By: Marlon Hill
MIAMI – Jamaica’s 49th Independence Message 2011:
At midnight on Saturday, August 6th, 2011, Jamaica will officially begin a year of celebrations to mark its 50th anniversary of independence. This will be a historical milestone of world achievement for all persons of Jamaican descent all around the world. It will also be a significant opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments and impact on our society and the modern world. Likewise, it will also be appropriate to reflect on the future of the second half of the century of our independence.
For many communities across the world where Jamaicans have made a home in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, in pockets around the Caribbean and Latin America, the African continent, and many other world cities in the smallest of ways, we can proud of the undeniable force of Jamaican culture, music, food, and an indomitable spirit. As we jump an’ prance at the street dance, we must be reminded that we have barely scratched the surface of our unbounded potential. This potential will only be tapped with a gushing realization until we acknowledge we are a nation without borders expanding a population of well over five million on the global stage. We must look into the mirror and acknowledge our sense of community to each other.
In the next year, we encourage all organizations and persons of Jamaican descent to treat this 50th year with a heightened level of reverence and commitment to this sense of raising our level of community awareness and connectedness. This will require an elevated level of communication and engagement in deepening our bond. In the United States, we will be engaging in a conversation of greater self-determination of galvanizing the platform of community engagement in the diaspora at regional conferences in the Midwest, Northeast, and here in the Southeast later this Fall. We hope that you will join this earnest conversation in your own personal manner and interest.
On a personal note to our region, we would like thank our indomitable Jamaica Information Service officer, Cheryl Wynter, for being a beacon of communication and connectivity of consistent information to the broader community of all the happenings within our vibrant diaspora.
We wish her the best of what God has to offer in her personal and professional endeavors. Our Jamaican diaspora is more mature and informed because of her work.
Let us raise a glass and do a skank in the dance to our ancestors. We are 50. This is our moment.
Happy 50th Independence. I AM JAMAICA.
Atty. Marlon Hill
Partial Listing of Independence Events
Friday, August 5, 2011
Grand Palms Hotel, Pembroke Pines
JURA’s Pre-Independence Ball Cocktail Reception
Friday, Aug. 5, 2011
Holy Sacrament Episcopal Church Hall, Pembroke Pines
Hon. Andrew Holness
JURA Independence Dinner Dance
Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011
Renaissance Plantation Hotel, Ft. Lauderdale
Hon. Andrew Holness
Jamaicans of the Palm Beaches Independence Service
Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011
Palm Beach Convention Centre, Palm Beach.
Hon. E. Bartlett
Annual Jamaica Diaspora Flag Day
(organizers – Duke of Earle Group/Hot Talk WAVS 1170AM)
Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011
City of Lauderhill
CG – Remarks
Proclamations – Mayors
Berean Church Independence Concert
Saturday,
Aug. 6, 2011
Berean Church of God, Inc., Davie.
Jamaican American Association of Central Florida Independence Ball
Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011
Rosen Plaza Hotel, Orlando
Annual Ecumenical Church Service hosted by Consulate General of Jamaica
Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011, 4pm
First Presbyterian Church of Ft. Lauderdale
Homily – Bishop Delford Davis, Power of Faith Ministries
Friends of Jamaica International Independence Celebration
Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011
Fayetteville, NC
Ceremony hosts by Mayor of Miami/ Consul General celebrating 49th and Launch Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary of Independence (Kingston/Miami-Dade Sister-Cities
Monday, Aug. 8, 2011
Miami City Hall
CG – Remarks
Mayor – Remarks
Director of Culture, MYSC – Jamaica 50 Presentation
Lakeland Jamaican American Association Independence Celebration (Lakeland and Portmore Sister-Cities)
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011
St. Joseph Academy, Lakeland
TBC
Christian Awareness Association Independence Mass
Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011
All Saints Catholic Church, Sunrise
