George Floyd

I can’t begin to express the impact of George Floyd’s death had on me. Me being a Black man born in America I’ve been through my fair share of dealing with systematic racism, and gentrification for a vast majority of my life which is one of the main reasons I created the Reggae Vibe.

As many of you know already Reggae Roots, and Culture music has been the voice of the people for many years. It was created out of the struggle that Blacks were facing in Jamaica during the late 60’s. Rastafari is the backbone of Reggae music. Reggae music represents the voice of the people who have been oppressed within Western society, or “Babylon”. As a young African descendent in America being born into systematic racism, gentrification and the urban planning I naturally gravitated towards Reggae music in the late 80’s.

Speed up to 2007 the idea with the Reggae Vibe was to create an outlet for positive Reggae music along with the livity of Rastafari. The intention is to bring forth the information that would help us as a people to make a positive change within ourselves, our communities and the world. The decision was made to focus on health, so the “Health Corner” was created. The belief that “if you don’t know where your coming from, you don’t know where you going” stuck with me for a longtime and decided to bring our little known Black History facts with the “Cultural Connection”. Government, Politicians, and the Judicial system play such a major role in our every day lives, yet as African descendants in America we need to be aware of the many tricks that can be played against using these very tools that were put here to grant our nation’s citizens equal rights and justice for all. I decided that the “Tricks” the “Politicians” use against us would fuze the two words together to create what we call “Politicks”. Long before George Floyd was lynched in this modern day era many of the victims had no voice. Even today certain stories are suppressed by the mainstream media for different reasons. The decision was made with Politicks is to be that non-allied voice that our people can trust to bring you the information we need to know.

Here now in 2020 seeing Mr. George Floyd murdered for all to see through the digital world personally effected me being a person that is mentally already scared from the tragedies I’ve witnessed and personally experienced. I honestly couldn’t come forward with anything positive for a while. It took me a few days to even calm down from the level of anger I reached. As I turned to the most high the angry energy that had manifested itself was converted into the fire that will be the forth coming years of Reggae Vibe Magazine in it’s annual “Year in review” print and daily through our website and Social media outlets, Reggae Vibe Radio our 24/7 online radio station playing strictly positive music, and Reggae Concerts and events once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

It’s hurting to know that George Floyd wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last to face these horrific tragedies but his death could be one of the last to go without the real equal rights and justice we are fighting for. “The message of man is in the music, that’s why we play the music for the people”! Reggae Vibe more than ever needs to be present to give you the non-allied news you need to know, the historical facts that may inspire, the events that unite us a people, and the positive music that uplifts the spirit. Keep locked, spread love!