Mia's Playground

Aaliyah at a press conference for LIFEbeat’s 3rd annual Counter AID fundraiser in Los Angeles, November 1994.

🇯🇲 "May 22-26, 2010. For four bloody days, Tivoli Gardens - one of the most politically loyal communities in modern Jamaican history - was the battlefield in the most violent security operation since independence. By the time it was over, at least 73 people were dead and the country had been changed forever. Here is how the Tivoli Incursion unfolded, step by step…

First, in August 2009 the United States formally requested the extradition of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, the powerful Tivoli Gardens area leader, on drug and gun trafficking charges.

Second, the Bruce Golding government resisted the request for nine months, sparking a major diplomatic crisis with Washington.

Third, after intense international and domestic pressure, the Jamaican government finally signed the extradition order in May 2010.

Fourth, the residents of Tivoli, fiercely loyal to Coke, erected barricades and prepared to defend their community.

Fifth, on May 22, the Jamaica Defence Force and Jamaica Constabulary Force began a four-day combined incursion into Tivoli that killed at least 73 civilians, sparked nationwide questions about excessive force, and dominated international news for weeks.

A 2016 Public Defender's report and a 2014-2016 Public Commission of Enquiry confirmed widespread human rights violations during the operation. Christopher Coke was extradited to the U.S., where he received a 23-year prison sentence."

🇯🇲 "January 14, 1907. At exactly 3:30 in the afternoon, the ground beneath Kingston shook violently for thirty-five seconds and the entire capital of the British Caribbean fell to its knees. More than a thousand Jamaicans were dead before the dust had time to settle. Here is what happened, step by step…

First, just before half past three on a normal Monday afternoon, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck directly beneath Kingston Harbour.

Second, every multi-storey brick building in the downtown core collapsed within seconds, including hotels, government offices, banks, churches, and the Kingston Parish Church bell tower.

Third, ruptured gas mains and overturned kerosene lamps ignited fires that swept through the wreckage and burned for three full days afterward, destroying what the quake had spared.

Fourth, the colonial telegraph lines went down, leaving Jamaica unable to call for help from the outside world for nearly forty-eight hours.

Fifth, the people of Kingston dug their neighbours out with their bare hands, opened their homes to strangers, and started rebuilding before the British colonial relief ships had even arrived.

By the time it was over, more than 85 percent of downtown Kingston had been destroyed and at least 1,000 people had lost their lives. But the city was rebuilt. This time with stricter low-rise building codes that still shape Kingston's skyline to this day."