The Jamaica Constabulary Force has deployed a sophisticated public relations and communications strategy designed to sanitize an institution whose operational culture has, for decades, been rooted in excessive violence. The polished branding, carefully crafted media appearances, strategic social media engagement, and language of modernization may convince sections of the political class and the socially gullible, but no public relations campaign can erase a culture that has b

Veteran Jamaican broadcaster Fae Ellington (Aunty Fae) has publicly expressed discomfort with the modern use of the “Hill & Gully Ride” riddim, particularly the sexually explicit dancehall songs now dominating social media and streaming platforms through its sampling. It would be dishonest of me if I suggested that her concern wasn’t understandable. After all, “Hill and Gully Ride” is not merely another catchy melody. It is one of Jamaica’s treasured folk standards; a song th

Jamaica today is a tale of two realities. On one hand, there is the Jamaica we market to the world which is presented as resilient, vibrant, culturally dominant, “open for business.” On the other, there is the Jamaica many citizens are forced to endure which is economically fragile, politically divided, and socially neglected. The problem is not that the promotions are false, but that they are incomplete. THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS That there is growth and investment in Jamaica

American content creator IShowSpeed visits Jamaica There is perhaps no country on earth that punches above its weight culturally quite like Jamaica. Our tiny island of 4,400 square miles with a population of under three million people has managed to shape global music, fashion, language, athletics, cuisine, dance, and popular culture in ways far larger nations can only dream about. Jamaican influence is everywhere. It echoes through the basslines of hip-hop, pulses through R

There is a word my late mother used often—sharp, dismissive, and always deliberate. She would describe certain people as “cockity.” At the time, I thought she made it up later learned that she hadn’t. “Cockity” is not just arrogance. It is something deeper. It is the belief that you are above correction, above scrutiny, and ultimately, above the law itself. In recent weeks, I have seen that trait on full display in Jamaica’s leadership most strikingly in the conduct of Deputy

As the debate intensifies over the restriction of athlete allegiance switching—particularly affecting talent-rich nations like Jamaica, Nigeria, and Kenya—it is time to ask a more fundamental question: Where does power in track and field truly reside? Is it with federations, is it with sponsors, is it with agents, or does it sit at the very top with World Athletics? The answer is not as straightforward as it appears. THE STRUCTURE OF POWER; BUILT FROM THE TOP DOWN At the apex

Jamaica's Minister of National Security Dr. Horace Chang. (NNN Photo) When Horace Chang, Jamaica’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, rebuked civil society for “trying to direct police policy,” he likely intended to draw a clear line of authority. According to him, only Kevin Blake, as Commissioner of Police, has the mandate to guide operational decisions within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). On the surface, that assertion is administratively corr

Jamaica's Tourism Dependence In 1979, I picked up a job at GraceKennedy Limited, one of Jamaica’s most significant food trading houses. I was attached to the Hotels, Restaurants & Institutions (HRI) Division, which supplied food and provisions to Jamaica’s rapidly expanding tourism sector. Within six years I was appointed Divisional Manager, and by 1991 the division had become the second most profitable business unit within GraceKennedy. At the time of my departure, annual sa

KINGSTON'S GHETTO CRICIBLE It is the late 1940s heading into the 1950s and the city of Kingston had started to creak under the weight of the urban drift as thousands of Jamaicans from deep rural parishes converged on the city in search of better economic opportunities. What they found instead were burgeoning ghettos where survival required ingenuity, resilience, and imagination. In those crowded lanes and zinc-fenced yards, young men and women searched for a way out. For many

The late Riddim Twins- Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare One by one, they are leaving us. The architects of Jamaican music; the engineers of sound system culture, the lyricists who gave voice to the ghetto, the producers who built global genres from zinc fences and four-track recording machines. They are dying — and in too many cases, they are taking their stories with them. What is even worse is the fact that there is no coordinated national oral history project, and neithe

When Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared at Stephen "Cat" Coore’s funeral that “Culture is not ornamental to nation building, it is fundamental,” he was absolutely correct. I only wish he had delivered the message himself. Because if culture is fundamental, then it requires more than ceremonial presence. It requires policy, Infrastructure, Investment, and Vision. At the funeral, Culture Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange spoke eloquently of Stephen “Cat” Coore as a “Reggae A

By Richard Hugh Blackford This year marks seventeen years since Jamaica officially began observing Reggae Month . Seventeen years of concerts, speeches, official ceremonies, and annual declarations about the importance of Reggae to Jamaica’s identity. But if we are serious; serious about culture, serious about development, serious about outcomes, then one uncomfortable question must be asked: What, exactly, has Reggae Month achieved? Beyond staging performances. Beyond deliv

By Richard Hugh Blackford - Fine Artist, Author, and Social Commentator Jamaica is again confronting a painful truth about itself; violence among children is no longer episodic; it is symptomatic. The recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Jamaica, which ordered a school to pay Ja$2 million after a teacher failed to intervene in an escalating argument that turned physical, did more than settle a claim. It clarified responsibility. Silence, the Court affirmed, is not neutralit

Written by Richard Hugh Blackford I woke up this past Monday to the news that Sly Dunbar had passed. Like most Jamaicans—especially those with a deep interest in the island’s music—the news hit like a bolt of lightning. Social media lit up like the night sky, accolades coming thick and fast. And as I read through those torrents of praise, I was reminded that accolades are, in many ways, for the living. They remind us of the work of the dead, provide a bridge to the past, and

I came across a response from a Facebook user's response to a thread of mine in which he lambasted Jamaica's music culture, particularly Dancehall as "dead". According to the poster, "Jamaica has lost its culture nor its identity world wide, especially in music. So if we can go back to the drawing board there that's will be good. Love him or hate him Vybz Kartel destroyed our musical culture, almost every artist after him is worst. Jamaican music was love, inspirational, weed

Jamaica’s government and police leadership are celebrating what they describe as a historic achievement: a reported 43 percent reduction in murders last year. Critics, they insist, are waging a “sustained attack” on the security forces, undermining public confidence in crime-fighting strategies such as focused deterrence and intelligence-led policing. But statistics without context are not truth. And Jamaica’s current approach to policing is not a success story, it is a warni

After nearly three years of silence, the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) fraud saga is back in the headlines. But Jamaicans should be careful not to confuse movement with meaningful justice. Over the weekend, authorities arrested SSL founder Hugh Croskery, his daughter Sarah Meany, and former CEO Zachary Harding, laying more than a dozen charges tied to the collapse of the investment firm linked to losses of roughly Ja$3 billion, including over US$2 million reportedly bel

For generations, Jamaicans have wrestled with the unresolved question of land ownership. In more recent decades, that struggle has sharpened into a deeply emotional and visible fight over access to public beaches. These two issues are often discussed separately, but my sense is that they are not separate at all. They are historically and structurally linked; born of the same injustice and sustained by the same political habits. To understand where Jamaica is today, we must be

Why Jamaica Must Choose Long-Term Resilience Over Short-Term Fixes- By Richard Hugh Blackford; Fine Artist, Author, and Social Commentator Three of Jamaica’s leading engineering and construction bodies—the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica, the Jamaica Institution of Engineers, and the Jamaican Institute of Architects—have issued a sober warning at a critical moment. In a rare unified statement, these organizations are urging the Government to rethink its gr

Sugarcane cutters in Westmoreland, Jamaica. Hurricane Melissa has left more than one-third of Jamaica in ruins, tearing through communities and crippling everyday life across the island. The storm’s devastation has also placed a hard question at our door: If the country has supposedly enjoyed five years of economic growth, why were so many Jamaicans living in structures so vulnerable that a single natural disaster wiped entire communities off the map? The truth is uncomfortab