The Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music, Inc., (CPR) Reggae Artists, Musicians, Producers, Promoters & Songwriters (Reggae AMPPS) and Sons and Daughters of Jamaica have organized an emergency Town Hall Meeting to allow members of the Jamaica Diaspora to share concerns with Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Genevieve Brown-Metzger and members of the Diaspora Advisory Board in preparation for the upcoming Diaspora convention in Jamaica, June 14-17.  The meeting, which takes place from 6pm to 10pm on Thursday, May 27th in Brooklyn at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, 331 Hawthorne Street (Nostrand and New York Aves.) takes on added significance in light of the unrest developing in Jamaica. 

With news of mounting fatalities and casualties from the civil unrest which flared up on Sunday, Jamaicans everywhere are extremely anxious about how things will play out. Many have expressed their growing frustration with the news coverage. “There seems to be a lot of sensationalism,” says Monica Pusey, “you would think the entire island was a war zone.”  Others have expressed their “embarrassment and shame” at the alarming images of their island home being shown on television all over the world.

The meeting will provide community members with the opportunity to give testimony about their concerns and offer recommendations for shaping the agenda of the delegation from the North East heading to the convention.