World Cup Ghanaian Soccer in Brooklyn

New York -- If you weren’t in Rustenburg, South Africa or Accra, Ghana then Brooklyn, NY was the third best spot to watch the match.  When Ghana beat the US, 2-1 in the World Cup last Saturday, Ghanaians partied in the middle of Flatbush and Lincoln Avenues stopping traffic. The area has been a Jamaican stronghold for over 40 years and traffic is normally stopped by Caribbean descendants for the West Indian Day parade during the labor day holiday.   

The Ghanaian bar, Meytex Cafe, has shown the World Cup matches since the event started.  So when both countries met, American and Ghanaian supports turned out. Folks showed up with vuvuzelas, drums and tons on flags for the third African country to make it to the quarterfinals in the World Cup. 

And when Ghana won the match, the bar immediately emptied. All of sudden Flatbush and Lincoln Avenues became a club with folks dancing and singing in the middle of the streets. This went on for about two hours before a police car drove by. But seeing that people were celebrating, and nothing more sinister was happening, the officers didn’t tell the people to stop blocking traffic but chanted over their load speaker, "USA."  One officer even told the Ghanaians they "live in America now."  That was met by a pretty, young Ghanaian girl who draped the hood of the police car with her flag.  


Only in Brooklyn, could New York's finest be calmed by a Ghanaian beauty.
-- Connie Aitcheson

After Dudus in Kingston

New York -- I arrived in the rain.  The Air Jamaica flight flew into Kingston in silence.  All the passengers were quiet -- prayerful of landing safely.  Recent memories of the American Airline plane crashing while landing into Kingston in the rain became real.  This isn’t the sunny city everyone knew.  It was Friday, May 28^th, five days after the Jamaican government established a state of emergency for Kingston and the city’s police and security forces stormed the Tivoli Gardens community and entered into a shootout with gunmen of the area.  

I sailed through Immigration but had the inevitable wait for my suitcase. Not thinking about the condition of my luggage I went to a secluded area just waiting for the baggage conveyer belt to start. One of the baggage men, from outside the airport, poked his head through an opening of the wall into the building.  I smiled at him because he looked like a squirrel coming up for air to catch some nuts. But he looked at me and said “it a rain from 9 o’clock last night,” then paused.  “It a wash away some a de blood.” Oh God. I motioned to him that he shouldn’t say that. He laughed but he was a serious.    


By the time I got my suitcase it was soaked. I approached the custom officer just wanting to get out of the airport. When I told her I was a journalist she smiled and asked me if I had a bulletproof vest. “What?” I asked. I laughed and said, “no, not that kind,” but she too was quite serious. Immediately, I realized local and international journalists had been covering the Tivoli Garden story in bulletproof vests and helmets. 

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