Dancing in the Ghetto

 

I came across this video by a woman called Terry Lynn from Waterhouse, Kingston – a ghetto area I have been to a number of times.

It’s a really good video and I was kind of transfixed by the production, filmed entirely in Waterhouse, the images and shots are really fantastic. 

Very innovative and she has an interesting story to tell about growing up in Waterhouse and trying to make it as an artist when you have to pay money to get your records onto the radio.   Here’s an interview she gave.

more about “Dancing in the Ghetto “, posted with vodpod

Ghetto living – uptown

If you were a gangster, controlling a group of young shottas, dominating a community in the deprived ghetto areas of Kingston, Jamaica, if you were profiting from a nice income from extortion or drug running – where would you lay your sleepy head every night?

According to this report, the top men are residing, not under the zinc roof in seaview gardens or jungle where they rule the roost – oh no – they’re laying low uptown. Enjoying the cool breeze in the hills.   Hope Pastures, Jack’s Hill, Cherry Gardens.

I can’t say I blame them.  Escaping the likelihood of getting shot in a police raid.  Or from a rival gang’s bullets.  Not to mention the lack of adequate sanitation and room size.  If you could escape all that of course you would.  It’s just a shame that the ordinary people blighted by gang warfare can’t move themselves and their young children away from it.

Beenie Man cleared of tax evasion in Jamaica

I bet Beenie man is breathing a huge sigh of relief right now as Jamaican judges clear him of tax-evasion charges, saying the government never informed him of his legal rights.

read full article

Jamaican authorities said he owed nearly US$1 million in overdue taxes.

But Judge Owen Parkin threw out the case ruling evidence showed Anthony Moses Davis was not informed of his rights when auditors issued their assessment last year. well some people get lucky or maybe the judge was a fan?

Ross Kemp Gangs Kingston episode

I watched this again last night as I got the DVD very cheap. Ross Kemp – former Eastenders star and hard man in Kingston on patrol with the shottas in Craigtown and with police at Denham Town police station. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.

I just think it is so excellent. I cried again at the loss this guy suffered, whose girlfriend was shot while she was 4 months pregnant with his child. To hear from the younger shottas who are becoming dons and wreaking a no rules violence across communities and how it is up to the individual to start looking towards a path of forgiveness as opposed to revenge killings and how it is the idle poverty which underlies it all.