If you have 30 minutes...

I am posting a video report here that is on Jamaica. I ended up having to embedded it here from You Tube, so there are three separate posts dealing with it. The video is from a 3-part series called Unreported World which airs on England's Channel 4. This video gives some insight on many of the problems facing Jamaica currently. It will take you less than 30 minutes to get a glimpse at what I am hearing about pretty often here. In order to give all their due credit here the link you can click on to read about the video and Channel 4. Since I'm not profiting from it, I don't think they'll mind.

I will warn you that this is not pretty; in fact it is pretty depressing. If you watch the video take notice of the political rally. The young woman the reporter talks to is named Tameka and I work with her at Jamaicans for Justice. The video looks at violence in respect to gangs, political parties, and police brutality. The police brutality is one of the main things Jamaicans for Justice deals with. The story you will hear about the brutality is like so many stories I have heard since starting work at my agency.

I do want to stress a few things however. Although this video discusses violence it is in relation to the "garrison" or inner-city districts. I live in a very middle class area and am quite safe. I take general precautions such as not walking alone at night, but I don't deal with this level of violence. I mainly just hear about it. The other thing is that although this video paints certain aspects of Jamaica in a negative light, some parts of it are wonderful. It is truly beautiful here and the people that I have run across have some of the gentlest souls I have ever known. All of my profs, co-workers, and my host family have been wonderful. The language and music is inspiring, and the literary works I have been reading are great. So please (please) don't think that this is all there is to Jamaica. It is so much more than this, but unfortunately the violence is so glaring it tends to overtake everything else.

I will post again soon because I lot of things have been happening. I need a little bit of time to process it all but you'll hear from me soon.