe (Awkward.), the television show is based on Natalie Baszile’s acclaimed novel of the same name, which follows the complicated lives of the Bordelon siblings, who lead very different lives. Their diverse and disconnected lives are complicated by the recent inheritance of an 800-acre sugarcane farm in Saint Josephine, LA from their father.
The series directed by Ava DuVernay and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, also stars Glynn Turman, Tina Lifford, Omar J. Dorsey, Timon Kyle Durrett and Dondré T. Whitfield. Baszile serves as a writer on the series, which also features all women directors including Neema Barnette, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Tanya Hamilton.
The two-night series premiere begins tonight at 10/9C on OWN. Check local listings for channel information.
Filmmaker, playwright and actor Tyler Perry comments on TLC's first original scripted drama, 'Too Close to Home.'
Filmmaker, playwright and actor Tyler Perry comments on TLC’s first original scripted drama, ‘Too Close to Home.’
It fascinates Tyler Perry to create programming structured around people and what results from their choices.
The dynamic actor, writer, producer, playwright and director’s latest small screen foray, Too Close to Home, is a dramatic series on TLC spanning eight episodes centered around a young woman (Danielle Savre) who abandons her family and trailer park origins for a new life on D.C.’s political scene. She fabricates coming from an affluent background but is forced to relocate back to her small town roots and confront pressing family issues following her sordid, headlining tryst with a reputable politician.
“I wanted to know what would happen if people really got to that level and had to go back to where they came from,” questions Perry, sliding inconspicuously into the show’s Atlanta premiere. “If you make bad choices, there’s going to be hell to pay. Everything is about how do you use your platform or the show without preaching or beating people over the head. She’s got this lovely, crazy, insane family, colorful people in the background as all of us have. I just wanted to explore that world and where it goes from here.”
Quietly resting his face on his left hand throughout the advanced preview, Perry, synonymous with creating and portraying the girthy, hell-raising, pistol-slanging matriarch, “Madea,” got his creative inspiration for Too Close to Home from admiring the work of veteran television producers Aaron Spelling and Norman Lear. The primetime series’ ensemble (and predominately white) cast features Heather Locklear, Matt Battaglia, Trisha Rae Stahl, Kelly Sullivan, Brooke Anne Smith and Brock O’Hurn.
The modest, self-assured New Orleans native responsible for producing high-grossing box office smashes such as I Can Do Bad All By Myself, the Why Did I Get Married? series, Daddy’s Little Girls, The Family That Preys, For Colored Girls, Good Deeds and Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor wastes no time acknowledging and praising his cast’s professionalism and humility.
“It was really phenomenal for me to have people this talented come along,” reiterates the blissful NAACP Image award recipient. “I got a chance to work everyday and have a great time.”
Perry preps the actors by starting with prayer. During casting, he thinks ingenuity overrides talent. “I look for truth,” insists Perry, now seated comfortably on a bar stool. “I don’t care if those actors are not incredible. They take me places that blow my mind. I want new faces and people who bring honesty. These actors work their asses off.”
The 46-year-old creator, humanitarian and fast-paced showrunner behind House of Payne, Meet the Browns, The Haves and the Have Nots, Love Thy Neighbor and If Loving You is Wrong, watched every program on TLC while he was negotiating Too Close to Home. Perry extracted certain attributes and dramatic elements from each program on the cable network to concoct the series.
Shot entirely on the media mogul’s newly developed Ft. McPherson production lot, Perry shares post-screening that he recruited a new cinematographer and constantly renovated numerous sets on the studio’s 330 acres (i.e. the Oval Office, trailer park and a farm) to give TLC’s first original scripted program more lush production aesthetics.
It was especially important for Perry to be consistent with his previous work by infusing subtle morality plays into Too Close to Home‘s subject matter. “I took elements from all the shows and put them together in one show,” he says seated next to the cast members minus Locklear. “I hope after everything is said and done, everything is all about your choices and the consequences for your choices.”
Oprah, Perry’s ally and close confidante, he says, is as equally as excited and supportive of Too Close to Home as he is. The humorous thespian and groundbreaking studio owner is not concerned about the race or ethnicity of the performers on any of his programs. He aspires for Too Close to Home, already renewed for a second season, to generate similar fanfare as The Haves and the Have Nots.
Perry additionally hopes viewers can see themselves in the plots but recognizes that Too Close to Home signals another chapter in his creativity. “It’s a different cast of characters and different group of people,” he says. “If you look at all of my shows, take a minute, study and see all of these are very different people who have their own lives and stories to tell.”
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for The Burton Wire. He is also a contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
Attendees of 2016 AnimeKon in Barbados.
(Google Images)
Attendees of 2016 AnimeKon in Barbados. (Google Images)
AnimeKon 2016, one of the Caribbean’s largest celebrations of Geek and Pop Culture took place August 27-28. Thousands of people came from all over the world to attend the two-day convention which was held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados.
This year ‘s convention theme was Quantum Age and featured more than 100 vendors displaying the latest in geek, fan, film and gaming culture. AnimeKon 2016 featured the talents of actor/comedian Phil LaMarr, the voice of Samurai Jack and the Metal Gear video game franchise.
Advertisement featuring Phil LaMarr for AnimeKon 2016. (Photo: Google Images)
Other celebrities included Kelly Yu who plays Yuriko Oyama a.k.a.Lady Deathstryke in the blockbuster sci-fi film, X-MEN 2; novelist/screenwriter Tim Wagoner (Like Death, Supernatural, X-Files); Chaka Cumberbatch, also known as Princess Mentality Cosplay, founder of#28DaysOfBlackCosplay and Black Girl Nerds co-host and Cosplay and YouTube star D-Piddy.
Attendees pose for a photo in front of the convention center. (Photo: Google Images)
Check out Caribbean 360’s video of AnimeKon below:
AllAfrica.com is reporting black girls in Pretoria, South Africa are protesting rules about hair styles allowed at school, which they say ban natural hairstyles worn by black students. The article states:
“Tears flowed as black Pretoria High School for Girls pupils on Monday told of alleged racism and abuse suffered at the hands of white teachers.
‘I have a natural afro, but a teacher told me I need to comb my hair because it looks like a birds nest,’ one girl told Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who visited the school on Monday morning.
At the centre of the protests is the section of the school’s code of conduct relating to hairstyles, which black girls claim discriminates against them.
The girl told Lesufi she was given a brush and told to neaten her hair. She was told to look at herself in a mirror.
More than five girls expressed their dissatisfaction with the treatment received over their hair.”
In this article Lesufi promised to get to the root of the hair controversy. In a separate and different article on AllAfrica.com, News24wire reported two Soweto high school principals sided with Pretoria High School for Girls in the debate about black girls’ hair, saying pupils need to abide by a schools’ code of conduct. The article states:
“Meadowlands High School’s Ntuli Hlayisani said he did not find any fault with the Pretoria school’s stance, unless parents were not consulted.
‘Rights are rights and we need to respect them; they are in the Constitution. But if you take your child to school and they know the rules of the school and halfway through their school years, they now find fault with the school. I am not sure if this is right,’ Hlayisani told News24.
Another Soweto principal, who wished to remain anonymous, said no braids or dreadlocks were allowed at her high school.”
Phylicia Rashad introduces the "In Memoriam" segment during the 2014 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES-Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)(BETAWARDS-SHOW) - RTR3WD6K
Phylicia Rashad introduces the “In Memoriam” segment during the 2014 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES-Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)(BETAWARDS-SHOW) – RTR3WD6K
Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad will join the cast of Fox’s ‘Empire’ this season. Rashad will play the role of Diana DuBois, a powerhouse from one of New York’s oldest and most prominent African-American families. As the mother of ambitious city councilman Angelo Dubois (guest star Taye Diggs), she has her sights set on a higher office for her only son, and she’ll stop at nothing to groom him. Diana’s interactions with Cookie, Lucious and the rest of the Lyon clan will lay bare the stark class divides that can exist, even within the black community.
A versatile performer, Phylicia Rashad became a household name with her role as “Claire Huxtable” on “The Cosby Show,” one of the most iconic characters in television history. While television played a significant role in the rise of Rashad’s career, she has also been a force on the stage, appearing in both on and off Broadway production. A triple threat (singer, actress, dancer), Rashad has starred in productions like “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Into The Woods,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Wiz.” As a dramatic actress, Rashad has performed on Broadway in “August: Osage County,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Gem Of The Ocean” and “Cymbeline.” In 2004, Rashad received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her outstanding performance in the Broadway revival of “A Raisin In The Sun,” becoming the first black actress to win a Tony for a dramatic leading role.
On television, Rashad has recently appeared on USA Network’s “Psych” and Lifetime’s movie “Steel Magnolias.” In film, Rashad has most recently starred in Ryan Coogler’s “Creed,” and Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds” and “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.”
“Empire” returns to Fox on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. Check local listings for channel information.
Iconic journalist George Curry dies at 69.
(Photo: Google Images)
Iconic journalist George Curry dies at 69. (Photo: Google Images)
AL.com is reporting funeral plans have been set for George E. Curry, a journalist, civil rights activist and publisher whose syndicated column ran in hundreds of black-owned newspapers around the United States. The Laurel, Maryland, resident died suddenly over the weekend. He was 69.
Stacy Brown, National Newspaper Publishers of America (NNPA) newswire contributor writes:
“The Black Press lost one of it’s most celebrated warriors when George Curry, veteran journalist and former Editor-In-Chief of the NNPA News Wire, died from an apparent heart attack on Saturday, August 20. Curry was 69…
‘On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), we are all saddened and heartbroken by the sudden passing of one of our most admired, respected, and gifted colleagues, George E. Curry,’ said NNPA President Dr. Benjamin Chavis. ‘Black America, and in fact millions of African people all over the world, had come to know George Curry as a fearless scholar and writer who used his pen and wit to aggressively advance the cause of freedom, justice and equality for Black people and for the whole of humanity.’
Chavis continued: ‘George was our trusted comrade on the frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement and on the front pages of the Black Press of America. We will miss him.’
It’s hard to believe that Curry, who led the NNPA as Editor-In-Chief of its news wire from 2003 to 2007 and then from 2012 to 2015, has died, said Washington Informer Publisher and NNPA Chair Denise Rolark Barnes, who called Curry a giant in the journalism profession.
‘As publisher of ‘The Washington Informer,’ I admired George’s leadership as Editor-In-Chief of ‘Emerge,’ the preeminent monthly news magazine targeting issues impacting African-Americans,” Rolark Barnes said. “George’s uncompromising journalistic leadership delivered on Emerge’s promise to deliver edgy, hard-hitting, intellectual, well-written and thoroughly researched content that attracted national attention and left an indelible mark on the lives of many.
‘As a member and now chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, I was honored to carry George’s weekly column in ‘The Washington Informer’ and to work with him while he served as Editor-In-Chief of the NNPA News Wire. George provided so much of his time, energy, wisdom and incredible journalistic genius to the Black Press,’ she said.
‘His work will stand as a lasting legacy of journalistic excellence and integrity of which all of us in the Black Press and the journalism industry at-large can feel extremely proud. My prayers and sympathy extend to his family and closest companions. He will be sorely missed.’
Freddie Allen, the managing editor of the NNPA News Wire, called Curry an icon in the Black Press and said that his legacy of mentoring young journalists will bear fruit for many years to come.
Recently, Allen and Curry were part of a Black media delegation that worked with the Black AIDS Institute to cover the 2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.
‘George taught me what it meant to be a professional journalist and also about the importance of working in the Black Press,” Allen said. “His writing and insight on critical issues affecting the Black community will be sorely missed. I’m thankful for the time we spent together in Durban.’
‘We shall miss this voice of reason and thought-provoking columns full of researched facts.”
Curry is being laid to rest on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to give the eulogy at Weeping Mary Baptist Church. A public viewing will be held from noon to 7 p.m. Friday.
Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found dead in a gym mat at his high school in Valdosta, gA in 2013. (Photo: Google Images)
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES.
Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found dead in a gym mat at his high school in Valdosta, gA in 2013. (Photo: Google Images)
NewsOne is reporting the parents of Kendrick Johnson, a teenager whose dead body was found rolled up in a gym mat at his Lowndes High School on January 11, 2013, have been ordered by Judge Richard Porter to pay the attorney fees of city and county officials named in a dropped lawsuit that had claimed dozens of defendants were complicit in the teen’s 2013 death. The defendants included Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Lowndes County Schools, the City of Valdosta, the Bell family, and Owens Transport, but it was dropped in early March of 2016. The Johnsons allege that classmates Branden and Brian Bell killed Johnson, and then conspired with their father Richard Bell, an FBI agent, and other authorities to cover up the murder. Judge Porter has not set the amount that the Johnsons must repay but they are now facing a $900,000 bill.
Photo of Kendrick Johnson before and after his death. (Photo: Google Images)
After a three year probe, in June 2016, the Department of Justice announced there would be no charges filed in the death of Kendrick Johnson, citing insufficient evidence.
In an interview with journalist Roland Martin, Kendrick’s mother Jackie Johnson said:
“It’s another slap in the face…
“It’s like we’re having to pay for my son being murdered.”
Mrs. Johnson told Martin despite being unsure of the financial ramifications, “We’re not going to be distracted by what they’re trying to do.”
“We will not let them silence us about our son’s murder…There is nothing they can do to stop us from pursuing this case. We’re going to take this case all the way through, no matter how many distractions they throw at us, or whatever they try to throw at us.
“We’re going to keep pushing, we’re going to find out what happened to Kendrick Johnson – who killed him.”
The Johnson’s have filed a new wrongful death lawsuit in federal court.
Writing for Black Press USA, National Newspaper Publishers of America(NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis examines why the black press still matters. Dr. Chavis discusses the historical and contemporary significance of the black press, highlighting the upcoming 190th anniversary of the first publication of Freedom’s Journal on March 16, 1827 in New York City.
Chavis writes, “…Black-owned newspapers have led the way when it comes to raising a voice of consciousness for Black America. Today, in 2016, Black-owned newspapers still matter.” He also discusses NNPA’s journalism Discover the Unexpected (DTU) fellowship program with Howard University and Chevrolet that is helping to produce young, black journalists who will continue to raise the voice and tell the stories of Black America. Read an excerpt of Dr. Chavis’ editorial below:
“Black Lives Matter. Black Votes Matter. Black Press Matters. In order to overcome racial inequality and injustice, we have to emphasize the importance of nurturing and mentoring the rise of a new generation of freedom-fighting journalists, publishers and African American owners of newspapers and media companies.
There is a huge, qualitative difference between media that is Black-owned and non-Black-owned media that is targeted to Black consumers. Numerous national studies have documented that Black-owned newspapers remain the “trusted and respected” source of news, empowering success stories, and cultural aspirations for more than 45 million Black Americans…”
