Island folk part of massive Hope for Haiti telethon

And I can't tell you how...  how moved I am that everybody cares. It means a lot because for so long, no one cared. For so long, no one knew us. And this really means a lot.

- Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon











[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon (at right) on LKL, along with Ben Stiller (left) and Benicio Del Toro (center)."][/caption]

Those were the words from a tearful Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon earlier this week on Larry King Live, during a mini telethon which CNN held to raise funds to aid Haiti which was ripped apart by a huge earthquake on January 12th.

Islandistas, we have to tell you -  Garcelle's words really grabbed us - the emotion in her voice when she said "no one cared... no one knew us" was really moving. It made us think of the burden and conflicted emotions that her and other Haitians have to bear loving a country that can be so unremittingly sad.









[caption id="attachment_1938" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Distraught: Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon manning the phones at CNN's telethon. (Photo credit: CNN)"][/caption]

This is really what it had to come to for the world to look at Ayiti, to pay attention to the injustices that have been wrought upon it since they first declared independence in 1804.

But at least now they are looking.

And a huge cast of stars, including island folk in Wyclef Jean, Rihanna and Alicia Keys are getting together tomorrow night for what could be one of the biggest telethons of all time - the Hope for Haiti telethon, spearheaded by George Clooney and MTV Networks.



The telethon is going to be seen across just about every well-known network - MTV, VH1, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, Centric, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, Epix, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health and Planet Green, Canada's CTV, CBC Television, Global Television and MuchMusic.

It will also be aired on the international networks of certain channels, including BET International, CNN International, National Geographic and MTV Networks International.

Over HALF A BILLION homes world wide will see the telethon - estimates are that it will be available in 640 million homes.

Donations will go to Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wyclef's Yele Haiti foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and United Nations World Food Programme, with funds raised being split evenly between the organisations.

Islandistas, you know what you have to do tomorrow night. More than anyone else, we need to step up for Haiti because that is our Caribbean family. Rihanna, who will be performing from London for the show, put it well when discussing it on a Norwegian talk show today.

"In the Caribbean, we think of ourselves as one big family, one country. We're all together. We all represent each other....

It's like it happened to Barbados."

Or Trinidad. Or Jamaica. Or Puerto Rico or Curacao. Let us be our brothers' and sisters' keepers.

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UPDATE: Wyclef defends Yele at NYC press conference

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In our last post, we spoke about how the chorus of cynics had been threatening to swamp all the good that Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti charity has been doing.

Well it seems now that the tide may be turning.

Wyclef held a press conference in New York City today where he  defended Yele and his role in it, breaking down in tears towards the end as he spoke in Creole to the Haitians listening.

Yele President Hugh Locke, defending the charity in more detail, admitted they had been lax on their accounting.


"On the books, it looks as though there was a benefit, but there was not. "It was not done with the intent to do anything other than be efficient.

... We should have been on top of it; we were not."



Even more importantly, significant charity and tax accounting experts have come to Yele's defence as well.

In a CNN report, Marcus Owen, former chief of the IRS unit that oversees non-profits, noted that like Yele did with the Wyclef concert at the center of the controversy, it is routine for individuals to charge their own charities, as long as services are being provided in return.

The report also stated that Owen pointed out that the filing which stated that Yele's rent charges were 'below market' was "an important distinction supporting legitimacy" as "rules require that they be at no more than market value."

Other experts were willing to give Yele the bligh they deserve as well.

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago said:


"They could be well-intentioned, but not take [tax] reporting seriously."



Art Taylor, chief executive of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance noted that Wyclef's star power and links in Haiti were crucial for Haiti in the long run.


"Maybe six months to a year from now, when the attention of the world turns away from Haiti and moves to something else, his value as a Haitian and a celebrity will be far greater than it is now."

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UPDATED: Wyclef under attack: doubts raised about Yele Haiti

It  has been less than a week since Haiti, a member of our Caribbean family, was hit by an absolutely devastating earthquake.

But already the cynics' chorus is tuning up.

On Thursday (two days after), The Smoking Gun website launched a salvo with an article entitled 'Wyclef Jean Charity's Funny Money', claiming that Jean's Yele Haiti charity "has enriched the singer."

They based their charges on an assessment of Yele's tax returns and wrote:

As seen on the following pages from the foundation's 2006 tax return, the group paid $31,200 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio owned by Jean and Jerry Duplessis, who, like Jean, is a foundation board member. A $31,200 rent payment was also made in 2007 to Platinum Sound. The rent, tax returns assure, "is priced below market value." The recording studio also was paid $100,000 in 2006 for the "musical performance services of Wyclef Jean at a benefit concert." That six-figure payout, the tax return noted, "was substantially less than market value." The return, of course, does not address why Jean needed to be paid to perform at his own charity's fundraiser. But the largest 2006 payout--a whopping $250,000--went to Telemax, S.A., a for-profit Haiti company in which Jean and Duplessis were said to "own a controlling interest." The money covered "pre-purchased...TV airtime and production services" that were part of the foundation's "outreach efforts" in Haiti.

Wyclef of course, hit back on his return from Haiti, where he has been digging bodies out of the rubble and so on, in the video posted at top, where he gave answers to the questions raised by TSG.

Chief was the claim that he had used Yele Haiti to enrich himself, as claimed by TSG, based on the $100 000 payout in 06 for the charity concert. Wyclef makes it clear this payment was not for himself but for production costs:

"Whatever show you're doing, there's what's called production for the show. You can't do a show without production. You need lights, you need a stage. Where's the band going to come from? You need a manager, you need a tour manager. All of these things have to be accounted for."

Which to us here at Islandista seems like a pretty reasonable explanation. As we look at the evidence, it seems the only thing Yele has been 'guilty' of is being late with their accounting - and not being a professional charity that has been in the 'charity business' for a long time, this is understandable.

Even leading charity ranking site, Charity Navigator, which is itself a bit suspicious of Yele, admitted that "charities are often not especially timely in filing these documents."

They also went on to note that some 69% of Yele's funds goes to program expenses (this is as opposed to administrative overhead costs), though they pointed out that their "research shows the most efficient charities spend at least 75%".

As far as we can see it, the situation is this. Yele Haiti is a relatively new charity organisation and may not be run by people who are in the professional charity business, hence it has a surfeit of enthusiasm and a deficit of efficiency. It needs to improve its administrative and accounting practices, certainly but it does not deserve the accusations and allegations being made of it, especially at a time like this.

And especially when Wyclef, as Haiti's most famous son, has the influence and native contacts to do things in Haiti that other NGOs don't.

Interestingly enough, several experts have written about this same problem which charities often face - that is, people questioning their effectiveness, using overhead expenses as the ONLY measure.

While that is an easy indicator, it cannot be the only measure of whether a charity is doing good work.

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Island folk honoured by Congressional Black Caucus

 



[caption id="attachment_1558" align="alignleft" width="293" caption="Sheryl Lee Ralph with her husband Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes. (Photo credit: Margot Jordon/Black Socialite)"][/caption]

Islandistas and islandistos were all up in the do two weekends ago when the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation held their annual Phoenix Awards and dinner in Washington D.C.

 

As ever, the event was a high-wattage gathering of true black star power and this year was topped off by an address by President Barack Obama.

Several island folk were honoured at this year's awards - Jamaican-born actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, Haitian-born musician and humanitarian Wyclef Jean were among the honorees, as were islandistas by descent Cicely Tyson (born to Nevisian parents) and Susan Rice (of Jamaican descent).

Bermudan Premier Ewart Brown also turned out for the event, as did former Essence head honch Susan L. Taylor (Kittitian and Trini through her parents).

Makes you proud to be from one of these little rocks, doesn't it? : )

Check The Black Socialite and Fab Empire for more pics and coverage!

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Island folk honoured by Congressional Black Caucus

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Islandistas at the BET Awards & after-parties

Sighhhh.... oh BET.

BET, BET, B.E.T.

What can we say about Black Entertainment (or is that Exploitation?) Television's awards show on Sunday night?

Well for one, we like others really only tuned in for the expected Michael Jackson tribute.

If it weren't for that, we doubt we would have made it all the way through.

It was especially rough towards the end there when Lil Wayne and the world's most hyped new rapper Drake performed 'Every Girl in the World'.

And Lil Wayne brought his 10 year old daughter and her friends up on stage.

To sing along with the lyrics "I just wanna f*ck every girl in the world."

Sigh.

We actually tuned out then but fortunately tuned back in just in time to see Janet Jackson take the stage and provide such a counterpoint to that mess, with her simple and moving words on behalf of her brother.

When she said "to you Michael is an icon. To us Michael is family" I cried. Don't lie, you all know you did too!

And then when they followed that up with Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo's performance of 'Ill Be There'.

I bawl, no lie.

Anyhow, that was one shining moment. In our opinion, there were a few other high points like New Edition's opening tribute, the tribute to the O'Jays with Trey Songz, Tyrese and Johnny Gill and Maxwell's performance.

Aside from that...it was ... eh.

Anyhow, there were some moments for islandistas and one islandisto so let's get to it.

Islandista Alicia Keys and islandisto Wyclef Jean both were honoured with humanitarian awards. Alicia for her work with numerous organisations, chiefly Keep a Child Alive.




[caption id="attachment_1178" align="aligncenter" width="280" caption="photo credit: Wil Shelton of WilPower Entertainment"][/caption]



Haitian ambassador Wyclef was honoured for his tireless work with Yele Haiti. And when we say tireless we mean it. You really have to respect how Wyclef keeps his country's situation front and center because it is too long the world has been trying to ignore Ayiti. He clearly subscribes to the "dem a go tiad fi see mi face" theory because they can't keep him out at all.




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There were also a good few islandistas on the red carpet at the show and at the after parties. Take a look below.




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Islandista by descent Estelle wore a strapless peplum skirt dress that would have been absolutely fantastic if it wasn't in denim. I just dunno about denim for a whole dress, especially a formal one. She paid tribute to Michael Jackson by sporting the iconic single white glove.




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I actually really did not like Tatyana Ali's dress. I thought the bronze lace material looked old womanish and the beading around the bodice and shoulders looked too chunky and clunky. Her skin and hair look great but otherwise this outfit just fail.




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Shontelle was at the after party. She's looking a bit more like she's actually eating food. Or maybe it's just the dress. Either way, it's a good thing. Keep it up.

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Islandista by descent and the video vixen all the video vixens want to be like, Melyssa Ford was also there. Yep... she's an islandista - half Barbadian through her beloved late father and half Norwegian. Who knew? Well we did...

[caption id="attachment_1184" align="aligncenter" width="280" caption="photo credit: theybf.com"][/caption]

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