Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

400 reasons to listen to Reggae Music out front of the American Consulate!  Atlantic Mas puts on  carnival style BLM demonstration  By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera In Toronto this year’s Fourth of July was marked with a Caribbean style protest parade through the downtown streets. And, maybe because a Mas Camp from the Toronto Caribbean Carnival organized the event, this was a protest that managed to score important political points along with a good dash of Jump Up. The Atlantic Mas bandleader Akil Heywood spoke to the media in an hour-long media scrum outside of the Toronto city hall last Saturday morning. There have been many Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations in Toronto this year, but Heywood noted to the Caribbean Camera that there has been little or no representation from the Caribbean community.  Turn up the Soca and Reggae music that all changed after the media scrum ended and the afternoon protest march began. Talk about a demonstration...

Book Review In The Black: My Life --> By B. Denham Jolly An edited version of this review appeared in Huffington Post today In the Black, a new autobiography by activist businessman and radio pioneer Denham Jolly, is going to have members of Toronto's white community seeing red. It might have Black Lives Matter soldiers taking names and making notes. "To the white readers of this book, I have to stress that for Black people the basic and continuing infringements of our rights are not mere distractions. Canadians like to congratulate themselves over our diversity, but … " Denham Jolly told me when we talked about his early days in Toronto. Quoting from his just published book, he explains that discriminatory policing (from carding to driving while Black) "remain part of our day-to-day life and cast a long shadow over it." From time-to-time over the past four decades, Jolly and I have crossed paths. He doesn't remember m...