A lesson of Ingratitude from de Gunshot Gambler Gaglio

We already KNOW this one is gonna piss off some haters but that ain't never stopped us before & it ain't stopping us from dropping the realness now - so check it out massive!




In a RG interview, Mr. Gaglio who got wounded during a robbery of his gambling den last month back made the following statement about his survival & recovery from the gunshot wound:

"Obviously it's my own sheer determination that pulled me out of this coma," he said. "As healthy as I am, I pulled myself through it. Not too many people take a bullet in the chest and then survive."

Ok, while Gaglio has every right to believe what he wants about his life, where is this bye's gratitude??? Scan the whole article for it & it's not there!
Not even a "thank you GOD/Creator/Allah/Orisha/or any other spiritual power that he may believe in....NOPE - just his "own sheer determination"....

Ok so maybe he don't believe in God & the spiritual, well he has his right to be that way...

But what about an acknowledgment of the medical people in Bermie & Stateside who tended to him when he was shot up & unconscious???

NOPE - no thanks for them either, just his "own sheer determination"

Has a near death experience inspired him to become a better person in any way? Gunshot Gambler Gaglio would tell you that,

"It hasn't changed a thing," he said. "I'm just getting back to health and life again."


wow!!!

De Gunshot Gambler's arrogance, self-absorption & ingratitude are mind-blowing!!!

And white byes like him (as well as nuff Nuppets)have the audacity to call Ewart Brown arrogant???

You must be kiddin!!!

This kinda sick ungrateful & arrogant attitude is what makes byes like him just like the byes who robbed & shot him! The so-called criminals were self-absorbed about 'gettin money' & in this case their 'victim' was (& still is) equally self absorbed!!!

This whole Bermie society needs a radical revolution of values & systems!!!

Black people get BLACK to your OWN culture!!! And stop taking cues (& bets) from these kinds of arrogant & ungrateful people....

Fried Chicken for Dracula

Well, well, well. What happens when you get an Italian poet, two apostles and fried chicken in a room --- you get a big bashment, a brand new party it seems! UBP MPs Shawn Crockwell, Donte Hunt and Mark Pettingill and Senator Michael Fahy are calling for Party Leader Kim Swan to resign because of "his failure to make the UBP a viable Opposition since losing its third consecutive General Election in 2007." According to the daily Gazelle, these three wanna be kings and a camel will "quit and form their own party" and retire within months (allegedly this party will take place East of the River Nile --- yah they gonna be playing nuff Augustus Pablo, I take it).

These royal Ubbies (read, "You"-bies - brand new dub for UBP MPs I guess we need to copyright this one before these bermie blog-nuppets steal that dub too) are so frustrated (how bout some chalice your highness, it calms d nerves) by the party's refusal to reform they will walk out before the next parliamentary session opens in November — unless Mr. Swan takes drastic action.

They are very very mad at Kimmy for letting the Party lose ground on the PLP "despite widespread public anger with Premier Ewart Brown and PLP MPs continuously speaking out against him." And they want to change the name...

AND NOW THEY WANT FRESH BLOOD SERVED AT D PARTY! Now we don't know bout this freaky freaky vampire business dem a talk bout - fresh, ripe blood from new donors, sacrifices and dying, but that don't sound like a Party I'll be at anytime soon - unless I come like an ites, green and gold lion with iron and garlic to slay d harlot...

Look hey fellas, it don't matta what name you change the UBP to cause Black folk still gon see right through that crap (what you mean, you still sleep all day, give Black people hell at night, wear a cape, still got pointy teeth and pale as hell - Dracula you ain't fooling nobody - get the freak away from we neck and give us Tucker's Town back!).

I gotta betta idea for you, how bout you vampires stop insulting the populace. Are you suggesting that all the people who voted for the PLP (and will continue to do because at the end of the day no better than to trust the UBP or any remixed form of it) are dumb? Why don't you just ask all of them to resign??? Richard...talk to them for me please. (explicit content in the video below so be warned - bwa ha ha ha haaaaa...)

Animated Comedy Richard Pryor- Dracula

Celebrate Enkutatash Ethiopian New Year

Massive
You are cordially invited to join the sisters & brothers this evening (September 11th 2009) at Astwood Park between 6:30-10pm in order to celebrate Enkutatash a festival to commemorate the Ethiopian New Year. Some of you are asking why celebrate New year in September, well the nation of Ethiopia & especially the Orthodox Church, operates on the Julian calendar system making this the start of the new calendar year.

Come out & learn something but most of all come to enjoy the celebration with the family.

See you there!

Quick Draw poker - De new Bermy rules

Well well well massive,
The shooting at the home of Mr. Richard Gaglio which occurred earlier this week has had the squawk shows buzzing and the letters to the editor flowing like ink was free.

First things first, shout out (or should we say 'shot out') to the robbers for FINALLY deciding to rob wealthy white people! For a little while now the OPC has suspected that all of the shottas in Bermie didn’t know how to find the rich white neighbourhoods in Bermie. The crew was talking at lunchtime a few weeks back wondering if these gun-toting youths needed a map to find Tucker’s Town, Fairylands & Harbour Road because it seemed like the only ones getting shot & killed OR robbed at gunpoint was black people!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah, you had a few whites get held-up the other day but ALL Bermudians know that the overwhelming majority of gun crime occurs in Black communities & is perpetrated by Black gunslingers - FACT.

The OPC can now tear up our letter of complaint to CURE & the BRRI protesting the unequal distribution of violent crime among Bermuda’s racial groups now that rich whites are finally getting jacked at their homes. So thank you to Mr. Gambling Robber & your accomplice(s) for breaking the racial glass ceiling on violent crime around here – very refreshing!!! We are glad to see that the Gambling Robber has decided not to be ‘Robbin in the hood’ but instead chose to be Robbin Hood and steal from the rich! lol! haaa hahaaaa

Mind you, the entire OPC was kinda mad that you lot only got away with around $200. Brother, if you are gonna rob the rich white people at least make it worth your while & get some grands!!! Well, maybe we shouldn’t be so critical, because you might work on that in the future… We wonder if this will start a trend??? If so, it will be pretty interesting to follow the robbery stats of rich white people in addition to winter favourites like Premier League and ISL football…

Now back to the matter at hand, all the squawk shows, babylon’s bloggers and opinion columnists are firing their attacks at government for not doing more to stop crime & at complaining about the supposed ‘moral decline’ of Bermie demonstrated by the supposed rise in high-stakes gambling.

Once again, time for an OPC History Lesson, this high-stakes gambling (poker, euchre, whist, etc.) stuff has been going on for years in Bermie. Youth mans go ask your parents/elders about John Swan’s high stakes card games back in the 1980s. Yup “Sir John” had UBP members of Parliament, judges, doctors, lawyers & probably a few governors & US consulates at his Grape Bay estate home making wagers with three, four, five and six zeros!!! Let’s not even bother to mention all the cops, prison officers and customs officers who used to host regular gambling sets at their yards up & down de country! But this was the white man’s pastime so of course it wasn’t made illegal – how convenient! Quite frankly it wouldn’t make sense for UBP MP’s to be gambling at their buddies houses & then pass legislation which would make their evening pastime illegal, now would it???

And just in case you haters wanna cry about the so-called ‘race-card’ the OPC sees the gambling jones in all communities! Just go to Cup Match & the Eastern/Western County Games and we all know what we see – gambling in the form of Crown & Anchor. Do Bermudians really believe that the betting fiends who literally spend the whole day at the C&A tables are satisfied with just gambling during the cricket season only??? Let’s not remind you of the legal games that were played over having gambling/slot machine in a number if Front Street clubs. Let’s not discuss the fact that several churches have BINGO fundraisers – which is just gambling for old folks. Not to mention the favourite fundraiser for many schools & clubs is the raffle – which is just a remixed lottery! We could go on & on & on…..

So it really should be no big surprise that this stuff has been going on round this island for decades! Frankly this is probably one of the reasons why Ewart and other politicians are in favour of legalizing the gambling/casinos, because anyone who is even slightly awake knows that nuff people gamble all the time in Bermie! So why not just legalize it & tax it is what most gambling supporters would say.
Before some of you BEB crew bust a gasket let's specify something - The OPC ain’t feeling gambling for several ethical & common-sense reasons because it victimizes poor people by offering them Babylon illusion of ‘striking it rich’ but the odds are stacked against them to the degree that they usually end up wasting their little earnings chasing a pipe dream while the rich white byes & their nuppet partners who actually own the gambling establishments grow rich!

But back to the media coverage of this case – Why is it that the RG & the Sun have chosen to withhold the names of the other gamblers/witnesses???

The OPC smells race & class again….Because the massive already knows that if some black bye got caught with a spliff tail or a few milligrams of “plant like substance resembling cannabis” then his name is recorded in the paper – no ifs, buts, and never-you-minds about it! The massive already knows that if some construction worker was pulled over for drunk driving or snatched up for shoplifting then that bye’s name would appear in the paper without hesitation – tell the truth, some of you lot check out the RG ‘Bermuda Shorts’ section for that purpose only!

So why is it that these gamblers are only named by their occupations “prominent international businessmen, a union official, a leading restaurateur and a journalist” {DIRECT RG QUOTE} why have their names been WITHELD??? We especially wanna know who the businessman & the journalist are – is this what RG & Sun workers do on their days off???

Why is it that these people are allowed to defend their actions by crying about how their friendly game of poker (or whatever game they were playing?) wasn’t a gambling den. And how the media is portraying them & their activities in a 'negative light' – Oh boo-hoo-hoo – we are just crying a river for you - NOT!



Basically, this robbery & shooting highlights the HYPOCRISY which has unfortunately become typical here in Bermie.

Bermie ain’t never honest about what goes down here, because the leaders of this place are too concerned over what some tourist or white corporation will think! All kinds of craziness goes on in this society but all the time the leaders of this country are pushing that “Bermuda is another world” progress narrative folly! Pretending as if Bermie is soo different & somehow untouched by the typical problems of capitalist western societies! Bermie society is like a prostitute that tries to claim that she ain’t a whore by calling herself a “call girl”… Naaah boss, names and semantics won’t cut it!

This society has major problems and part of our collective inability to fix them is that the leaders (and a lot of the general public) can’t be honest because they are always worried about their “image”. This just boils down to neo-colonial business interests = tourism & offshore finance corporations. So if this society wants to honestly address this issue then it needs to decide whether or not it wants to legalize gambling all around – casinos, slot machines, etc. – and then tax it like liquor. OR just outlaw gambling completely and use their new Police powers to kick down the doors of the white man’s gambling dens! Hahaaa haa haa! Maybe they could use the confiscated money to pay for scholarships & community programs???

Because the longer they wait to make up their minds the shottas & other desperate people will get their guns and start teaching all these rich gamblers the NEW meaning of quick draw poker! Instead of hearing “Players place your bets” the new call from the tables will be “Gamblers get your vests!”

Coming soon to a doorway near you..... Police boots!!!

According to Attorney general Kim Wilson, new legislation (The Police and Criminal Evidence Amendment (PACE) Act 2009) will allow the Bermie Police the pleasure of busting down doors without warrants as long as babylon is in hot pursuit of a suspect, a wanted criminal who is 'at large', someone with an outstanding arrest warrant OR whenever babylon feels they have valid reason to kick down doors & harass!!


This law goes into effect next week!!!

So look out if you are a friend or family-member of Omari Gordon!!!


the OPC REALLY REALLY REALLY wishes we were making this ignorance up but it's for real!

These kinds of laws are always tabled as being designed to 'protect' citizens from bad guys (remember Operation Clean Sweep back in the 1990s OR the Patriot Act in the USA after Sept 11th) they always end up being tools in the hands of the cops to harass and harm Black people & any other group of marginal people like the poor & young people!!! So allegedly this law is gonna help babylon do their job & catch bad guys...REALLY???

Just like giving cops guns was supposed to reduce crime???

Well so far that trick has worked really well - cops walk around with side arms now & youths are still shooting!!! In fact violent crime has actually increased!!! So much for that so-called solution!

Real talk massive these kinds of criminal measures are being prompted by international corporations & their fear of 'crime'. This fear has a racial overtone because these same corporations operate in the USA, England & Canada where there is more crime but somehow they are 'scared' by Bermie criminals. The race of Bermie's bad guys plays a part in their perceptions. The really crazy thing is that Bermie's shottas are too busy taking shots at their black rivals all 'round de hood' to be bothered with robbing white corporate executives & millionaires. This is why the Harbour Road crew ain't done a protest march about crime - just Uighurs & Ewart B.

Still this reality is lost on our Bermie politicians who are running scared trying to placate the corporate pirates by getting "tough on crime" with folly laws like this!!! The sad reality is that the massive will end up having our doors busted down long before the police come knocking (or rather no-knocking) on the doors of the CEO &/ VP of some exempt company!

More importantly, what happens when all the scary shottas have been rounded up by police, does Babylon keep this law on their books?

If they do, WHAT do they use it for if all the gunslingers are locked up???

Better yet WHO becomes a victim of this no-knock policy when all the gun man are off the streets???

the scary answer keeps coming back to US in the Black community!!!


massive if we can't change this folly fast then it is looking like it's time to invest in some steel doors.....



Last but not least check out this Gil Scott Heron video on the No-Knock policies of the 1970s - babylon been doing this for years - now who is gonna protect US from them???

Caster Semanya - Sara Baartman all over again....

Massive we lot have wanted to weigh in on this one for a little while but we got a little busy. So here goes the OPC take on the Caster Semenya gender test "controversy".

First of all, why is it that white people are such sore losers???? When this sister blew away all the competition in the 800 meters race at the World Championships in Athletics at Berlin on August 19th these lot went into hysterics. Soon afterwards the folly about 'gender tests' started. They blamed Semenya's performance, her muscular body, her facial looks, and everything else about her in order to justify why they (white athletic officials) should be allowed to have access to poke, prod, & do biological tests to prove to them (NOT her) that she is really a woman & ONLY after all of this humiliation & 'examination' will her medal winning performance be legit in the minds of these white sexist racists!

The racist motives of the gender test are exposed when these same officials aren't gender testing some of these white european athletes who are even more swelled up & muscular than Semenya!!!




Hey Athletic Officials where is the gender test for these white 'girls'???



The whole point is this that the Black Woman's body has been the focus of sick fascination, depraved sexual attention & the target of so-called scientific investigation by white men & women for years!!! If you doubt us, go check out the history of a white sexual sadist by the name of James Marion Sims – the so-called father of gynecology. Sister Harriet Washington blazed nuff fire pon the racism & sexism of the Western medical establishment in her book Medical Apartheid if you need more proof!

If we knew our history we would know how similar this folly is just another episode of White Supremacy & a re-enactment of earlier examples of so-called 'racial science' from white 'experts'. They ain't even really concerned with Semenya - just objectifying the black woman's body & trying to re-emphasize their white ideals of beauty & white men's definitions of gender. These are some of the same ideals which have many of us Black Bermudians idealizing ‘straight hair’, light coloured eyes, super-slim (anorexic) body shapes, & other markers of white feminine beauty & so-called normal-ness.

If we Black people here in the Western region knew our history we would remember how similar this case is to that of Sara (Saartje) Bartmann - the so called Hottentot Venus. Thanks to the e-race-sure of our Black History by race-ism we no longer know Sara’s original African name, but her situation has a lot of similarities to this present situation with Semenya.

In the 1790s Sara was enslaved by Dutch farmers in the Cape Town area of South Africa. A friend of her slaveholder convinced him to allow Sara to travel to England. The man also convinced Sara that she should go with him & that she would become free & wealthy if she travelled with him. The white men cut the deal and Sara left Africa in 1810 for England. Shortly after her arrival she was forced to perform in a freak show where white men & women could come & oogle at her body. White people were entranced by her big butt because most of their white women had flat pancake butts (& still do) so in their opinion Sara was not really a woman but a freak of nature which deserved to be analyzed/studied/tested & critically-observed by white people. Does this sound familiar – HINT????
Sadly for Sara, her hell grew worse, in 1814 she was taken to France for French scientists to study her so-called ‘abnormal’ body – meaning her large behind, the shape of her breasts & the size & shape of her vagina. Nope we didn’t stutter – these racist white freaks studied her like a lab rat until she died in 1815. What is worse is that they cut out her sexual organs & stored them in a glass for European medical students to study the so-called “abnormalities of African women”. The body parts of Sara were used a fodder for pseudo-science about race & Black women’s bodies for decades!!!

In fact, the French were displaying Sara’s vagina (& other body parts) in their national museum until the 1980s!!!!

So in light of what sexist & racist white people have been thinking, writing & doing to Black Women’s bodies over the centuries this thing about Caster Semanya seems perfectly normal for a White Supremacist System. And this is SAD for Sister Semenya who has been subjected to the Sara Baartmann treatment all over again……..

For more about Sara B – check out this film The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: "The Hottentot Venus"

& this clip

Rhiana Moore: Doesn't the community care about Black Women???

Just over a year after the brutal murder of young Rhiana Moore, the Bermuda in-justice system actually gets something right by convicting her killer Ze Selassie & sentencing his sadistic behind to life behind bars at the black-male-barracoon that the rest of you lot call Westgate. First of all, the OPC offers peace to the Moore family & the crew hopes that this conviction grants you some measure of consolation.

Now let’s take a look at the aftermath of this case & the opinion swizzle that it has stirred up. Basically, the OPC has seen the following opinions or versions of them expressed in the peanut gallery of squawk (talk) shows, letters to the editor, newspaper articles, opinion columns & facebook conversations:
1. The Bad Parent Crew – these lot say that Rhiana’s parents (mom) were bad parents OR somehow ineffective because their daughter was sneaking around & having sex with a psychopathic bye who eventually became her killer. Therefore Rhiana’s murder ONLY HAPPENED because her parents allegedly weren’t ‘on-the-ball’ according to some undetermined standard of ‘perfect parenting’.
2. The ban-internet-chat-rooms Crew – these lot are convinced that if only internet chat rooms & social sites could be ‘controlled’ then somehow Rhiana wouldn’t have been able to contact Ze online. Therefore the MAIN REASON why Rhiana was murdered was her exposure to nasty men like Ze on the internet.
3. The Legalese Crew – these ones have dedicated themselves to nit-picking the details of the prosecution’s case, such as questioning why Prosecutor Cindy Clarke did not charge Ze with Unlawful Carnal Knowledge & Destruction of Rhiana’s unborn child. The point here is to look for better ways to prosecute (not prevent) these kinds of crimes in the future so that the bad guys get maximum time behind bars.
4. The Blame Guvva-mint Crew – these lot have been getting on the government for dragging its feet on implementing a sex-offender’s database that would be available to members of the public. Basically, since the guvva-mint didn’t act on this idea then it is indirectly the guvva-mint’s fault for not doing more to protect citizens from psychos like Ze.

On & on & on the commentary goes....STILL no one we have heard has decided to discuss this murder in terms of Black on Black Violence!!! Black on Black violence is MAJOR especially situations of violence against women & girls! This ain’t just a Bermie issue – check out the entire Diaspora, especially us over here in the Western Region -
Just one example has been the infamous case of the Bajan Rhianna receiving beat-downs from her former boyfriend Chris Brown. If we listed statistics from the Caribbean & the USA we would be here all night.....

The ironic thing is that all of this violence against Black Women has been occurring at a time when some black leaders (both male & female) are busily trumpeting the progress narrative of Black Women’s “success”! They point to the statistics which show that there are more sisters than brothers in college (locally & overseas), more black women with degrees, more sisters in managerial positions in the exempt companies, more black women as home owners, car buyers, etc. etc.
However, what they don’t tell us is that all of this material “success” has not eliminated the vulnerability of Black Women in Bermie – in fact it has gotten WORSE – just in case u forgot Ms. Shakeya DeRoza was murdered in July possibly by her former boyfriend Jermaine Wellington Pearman!!!!

This should be a wake up call to all the members of our Black community who seem to be permanently stuck on the “Plight-of-the-Black-Male-Only”, when in REALITY it is the Entire Black Community that is in danger!!!

The basic root of this is African People mindlessly imitating a White Supremacist Eurocentric Economic model, Political system & Cultural Deathstyle (as the OPC has said time & time again)! This patriarchal white racist system will only show males how to manipulate, control, abuse & eventually destroy women - physically, spiritually and/or emotionally. White men have made entire economic industries out of it (porn movies, swimsuit mags, fashion & cosmetics, BET video girls, etc.) & several misguided Blacks have bought into many of these industries & their false cultural ideals.

Obviously Black men may face struggles which are unique to their experiences & social positions as males in this society BUT differences in the kinds of problems which we face does not mean that the struggles of Black men & women are totally disconnected - as many so-called ‘black leaders’ in Bermie would have us to believe.

Somebody please wake up & smell the codfish & potatoes, because it is BLACK WOMEN – not white ones – who are the top demographic being murdered around here! First in the murder victim &/ violent assaults line are young black men, then rapidly following up the brothers, are our young black sisters!!! This is a FACT - just go check the statistics for yourself round at the Police Station, The Womens Resource Center & the Hospital.

Think about it massive, the last white girl to really be brutally killed was Rebecca Middleton – over ten years ago!!! Still, her family & other white supporters are quick to champion her death with legal reforms & other interventions. As irritating & off-base as some of their claims might be, you gotta give them some respect for advocating for their own. Meanwhile we lot in the Black community are acting as if it is NORMAL for Black girls & women to be murdered every now & then. We say this because there has been a noticeable LACK OF OUTRAGE surrounding this issue coming from the Black community???

• Do WE not care about what happens to Black Women???

• Have we bought fashionable politician’s story that ‘young black males’ are the ONLY ONES in trouble”???

• Where is OUR commitment to challenge the folly within OUR OWN communities that contributes to & maintains the so-called ‘Bermudian’ climate of misogyny?

You lot already KNOW that if little white girls from BHS & MSA had been getting murdered at the rate that black women have been lately then there would’ve been a protest down Cabinet building – not for Uighurs but for White Girls!!! White Bermudians, despite all their cries of being “disenfranchised under the PLP” (don’t make us laugh – HA!) would make absolutely sure that a host of legal changes & social programs would be enacted to reduce & remove any threat of violence to their precious Harbour Road & Fairylands communities & their little BHS/MSA girls! Despite all the white claims about him “not liking white people”, Ewart Brown’s Guvva-mint would’ve found both time & money to impose these interventions, meanwhile the corporate pirates from all of the exempt companies would be sponsoring each & every plan designed to save white women….

Sadly, the response from the Black community has been overwhelming SILENCE…………..

• Maybe some of us are too busy joining white people’s protests down Front Street to care about OUR OWN black sisters, mothers, wives, friends & daughters???

• Maybe some of us are too busy scape-goating individual parents, the internet, the Guvva-mint & everything else instead of taking a long hard look at OURSELVES & OUR COMMUNITIES???

• Black Bermudians do we even really look out for one another anymore???
  
• Do we care when we see our neighbours’ youths going down the wrong path???
  
• Do we say a second word to a parent/guardian when we see their youth out in the street with drug sellers, crooks & sexual predators???

Now before some of you lot drop that “I’m just minding my own business” EXCUSE, ask yourself one simple question –
if you knew it would prevent a crime being committed against your child/family member/loved one wouldn’t you want to know what your child is doing, even if it came from a stranger (or anybody else) who technically ‘ain’t supposed to be’ up in your business???

While it is true that some of us in the black community are sick-in-the-head & react in some crazy ways when well-meaning people try to give us advice or correct our youths. Go talk to a school teacher & they will gladly tell you the thousands of ‘cursing-offs’ they receive whenever they tell certain parents that their youth has an academic or behaviour problem…. But should all of us allow the rising number of un-conscious idiots out here in our community to dictate the tone of our entire community's social responsibility?
Just become some youths momma/daddy gets vexed with someone for speaking to them about their child do ALL OF US in the black community suddenly use that as an excuse for us ALL to just sit on the sidelines & watch our own black children (in this case women & girls) get involved with crazy people & situations????

You would think that the Moore family would’ve wanted to know something about their daughter’s double life before they were sitting in a court room hearing it for the first time from Police detective or prosecution witness…..

REAL TALK massive, how many of us saw this girl with this creep (&/ other girls in situations EXACTLY LIKE Rhiana’s) but decided to sit on the sidelines – saying & doing NOTHING – only to have some stupid comments after something bad happens?!?!?!?

So before we get hot & bothered asking guvva-mint for new laws & sex-offender registries - (some of these things might actually be necessary) us in the Black Community need to take a long & hard look at ourselves and decide whether or not we care enough about our people - namely Black Women & girls - to get involved before this happens again???

History Speaks Lecture Tomorrow Night

The public is invited to attend a FREE Lecture on the Emancipation Journey of Black Bermudians: From Abolition to Garveyism

The lecture features Quito Swan PhD Professor of African Diaspora History at Howard University, USA & Kristy Warren Graduate Student of the University of Warwick UK

The lecture takes place at Wesley Methodist Church Hall on Thursday August 20th @ 7:30pm

Come out & LEARN about OUR history massive

Marcus Garvey Day

On this day in 1887 Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born.



Mr. Garvey focused much of his efforts on the unity of African people worldwide. He once said that "white men are taking advantage of black men today because black men all over the world are disunited." His organization developed several projects which fostered African unity: economic partnerships such as the Negro Factories Corporation and his most famous Black Star Line shipping firm. Garvey wanted to promote African unity throughout the diaspora. Mr. Garvey believed that African people from all over the world could unite based on their common struggles against racism, economic hardship and colonialism.




So why were sooo many sisters & brothers celebrating Garvey at events over the past weekend??? Well let's check the record for Garvey's contributions to Bermie.

• The 1st Bermuda branch of Marcus Garvey’s organization, The Universal Negro Improvement Association, was located at Grant's Church of God on Angle Street, right across from the Ethiopian World Federation's Queen of Sheba trading post.
• The Bermuda chapter of Marcus Garvey’s organization, The Universal Negro Improvement Association, was led by Revs. Hilton Tobitt and E.B. Grant, both out of Antigua.
• Black Bermudians created businesses like the Bermuda Recorder and the Quality Bakery in response to the UNIA's calls for self-determination and economic freedom from colonialism and White supremacy.
• Marcus Garvey & the UNIA published a newspaper called the Negro World & a few Bermudians submitted articles to this paper. The Negro World was banned in Trinidad by the British Colonial Government.
• Bermudian members of the UNIA protested when the British colonial forces continually refused to allow Garvey to enter Bermuda. A few Bermudians even traveled abroad to UNIA conference in the United States.

Simply put - Garvey was MAJOR both globally & locally! So black family let's take a page from Mr. Garvey and organize, work & build institutions for the benefit of OUR OWN AFRICAN PEOPLE!


A people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots.
Marcus Garvey

In the AM - by Messiah Ramkissoon

Gotta big up our bredren Messiah! Yeah, that's his real name not an ego trip. Nuff respect keep it movin brother.

Emancipation Day - Cup Match Vibes Part 2

Wow massive,
Nuff things happened over the weekend. We almost don't know where to start! But since this is the Onion Patch, the place where Black people come to have discussions with OUR OWN about our OUR OWN then let's have some focused family discussion about the ignorant brothas & sistas in our midst.

For the entire time we lot have been running this site we have told people of African descent in Bermie, to know themselves, their heritage, their roots & culture in order to make solutions for all of our problems in this racist materialistic Bermuda Triangle. In other words, as one of our commenters (The Future) has simply said, “We need to get BLACK to our culture!”
Sadly, when some of US don’t know our heritage & culture then some of us end up using our OWN BLACK events – like Cup Match – to do stupidness that directly harms themselves & others, as well as causing aggravation & problems for other black people who weren’t even involved.

Nowhere is this need to know our culutre more evident than in the folly that went down yesterday at St. George’s Club Cricket field. First things first, the fighting (& all the other madness) that went down yesterday was not “perpetrated by violent youths” – not at all! The madness that sparked a massive Police (Special Branch?) lockdown was committed by some of OUR children! So leave all those dramatic descriptions (gang members, thugs, violent deviants, etc.) for RG, the Sun, Mid Ocean & the TV media. The jokers who started acting up yesterday evening were OUR black youths!

Whenever they end up in court & their names & photos will also end up on the cover of the papers, and at that moment many of US will know their mommas, daddies, cousins, aunties, uncles, etc. & WE black people will start talking about how we KNEW this one, or that one, was “a troublemaker” or “into a lotta ignorance” & so on!
This kinda talk irritates the entire OP Crew because black people are always talking like they knew someone was gonna do something after something goes wrong.
What happened to prevention?
If we allegedly know that a certain individual(s) in our community was a lunatic then why do we allow these fools to walk around our communities & our events cocked & ready to do something dumb???

Where are we on providing preventative INTERVENTIONS???

Why have so many of US in the black community seemed to have given up on OUR OWN black youths & adults?

Does our unwillingness to deal with the ignorant brothas & sistas at our events/parties reflect our unwillingness to deal with the ignorant brothas & sistas in our government & political parties?

Are all of US stuck in a place of apathy?

We ain't got an answer right now - just wondering massive......

No matter how ignorant them lot were acting yesterday these young people are still members of OUR Black communities and using hyped up media characterizations to describe them just creates a FALSE psychological distance between us & them. Worse still, these crazy media depictions also aids us black adults (who allegedly "have it all together) in shirking our COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY towards these individuals!

Wow massive! Of all the holidays in the year for black people to go off behaving like 'thug-n***a' stereotypes some of US chose Cup Match!

WOW! The ancestors must be turning in their graves…….

Cup Match, the one truly BLACK BERMUDIAN holiday on the present calendar; Cup Match should be the one day of the year that Black people – no matter their ‘beef’/differences/issues – should declare a truce!
If you’re Black, no matter your gang affiliation (White Wall, 4-2, Black Hill, Hollywood, UBP, Parkside, PLP, BPF/Bda Police Force, etc) you should at least know that Emancipation Day weekend is a time for Black people to be at peace & reflect on the struggles of the ancestors!?!?!? Maybe if more of US actually knew the history of this weekend then maybe WE would realize that black people should at least try to keep things cool in order to remember the legacy of slavery & Emancipation???

But naaah, that seemed like too much to ask for some ignorant brothas among US. Instead, some of US decided to get drunk off white boy Gosling’s firewater & then scrap in public like some drunken Indians on the doorsteps of a colonial trading post.

Damn!

Some of US really need to “emancipate our brains from mental slavery”!

OPC History Lesson
The cricket tournament part of Black Bermudians Emancipation Day celebrations started in the 1870s. The Black Friendly Societies & lodges took the leadership of organizing the games - fielding their own teams & playing matches over several days around the annual anniversary of Emancipation Day. In 1902 the cricket game passed from select teams formed from the lodges to cricket teams fielded by Somerset & St. George's clubs.

Cup Match is a cricket game that is meant to commemorate Emancipation Day. As a result it was formed by Blacks and is an example of Black Bermudian Self Determination. Self-determination could also be described as independence/freedom; the independence of black Bermudians to exercise independent control over their own affairs, especially in the face of personal discrimination, legal segregation and political injustices. The tradition of Black Bermudian self determination is central to the history and the significance of Cup Match.

• Blacks tried their best to control their own communities - even the rowdy brothers & sisters (because we always have had them) - as far as the OPC knows, our ancestors weren't inna hurry to surrender their own community members to the white man's legal injustice system. Somehow our ancestors had figured out their OWN ways of containing & disciplining the ignorant members of their community (this happened in a time before blacks had college degrees, laptop computers & I phones). And now WE are acting like we can't figure out ways to do the same? Hmmmmmm….
• Back in them days Black people did their best to keep the actual game under their own control.
• Back in 1902, if black people didn’t give it, or donate it, then the Cup Match game went without it!
• Back in 1902 there was no begging whitey for sponsorship money. Even if you begged Mr. Trimmingham & the other 39 Thieves them lot weren't trying to give our people any money to play cricket anyway! So ask yourselves WHY are white corporations seemingly so happy to sponsor us now? What are these corporations getting out of it? Deeper still, what are WE losing by their involvement?
• Back in 1902 the players didn't just show up to get paid - as far as we know the Cup Match players didn't get money & many of them lost money as they chose to play cricket instead of working on those days.
• Back in 1902 Emancipation Day wasn’t even a Public Holiday BUT our ancestors still attended the games & commemorated Emancipation. Even if it meant taking a day without pay! In fact Emancipation Day didn’t become a public holiday until 1947. Ask yourself, what sacrifices would any of US make for our culture & our people?

We can learn A WHOLE LOT from our ancestors & a lot of this history can help us figure out ways to solve our issues here in 2009. But it's unfortunate that some of US are supposedly way too busy blinging, drinking, sexing, texting, smoking & just plain acting like stereotypes to find time to ask a second question, read a book or talk to an elder who might be able to give US the CULTURAL GROUNDING &/ AFRICAN HISTORY that so many of us are soooooo desperately in need of.

So what are our SOLUTIONS for the ignorant brothas & sistas in our community?
Do we sacrifice them to the Injustice system?
What are our thoughts on preventative interventions?

We'll talk to the massive about the Police Repression that was put on display yesterday a little bit later...

Emancipation Day Celebration - Cultural Vibes

EMANCIPATION DAY CELEBRATIONS @ THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

Saturday, August 1st, 2009 from 12noon - 8pm

12noon - The Day opens with a Processional of Bermuda’s community groups with historical roots – including the St. David’s Native Community, Bermuda African Association and the Bermuda African Dance Company, Parish Councils, Friendly Societies, Gombeys and community bands: North Village Band, Somerset Brigade Band.
The intent of the processional is to pay homage to those who have gone before.
This will be followed by welcome speeches by our Dignitaries.

1pm - 6pm On the Stage in the Main Ring: Rev. Dionne Douglas, JDJ singing group, Mt Zion Men’s Choir, Bermuda School of Music’s Steel Pan Orchestra, Multi-Unit Band, coordinated by Capt. Dwight Robinson, Ivan Outerbridge’s Capoiera performance

Historical Interpretations throughout the Gardens - coordinated by Shangri-La Durham-Thompson

1:15-5:30pm On Celebration Lawn: A Narrative stage featuring talks by Dr Clarence Maxwell, Dr. Quito Swan, Dr. Jolene Bean, Kristy Warren and the St. David’s Native Community

&

Displays by the Bermuda Archives, Bermuda Maritime Museum, Bermudian Heritage Museum, Human Rights Commission, CURE, Friendly Societies

A Film Festival

Book displays: Brown & Co., Bermuda Youth Library, True Reflections

In the Sensory Garden: Storytelling for children by Shernette Caines, Florenz Webbe Maxwell, Ruth Thomas

In the Jack King Building: Demonstrations of Bermuda Traditional Dishes, Fish Chowder Challenge Finals

In the JJ Outerbridge Building: Bermuda Crafts

6.15 - 7.30 A new play by Dr. Kim Dismont Robinson, directed by Alan Smith (Dr. Dismont-Robinson’s play about Sally Bassett last year was fiiiiiyaaaaaaahhh!)

AND MUCH MORE.....................

For more information contact: The office of Bermuda 2009 phone: 441 292-8990; email bermuda2009@gov.bm