Miracle In Jamaica: Roskind



Greetings, everyone:

    Julia, Alicia and I are just returning from 18 days in Jamaica. Along with reggae artist Abijah, we hosted 18 "One Love: Big Up the Youths Concerts" throughout the island encouraging over 20,000 students from 26 schools to lead their island in becoming the first society to heal itself with love and forgiveness. We went to schools large and small, public and private, Christian and secular, urban and rural.


Here was our message to the youths:

Jamaica has already created four miracles. We are asking everyone to create the fifth.

Miracle #1:

There is, and has been, only one truly global message of One Love (agape, unconditional love for all, etc.) that has reached people of all religions, nationalities, economic levels, ages, etc. That message is conscious reggae music.

Miracle #2:

All well-known conscious reggae artists are Jamaican (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Luciano, Morgan Heritage, Culture, Garnett Silk, Toots, Burning Spear, Bushman, Mikey General, Abijah, Dennis Browne, Warrior King, the Marley family, Don Carlos, Mikey Dread, Judy Mowat, Marcia Griffiths, Culture, Justin Hines, etc.). People worldwide listen to these artists and are uplifted by their message of love and healing.

Miracle #3:

The reason that these artists are all Jamaican is that the entire Jamaican society has birthed this message. The music is reflecting the consciousness of the culture at-large in the same way that Blues reflects African Americans suffering, Hip-hop inner-city youths alienation and anger, and Country and Western the thinking of rural America. These reggae artists, after thousands of encounters with their fellow Jamaicans as they grew up, have birthed a global message of One Love. The entire Jamaican society can take credit for this.

Miracle #4:

Given what Jamaica has gone through in the last 500 years and what it is still going through, it is miraculous that their dominant message is one of love and forgiveness rather than bitterness and frustration.

The fifth miracle

is to now heal the country with this love and forgiveness and make "One Love Jamaica's message to the World."

We did 12 similar concerts in Jan/Feb, with the last one at U.W.I. broadcast live on Bob Marley's birthday on the Richie B Show, Jamaica's most popular radio program. Since then the:

Murder rate is down 40%

Overall crime is down 20%

Traffic fatalities are down 25%

(This has been during a period where the Jamaican dollar has slipped over 20% and the crime should be rising.)

    Who knows what effect we are having in general but I can tell you the effect on the students in the concerts/reasonings is powerful. At some deep level we all know we are here to learn and teach love and we remind them of this. Unlike most adults, who have had their hearts broken too many times to believe it, many children and young people worldwide still hold a vision, or will embrace one, of healing their lives, schools, countries and planet with love. They just need encouragement that they can do it.

    During the concerts we reminded them that the Creator has given every person their own individual path of love and forgiveness--our "beauty path" as the Native Americans call it. When we are in a loving, forgiving state of mind and heart, we are on our path. We remind them that anyone can step on their path at any time no matter who they are, how much money they have, what they have done in the past, what has happened to them, or whatever their outer conditions might be. We encouraged the youths to spend as much time on this path as they could by "forgiving as many people as you can, as much as you can, as soon as you can."

    We traveled from one end of the island to the other--two cars, six people (Abijah's friend Courtney and Leighton joined us), a small PA system and the desire to get the message to as many youths as we could. Every concert started on time (a miracle in itself in Jamaica), with no problems or hitches. As always, Abijah's performances were electrifying and his connection with the youths is touching to see. His ability to get them laughing and feeling good about themselves is remarkable.

    We also spoke at a conference for the Caribbean Press Corps, The Sustainable Tourism Conference and were interviewed on Beverly Manley's "The Breakfast Club," Jamaica's popular morning talk show. Reggae Sun TV and several local cable channels are running our concerts on a repeat basis.

    The Jamaican Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA), who provided room, meals and a car, has agreed to support our next tour so we will be returning in the fall. Other than that, we are following this vision as we feel guided. More and more it is becoming clear that this is not of our doing.

One Love,

Robert & Julia Roskind.

Posted: Wed - June 18, 2003 at 03:21 PM      

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