Political Susu with Mama ASID and Lady D - WED 07/23/08
Thursday, July 24th, 2008Political Susu is a public service of ASID Hi-Power Radio and Irie ATL; co-produced by Mama ASID of BadGalsRadio and Lady D of Irie ATL’s Drivetime Show. this show is new to our network, and will become a weekly feature - specifically to highlight Caribbean, and Global News about People Of Color. If you’ve got a tip make sure to send us a link to the story, and a note please. The global diasporic community is our focus, always.
Truth and Rights,
Mama ASID
Co-Producer the Political Susu Show on BadGalsRadio & IrieATL.com Radio.
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REGGAE FOCUS -
Happy Earthborn Strong Empress Michelle of the Musical Ambassadors Posse’
RIP Roy Shirley - Reggaes’ High Priest
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BLESS UP EMPRESS DR. MICHELLE ELLIOTT
OF MUSICAL AMBASSADOR RECORDS
The Entire Family of Musical Ambassador Records, BadGalsRadio; ASID Hi-Power Sound; Trenchtones; and All of the affiliates of the FoundationSound Radio Network; Send our Warmest Wishes for a Blessed and Happy Birthday to Empress Dr. Michelle Elliott; co- owner of Musical Ambassador Records. May Jah grant your every wish and bless you in abundance always; may today be the beginning of the best for you; forever. Thanks for Your Support and Guidance during our trying times. your insight is invaluable and without you we could never be .. Bless Up Empress Michelle
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RIP Roy Shirley - ‘Reggaes’ High Priest’ remembered
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Jamaica Gleaner News - ‘High Priest’ remembered - Tuesday | July 22, 2008
‘High Priest’ remembered
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Roy Shirley goes down on his knees as he wows the audience at the palace Theatre. - file
ROY Shirley, the theatrical singer known as the High Priest of Reggae, has died. An entry on the Trojan Records website said Shirley passed away last week in Britain.
No cause, or date of death, was given.
Shirley was best known for the 1967 hit song, Hold Them, which was produced by a young Joe Gibbs. Several musicologists consider Hold Them to be the first rock steady song.
Although he had other songs of note including I Am The Winner and Heartbreak Gypsy, a cover of soul singer Ben E King’s hit.
Hold Them was the Kingston-born Shirley’s signature song. Early in his career, he worked with Jimmy Cliff and Ken Boothe, but never matched the chart success of those singers.
Shirley’s penchant for drama (wore capes, ‘wept’ during performances) overshadowed his talent, but reggae historian Roger Steffens said there should be no disputing the mark he made on Jamaican music.
“As an artiste, he was unique and inimitable. He had a voice like a squeezed mango, a stage manner that bordered on the absurd, and a strange offbeat sense of humour that found expression in odd songs like Dance the Auna and Music Field,” Steffens told The Gleaner.
Shirley, who was 64, last performed in June at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville, California.
He immigrated to England in 1973, and like many of his contemporaries, developed a cult following in that country. He last performed in Jamaica in 2004 at the Stars ‘R’ Us show.
Roy Shirley facts
Was born Ainsorth Roy Rushton Shirley.
First song, Shirley, was done for producer Leslie Kong in 1962.
Was founding member of vocal group The Uniques with singer Slim Smith.
Founded the British Universal Talent Development Association.
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GEORGIA NEWSBEAT
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A Georgia school gets the paddles ready for the fall
To spank or not to spank … that’s the question in Twiggs County, Ga., where principals are breaking out their paddles this fall to deter misbehaving. It won’t be the first time that the school district puts the wood to students who act up. Last year, for example, a second-grader was swatted for throwing pencils, as were others who were deemed too unruly for the standard time-out or other methods of discipline, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. But the policy was rarely used. Teachers and administrators can opt out if they desire, and parents must sign a permission slip to allow their children to be paddled. Read more of what the parents and teachers had to say at BET.com/News.
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SOUTHERN AFRICA - Our Africa Focus This Week
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Zimbabweans play the zero game
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By Kathyrn Westcott
BBC News |
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Quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion - crazy numbers with lots of zeros, that independent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson found himself chewing over with colleagues in the capital Harare this week.
In January, the bank introduced a Z$10m note
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The financial throes of the country are now so severe, that some people are seeking a new language to understand it.
On Monday, the Zimbabwe government introduced the 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar note (for the uninitiated, a billion is nine zeros).
The counting of zeros had already become a nightmare for bankers and shoppers before the introduction of the new note - which at the time of writing would buy about two loaves of bread.
So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless.
It has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).
When John Robertson pinned a chart to the wall of office naming numbers up to twice as long, he says he “raised a bit of a laugh” from his colleagues.
But for many officials and accountants, a quadrillion - a million billion - is the number of the day.
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BIG NUMBERS
Quadrillion: 15 zeros
Quintillion: 18 zeros
Sextillion: 21 zeros
Septillion 24 zeros
This formulation is from the widely-used US system
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Only last week, the Harare Herald advertised the Lotto bonanza prize being offered was 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. At the time, that was equivalent to around 4,000 US dollars.
So how do Zimbabweans deal with such astronomical numbers?
“I actually Googled what comes after trillion about a month ago, and sent that out to all my friends so they’d be prepared,” says 28-year-old Esther, a Harare resident who writes a regular diary for the BBC.
Day-to-day transactions for ordinary people have not reached the quadrillion stage, she says, but even trillions present difficulties.
“What is confusing is counting of the figures on your cheques as you try to make sure you are not under or over paying someone, or the struggling to read price tags in shops that have not yet knocked off zeros and so on,” she says.
Hard currency
This practice - knocking off zeros - is the most common way of preserving sanity.
Most calculators simply cannot show enough digits.
The new note is three zeros short of Germany’s 1924 100-trillion-mark note
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Tills throughout the country have been struggling to cope, as have banking computers, and accounting systems.
As a result, the banks recently agreed to lop six zeros off transactions and documentation.
Economist John Robertson predicts that within a month they will be forced to drop another three.
The other main technique for keeping zeros under control, is to think in terms of a hard currency - in this case, US dollars.
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S African police evict migrants
Foreigners were forced into temporary camps in May
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South African police have forcefully removed hundreds of immigrants from temporary shelters where they had taken refuge from xenophobic attacks.
Authorities say the immigrants, who were taken to a repatriation centre in Johannesburg, had not registered with the home affairs department.
They now face deportation to their home countries, officials said.
More than 60 immigrants were killed and tens of thousands more fled during the attacks against foreigners in May.
A BBC reporter witnessed angry and emotional scenes at the Glenanda temporary centre as they were removed.
Some immigrants chanted “human rights for refugees” as they were driven away by dozens of riot police.
The BBC’s Mpho Lakaje said the immigrants taken from the camp, where about 2,000 people were sheltering, included women and children.
“It is not the South African government’s intention to deport a huge group of people, but we want to identify the ring leaders [behind unrest at the camp] and deport them,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told South Africa’s Independent newspaper.
‘Very disappointed’
Home Affairs spokeswoman Cleo Mosana said the immigrants had been offered exemption from deportation but had not taken it up.
She said they had been given enough time to apply for proper documentation, but had refused to do so.
Many foreigners said the registration process was not clearly explained, or that they did not register because they feared losing their refugee status.
The government denied this would happen.
One woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo said her sister was among those taken away.
“They are going back to their country, but I know in our country there is still fighting,” she said.
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JAMAICA - Our Caribbean Focus This Week
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GoodLawd The MP done made Marcus Garvey a Criminal Again?
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Before You Quote History, or in this case Your Story, You Need To Know It.
Somebody PULLLLLEEEEEEEZEEE mandate history tests for all politicians globally; cause it they don’t know history how can they help develop the future. This is a pure example of pomposity in action
LawdaMercy - to quote Shabba, who even knows better than this MP.
~RE
Pardon us, Tom - King’s House gave senator wrong information on Garvey forgiveness
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008
Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

Tavares-finson
King’s House has refused to say whether it has formally apologised to Senator Tom Tavares-Finson for incorrectly informing him that it had no record of a pardon being granted to Marcus Mosiah Garvey.
By way of a letter, King’s House had told the senator that no such request was ever formally made on behalf of the country’s first National Hero, to expunge from the records two convictions for contempt of court on August 5 and September 26, 1929.But Rose-Marie Gibbs, the governor general’s acting secretary, said documents detailing the pardon were subsequently found.
Grave embarrassment
However, Gibbs refused to say where they were found. She also refused to say whether a formal apology has been made for misinforming the senator.The incorrect information was used by Tavares-Finson in his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on July 4 and has caused him much embarrassment, The Gleaner has learnt.
During the debate, Tavares-Finson called for a statutory declaration by Parliament to remove the designation of ‘convicted criminal’ from four National Heroes, including Marcus Garvey.
However, Garvey had already been pardoned in 1987 after the then Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Edward Seaga, petitioned then Governor General, Sir Florizel Glasspole, to posthumously grant the National Hero pardon.
Sources close to the senator told The Gleaner yesterday that since then, Tavares-Finson has been the butt of many jokes among his professional peers and members of the Senate.The source also revealed that Tavares-Finson had been even reprimanded by the prime minister for the boo-boo.
On the contrary, an article published in The Gleaner on August 18, 1987, confirmed that Garvey was post-humously granted pardon.The article also stated that Seaga made the announcement at Garvey Day ceremonies in St Ann’s Bay. When contacted yesterday, Seaga expressed certainty that the pardon sought by his Cabinet for Garvey was granted.
Tavares-Finson’s could not be reached yesterday, as he was said to be abroad on business.
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Bruce’s super squad - Police, army to flood JA under new anti-crime plan
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
URL: Riot inmates relocated to Horizon Remand Centre
Riot inmates relocated to Horizon Remand Centre
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008
Michelle-Ann Letman, Staff Reporter

A member of the Jamaica Defence Force on the compound of the Gun Court remand facility on South Camp Road, Kingston, yesterday. Soldiers were called in to help restore calm after inmates started a riot there. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Thirty high-risk inmates from the Gun Court Remand Centre on South Camp Road, Kingston, were yesterday transferred to the Horizon Remand Centre on Spanish Town Road, following an attempted jailbreak and riot.
The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said the inmates started the riot about 9 a.m., when workmen went to the facility to repair burglar bars and locks that had been damaged.
“They started chanting and destroying the bars and locks on the facility,” said Sergeant Dahlia Garrick of the CCN.
The Mobile Reserve, the Department of Correctional Services and the Jamaica Defence Force were called in by the Detention and Courts Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to help restore order at the centre.
According to the authorities, tear gas had to be used to quell the prisoners.
While the members of the security forces tried to bring calm, a small group of women gathered outside the facility protesting against what they called the harsh conditions their family members were facing at the remand facility.
The inmates are all charged with serious crimes, including firearm offences and murder.
According to the CCN, this was the second time in less than a week that inmates were attempting to escape from the Gun Court Remand Centre.
The first attempt on July 17 was thwarted by police personnel on routine inspection, who observed that a ventilation grille had been removed from one of the blocks.
The CCN said after that incident, a thorough search was conducted and all contraband, including cellphones and ganja, were seized.
Bruce’s super squad - Police, army to flood communities under new anti-crime plan
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008
Glenroy Sinclair and Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporters

This newly renovated building at Mobile Reserve, Up Park Camp in Kingston, will be the headquarters of the major joint police-military team that will be the core of a new anti-crime initiative. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
A MAJOR deployment of police and soldiers and several legislative changes should form the primary planks of new anti-crime measures to be announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding today.
With more than 900 persons killed across the island in the first seven months of this year, the prime minister is expected to provide details of what he has described as “extraordinary measures” to deal with the crime problem.
Golding was initially scheduled to announce the anti-crime measures last week, but told the country he had to delay his presentation because he had not completed his consul-tations with several groups.
Since then, the prime minister has met with human-rights lobbyists and members of the Police Federation and yesterday, met with leading members of the private sector.
During those meetings, Golding outlined and sought support for the Government’s plans, which the administration expects will offend some sections of the society.
Draconian
Already, one human-rights lobbyist has described the proposed measures as draconian.
Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, convenor of the group, Families Against State Terrorism, emerged from a meeting with Golding claiming that she was uneasy with the proposed anti-crime initiatives.
According to McCalla-Sobers, the Golding administration had agreed to measures, including amending the law to allow persons to be detained for up to 28 days without charge, the restriction of bail for gun-related offences, and the provision for majority verdict in non-capital murder cases.
Golding is expected to respond to the claims during today’s presentation.
Don denies phone in butt and why do we care ?
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
What makes this story soooo interesting ?
honestly are we mezmerized by the suggestion that a tuff ta tallawa ganglord could possibly stick a celly up his arse ? gee, and to add gosh ! I for one think this is not news; as many phones have been found in many butts in jails globally - no doubt. since we began following it - I will still post it as it’s a part of the ongoing discussion of what craziness is in the news these days.. globally.
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CHINA - Our International Focus This Week
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Beijing bars to Ban Blacks During Olympics.. Interesting
“We don’t have racism in China, because we don’t have black people.”
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Honestly - We’re hoping this is the icing on the cake for the Genocide Olympics.. at least with Black Folks; and folks with sensibility.

This brings about the question of if they are planning on banning Blackfolks Money from their establishments globally during the olympics ?
it would seem to reason, right ? or am I seeing this in too broad of a picture ? like sayyyy, the same one they used when calling All Africans - Pimps, Hoes and Drug Dealers.
just for the sake of argument, lets say that during the olympics, All Blackfolks Worldwide Resolve Not To Spend ANY MONEY With ANY CHINESE Establishment.

I would love to see it happen.
personally I think I’ll just use that principal during the olympics and avoid anything Chinese.
that may be hard; but starting now gives me a chance to plan my move accordingly.
I wonder if others will see the logic and join me ?
maybe I should ask folks to join me..
Just for the sake of thought, Everyone Who Reads This and is African or Supports Africana - don’t spend any-money with any Chinese Folks anywhere during the olympics, and see if it makes you feel better as a response to this stupidity.
then we can each see if it was effective, if it shows up in the major news media. I theorize someone will think it was an organized effort; but I’m banking on the fact that word of mouth works faster than a chinese ad agency; especially with people of color.
It’s time to talk to your family, email friends, neighbors, frats, sorors, beauticians and barbers, deacon and usher friends; your co-workers, church members and anyone you know who may feel the logic in undertaking our little social un-experiment.
Pass it along and lets see how fast it effects beijing’s chief racist in charge of economics and the olympics.
It’s time we stood up together in a silent move to support principal for just such a cause.
Lets Make it Happen for US All Globally. China is not impervious to opinion, and each of ours counts; especially when it influences our spending habits and support of our own social consciousness.
now lets take another look at the international world of the olympics shall we .. China the worlds leader in cheap shyte is tryin another cheap move on the color tip ?
Ohhhh Hellllllll-OOOoooo-lympics!
— Chinese police officials have forced some Beijing bar owners to sign secret pledges promising to prohibit blacks from entering their bars during the Olympics next month, a Hong Kong newspaper says.
The police denied the report Friday, and most bars denied any knowledge of the pledges. But many African residents of Beijing say they are facing harassment from police and discrimination from bars as the Olympics approach.
“Bar owners near the Workers Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises,” the South China Morning Post reported Friday.
It quoted the co-owner of a bar who said that a group of police had recently visited his establishment to order it “not to serve black people or Mongolians.”
In the famed Sanlitun bar district of Beijing, some bar owners have been required to sign pledges agreeing to ban a variety of activities, including dancing and serving black customers, the newspaper said.
Africans and Mongolians are often perceived as criminals in Beijing. Until this year, a number of young African men were openly selling drugs in the Sanlitun district, and many Mongolian women were working as prostitutes in the city.
Both groups are among the targets of China’s security crackdown in the lead-up to the Olympics, along with thousands of Tibetans, Uyghurs, migrant workers, petitioners and social activists who are seen as potential troublemakers or protesters.
In a notorious incident last September, dozens of black people were detained by police in a raid on bars in the Sanlitun district.
Witnesses said the police rounded up all the black people they could find, up to three dozen in total, and beat some of them with rubber truncheons.
Grenada’s ambassador to China filed a complaint to the Foreign Ministry, saying that his son suffered a concussion and needed hospital treatment after he was clubbed on the head by police during the raid.
Africans have been coming to Beijing for decades as university students or traders. But many were forced to leave China this year because of new visa restrictions that made it difficult to renew their paperwork.
In interviews Friday, a number of Africans said they are facing discriminatory rules from Beijing’s bars and nightclubs as the Olympics approach.
A woman from Liberia, who is co-owner of a hair salon in Beijing, said she was outraged when she visited a popular Beijing nightclub and found that the entrance fee for black people was twice as high as for other foreigners.
Even if they managed to enter the club, the black patrons were prohibited from sitting at the tables, she said.
In another incident, she said, an African-owned bar was raided this week by police with dogs, and the customers were required to provide urine samples for drug tests.
“When the police come, you have to run,” she said. “I’ve lived in Holland and the United States and it was never like this. There’s no human rights here. It’s racist and it makes me feel very bad.”
If the police are now ordering bars to prohibit black people from entering, it is highly unfair, she said. “Every race has good people and bad people. You can’t blame all blacks for drugs. If a person is not causing a problem, you shouldn’t bother them.”
Two Nigerian businessmen said they were required to show their passports before being allowed to enter a Beijing nightclub last weekend. Black people who could not produce their passports were barred from entering the club, but other foreigners were not required to show their passports, they said.
“This had never happened before to me,” one of the Nigerians said. “I was very angry. This is racism.”
The Africans spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing more harassment from the police if they are identified. The Nigerians, interviewed at a bar, asked that the bar not be identified because they were worried that it could be raided if the police learned that Africans congregate there.
China Olympics - Police Ask Bar Owners Not To Serve Blacks Because They Are Pimps, Prostitutes And Drug Dealers
Get Them Darkies Out Of Here!
(from the barbados freepress blog)
“Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.
Bar owners said that police have been clamping down on black people and Mongolians, who are sometimes implicated in drug dealing and prostitution, as part of an Olympic clean-up campaign that they and locals fear will make for a secure but sterile Games.”
Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises. “Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians,” said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.
We checked twice just to make sure: This story comes from the SCMP and not The Onion … in 2008 … as the world awaits the ultra-harmonious “One World, One Dream” Olympics.
Prejudice and racism exists in China, but it seems to be emplifying during the Olympics. Many ethnic minorities in China are finding it harder and harder to stay in the country, and many are making their final preparations to leave. With the Olympics just a short time away, Chinese security crackdown continues to tighten against ethnic minorities, migrant workers, petitioners and social activists. Many are being forcibly expelled by authorities.
A British woman of Tibetan descent, Dechen Pemba, was deported from China last week. The 30-year-old teacher had lived in Beijing for two years and had a valid visa to work in China, but she was escorted to Beijing airport by a group of security agents who forced her onto an airplane with no explanation. The government later accused her of belonging to the Tibetan Youth Congress and engaging in “separatist activities” - charges that she strongly denied.
Yes, it is understandable that Tibetans and Mongolians are seen as potential Olympic troublemakers. Many Muslim Uyghurs from China are not even welcomed at hotels and ended up without a place to stay. Uyghurs are not only seems as potential protesters, but also as potential terrorists.
Racism with Chinese Characteristics?
- Posted by: lion lady
Post time: 16-Nov-2007 17:24
Teaching university students in Shanghai gave me a unique opportunity to explore the opinions of the youth on race issues and the significance of skin color. I once taught a class on racism. One student shot up his hand and said wisely, “We don’t have racism in China, because we don’t have black people.”
My students were shocked on discover that my boyfriend was “black” (as a North American who spent a year studying in South Africa, I’m cautious about using the term “black” to refer to a person of African descent, but I will use the term here for the sake of simplicity). “Black skin is ugly,” was a common complaint. My female students said they would never date a black guy because the color of their skin is unattractive. It seemed not so much an issue of racism, but of cultural standards of beauty. White skin is considered beautiful and black just happens to be the opposite of white.
When attempting to purchase a moisturizer or skin cleanser in China, it is difficult to find anything that doesn’t advertise and contain “skin whitening” ingredients. In Western countries, we are accustomed to see “whitening” on tubes of tooth paste, but not skin care products. I laughed when my boyfriend complained about his mistaken purchase of “whitening” Neutrogena moisturizer. “What? Like I WANT to look like Michael Jackson?” he growled.
Chinese girls cower under the rays of the sun, like vampires at dawn. The umbrellas are pulled out to shade them and in the absence of an umbrella, they will school books, bags or jackets over their heads to shield themselves from a pleasant sunny day. You might identify umbrella use with rainy days, but in China, come rain or sunshine, the umbrellas are always out. So why the obsession with fish-belly white skin? Well, in Victorian times, white skin was all the rage amongst the European aristocracy. They powdered their faces. White skin was evidence that you could afford a life of leisure, whereas a tan showed you labored in the sun like the peasants.
In China, the farmers and migrant workers have deeply tanned skin. Dark skin is indicative of a lower class.
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