An activist holds a red ribbon, the symbol of AIDS awareness, during a march marking World AIDS Day in Saint Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008.

A new UNAIDS report indicates that the Caribbean needs to step up its vigilance on HIV/AIDS and re-examine its laws that criminalize prostitution and homosexuality. more>

"Why now, why are they doing this to him, now?" asked long time activist and Harlem street vendor Shabazz. "It's because he's the 'baddest' Black man up in there," he said, answering his own question.

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According to NYPD reports, the building security director at 590 Gates Avenue confirmed initial assumption that on the night 18-year-old Khiel Coppin was gunned down in a hail of 20 bullets, the cameras on the site were inoperative and had been for three weeks. But skeptical community residents believe a tape exists and may be deleted if police are allowed to investigate their own misdeeds. more>

According to a Human Rights Watch spokesperson, U.S. deportation policies rip families are apart and give countries little notice or help to alleviate the crushing effects of the flood of deportees into already economically fragile countries. more>

NYC Caribbean nannies and domestic helpers, like Audrey and Evelyn who are Jamaican undocumented immigrants, agree that their immigration status has opened them up to abuse from employers who take advantage of them. They do not have a choice because they are too terrified to make demands or go to the authorities regarding their situation. more>

The Jamaican American experience, according to the author, is tiresome. It's a never-ending personal battle to define oneself. “As a J’American myself, I can attribute to the fact that there are two major forces – family and society – that are constantly in conflict. more>

The first batch of Jamaican teachers, who were recruited from the island to teach in New York City, is now grasping hold of the American dream. Some came with their master’s and got their PhDs. more>

With AIDS ravishing Africa and Asia and the disease running out of control in the Caribbean, with the war in Sudan and this country at war, the President of the United States and his Democratic Party opponent, both find time to banter about their military service. more>

Nearly 200 Caribbean teachers, mostly Jamaicans and Guyanese, were given termination letters from the NYC Dept. of Education, because their visas expired. Community leaders met to strategize about the impending exodus either back to their homeland or the unemployment line. more>

Leah Armour is just one of many African Americans interested in finding out their African roots. She said that her life and outlook have changed ever since she received the results. more>

Jamaican native Howard Facey is married to U.S. citizen Georgiana and is the father of four America-born children. Like too many Facey visited the Federal Plaza building in Manhattan several times this year. He was hoping to pick up his work authorization. Instead, on his last visit he was detained and deported to Jamaica. more>

Some families are traumatized, experiencing weight loss, sleepless nights, anxiety attacks, and incessant crying. It’s a common experience for families watching their sons head off to war. more>

The media have begun a negative spin on Sharpton’s presidential run, with its so-called consensus polls. One poll has 87 percent not taking his candidacy very seriously. Obviously, that poll was not taken in the black and Hispanic communities. more>

While President Bush seems adamant that the war is close at hand, some members of the Caribbean clergy have voiced their concern over the imminent war. Individual churches are holding prayer vigils and mass, and sending letters of protest. more>

If you’ve gotten caught up in the salutes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and are preparing to celebrate Black History Month, you must recognize that sometimes these observances just disguise the innate and often two-faced nature of racism in this country. more>

Why would George W. Bush, so soon after the Trent Lott fiasco, decide to stir up more controversy by nominating Charles Pickering again? Is Bush trying to appease some group or organization by making sure a white racist is in a position of political power? more>

The Weekly Gleaner was deluged with phone calls from the mainstream media and persons who wanted to verify that the Washington, D.C. snipers were Jamaican nationals. One international photography company was willing to pay “any money” for exclusive pictures from the Gleaner. Meanwhile, concerned Jamaicans were worried that this latest incident would again stir anti-Jamaican sentiments to the level of the Colin Ferguson/Long Island Railroad killings several years ago. more>

Jamaica’s Prime Minister J.P. Patterson has been here to raise money, so has opposition leader Edward Seaga. But they are not the only ones. Politicians from throughout the Caribbean have come here to increase cash flow to their campaign coffers.“At home, people are just too poor,” said one local politician. more>