Stitchie insists on education, health, security - 2018 Black River Day fulfils deejay's criteria

This Friday's 2018 Black River Day in the St Elizabeth capital makes the second consecutive time Stitchie will be performing at the annual event.

This time around, he will be on stage in the night, where he hopes to perform to persons who may not join the daylight crowd. He noted that the event is contributing to education, which is one of the three pillars which Stitchie says a nation rests on. "You must have educated people, healthy people and secure people," Stitchie said. "The ministries of Health, Education and National Security are very important in any nation. These are the columns that every country has to have to move forward."

EDUCATION IS KEY

Relating education to violent crime, Stitchie said, "People have to be educated to be able to reason out things and solve problems and not see things from an ignorant or arrogant perspective ... If you hate a person you basically hate yourself." Added to that is utilising the event "as a platform to speak about righteousness," Stitchie emphasising the spiritual and judicial standpoints on righteousness. For the latter, he said, "If the stoplight is red and you go through, you are in a position of unrighteousness with the State."

Stitchie is happy about performing at an event where Wayne Marshall, Admiral Tibet, George Nooks, Vershon, Gage, Laden, Singer J, Queen Karmala, Villa Dutch, Virgo Man and Mikeylous will also be on stage (GT Taylor and Don P will be handling hosting duties). "I need to give a message to those who come out in the night, to a fresh set of ears," Stitchie said. "I always like to share my experiences a bit of my history. It is not one that I am ashamed of. You show where you are coming from and they can see themselves where you are now. People can compare."

Friday, July 27 will be the sixth staging of Black River Day, which combines music, the culinary arts, a health fair, entrepreneurial forum and an education fair. Performers in the JCDC Big Stage contest, a gospel show during the day, stilt walkers and a mento band in the JAG Myers Park are part of the celebration, geared towards boosting the Black River economy.