Trh 2 n RiET R Ton a n m e n T lkoroay

Burning Spear wins reggae Granmmy Miami's story arrives at 'Black Crossroads'


Jamaican reggae icon
 Burning Spear was the
 lone Caribbean winner at
the 51st Annual Grammy
Awards in Los Angeles last
month.
 The singer, whose real
name is Winston Rodney, won
the Best Reggae Album for
"Jah is Real". The album was
released by Burning Music
Production.
 In 2000, Burning Spear
won the Best Reggae Album
for his "Calling Rastafari"
album, but lost out to Stephen
Marley with "Mind Control"
for the title in 2007.
 In all, he has received 12
Grammy nominations to date.
Other nominees for the 2008
Best Reggae Album were
Elephant Man for "Let's Get
Physical"; Heavy D for
"Vibes"; Sly & Robbie for
"Amazing"; and Shaggy for
"Intoxication".


 GORDON WILLIAMS

ATLANTA, Georgia What
should have been a celebra-
tion of Caribbean spirit and
creativity was marred here last
month by mourning over the
death of a man known for his
work promoting the region's
culture.
 The body of a Marc
Stewart, who over the years
has helped staged many
Caribbean entertainment
events in the United States,
was found in the state of
Georgia days after he was
reported miss-
ing by his fam-
ily.
 The 38-
year-old
Stewart was
involved in the
promotion of
"What Goes e
Around", a Stewart
movie by
Jamaican filmmaker Steve
"Tehut Nine" McAlpin. The
film was scheduled for a
screening on Feb. 15 in the
Stone Mountain area of
Georgia, where Stewart
resided. Due to his death, a
candlelight vigil, attended by
dozens of Caribbean immi-
grants, was held outside the
Torch Theaters.

LOSS
 Prior to the rL L ninei
McAlpin lamented the loss of
Stewart, who he had met a
few years ago during the pro-
motion of another film, and
who he described as a friend.
 "It hits very hard,"
McAlpin said. "...Life is just


 Black Uhuru was awarded
the first Reggae Grammy for
"Anthem" in 1985.
 Barbadian pop-singing
sensation Rihanna failed to
get a 2008 Grammy Award.
She was nominated for
three, including Best Pop
Collaboration with Vocals.
Rihanna was also expected to
perform at the annual event,
but was a no show.
0


complex and unpredictable.
Sometimes you hear things
like this happen and you
never think it will happen to
people close to you.
 "It feels like a nut or bolt
that holds things together is
just gone."
 Up to press time Georgia
police were still searching for
clues leading to Stewart's
killer. He reportedly was shot
in the head. No arrests had
been made.
 The promoter reportedly
called his wife from Marietta,
Georgia, the last time anyone
heard from him. He was later
reported missing. His body
was found in Gwinnett
County. Reports later indicat-
ed that it appeared someone
may have tried to use his cel-
lular telephone and bankcard
shortly after Stewart had
called his wife.
 Those attending the can-
dlelight vigil last month sang
hymns and paid tribute to
Stewart.
 "He was too young to
die," one mourner said.
 "Marc, we love you and
know you're alright," added
another.
 "What Goes Around",
primarily a story focusing on
the twists and turns of love
and the deadly threat of
AIDS, was first released last
year. Stewart was trying to
help promote the film, which
features primarily a Caribbean
cast.

Gordon Williams is Caribbean
Today's managing editor.
0


 DAWN A. DAVIS

FLORIDA Miami, ranked
the third richest in the United
States in 2008, is what it is
today because of the contribu-
tions of the African diaspora in
building and shaping this so-
called Ml, ;i. City".
 A major exhibition at
Miami's Historical Museum of
Southern Florida (HMSF) puts
it all in perspective with unfor-
gettable photographs, video
stories, historical documents,
and artifacts.
 A pre-opening event host-
ed late last month by Miami-
based law firm Delancy Hill
gave a throng of museum and
art supporters a special pre-
view of the show, dubbed
"Black Crossroads: The
African Diaspora in Miami". In
keeping with the spirit of the
exhibition, former County
Commissioner Betty T.
Ferguson was honored for her
work in helping to inspire
change and development
through community activism.
 The exhibition runs through
Jan. 24,2010. It highlights the
labor and cultural connection
that African Americans and
African Caribbean groups have
with Miami, from 1896 to the
present.

LABOR OF LOVE
 The large exhibition was a
three-year labor of love
according to Haitian-born chief
curator Joanne Hyppolite.
After painstaking research,
which involved going through
historical documents, talking to
community members, and six


months of building and con-
structing, the story is now
being told.
 The mostly black and
white photographs show black
neighborhoods, men at work
on bridges, hotels, and the
roads that marked out this
coastal city. Neat row houses in
tight clusters where colored
folk lived almost seem to serve


Patron Guy Bury stares at a Ku Klux Klan
robe.

as a racial line of demarcation,
for Miami in the late 19th cen-
tury and into the 20th century
was a segregated city, as much
of the American South.
 Majestic landmarks, like
the Lyric Theater in what was
then called "Colored Town"
(today's Overtown) come alive
in pictures. Opened in 1913,
this 400-seat theater, built by
Geder Walker, a black man
from Georgia, is a concrete
example of the economic, cul-
tural, and political impact
blacks had on Miami. It still


stands today.

SHOCKING
 There are also photo-
graphs that show how blacks
lived under the heavy hand of
racism. Disturbing images of
men and women packed in
rickety boats is not much dif-
ferent from the pictures of
Haitians landing on the Miami
shores today, most ending up in
detention centers and ultimate-
ly deported. More shocking
still, because of its in-your-face
reality, is a Ku Klux Klan robe
protected behind glass. And,
not far from it, a companion
symbol a burnt cross still
standing erect.
 With over two million pho-
tographs in its archives, much of
the pre-World War II images on
display come from the muse-
um's collection. Among them
are photos by Commodore
Munroe, an early settler in
Coconut Grove who hired some
of the early Bahamians to help
build the city There is also a
large number of images taken
by Claude Matlack, a commer-
cial photographer who was
active in Miami in the 1920s.
 A powerful exhibition,
"Black Crossroads" sheds light
on Miami's past, its develop-
ment and present. It shares
with viewers the melting pot of
cultures that defined the city in
its infancy, and why it remains
a city of mixed voices bursting
to tell their stories.

Story and photograph by
Dawn A. Davis, a freelance
writer for Caribbean Today.
0


Caribbean entertainment promoter

 goes missing, found murdered


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March 2009


CARIBBEAN TODAY