The Griot | Stories Roots Legacy

The Griot

The Griot is a modern historical, cinematic, movie, and podcast platform inspired by the African griot, the ancient storyteller and keeper of legacy. We bring history, action, drama, fiction, documentaries, culture, and untold stories to life through powerful visual and audio storytelling. Stories. Roots. Legacy.

  1. 6h ago

    Puerto Rico, 1978: Cerro Maravilla, the Killings and the Cover-Up

    On July 25, 1978, two young pro-independence activists, Carlos Soto Arrivi and Arnaldo Dario Rosado, were killed by police at Cerro Maravilla, a mountain in Ponce, Puerto Rico. For years the official account was self-defense. Then a driver's testimony, a photograph and televised Puerto Rican Senate hearings broke it apart, and ten officers were convicted of crimes. This episode tells what the record shows. Sources: the Center for Constitutional Rights on Soto v. Romero-Barcelo, Global Voices, Remezcla, El Diario, reference histories and Puerto Rican press retrospectives. Convictions and civil claims are stated as such, and allegations are attributed.

    Puerto Rico, 1978: Cerro Maravilla, the Killings and the Cover-Up

  2. 9h ago

    Who Killed King Tubby? The Unsolved 1989 Murder of the Dub Pioneer

    On February 6, 1989, Osbourne Ruddock, known worldwide as King Tubby, was shot dead outside his home in Duhaney Park, Kingston, after returning from a session at his Waterhouse studio. More than thirty years later, no one has been brought to justice. This episode tells what the record shows: who he was, how he died, the one motive that has been suggested, and everything that remains unknown. Sources: the National Library of Jamaica, Encyclopedia.com, reggae history references, and music press. Where accounts differ, the episode says so. No suspect has been named in any source read, and none is named here.

    Who Killed King Tubby? The Unsolved 1989 Murder of the Dub Pioneer

  3. 12h ago

    Sandman: Trinidad's Most Feared Kingpin and the Night Men Said They Were Police

    In the early hours of 25 July 2019, men came to a steel gate at a house on School Street in Las Cuevas, on Trinidad's north coast, and said they were the police. Vaughn "Sandman" Mieres, his wife Alika Dehere and two of his men, Nigel Octim and Kadir Joseph, were killed. Police called Mieres a reputed drug and gun smuggler. Many people in his village called him a provider. This film follows the public record: the 2011 case that was dismissed, the 2017 conspiracy charge and bail, the allegations about two boats that went down in the Gulf of Paria, the attack on his children's school van in June 2019, the night of the killings, the man charged over them, the police shooting of Akini "Dole" Adams in Sea Lots the same day, and what the courts never held. As far as the public record we could reach shows, Mieres was never convicted. Allegations in this film are allegations and are attributed to their sources. This film uses AI-generated reenactments to depict events described in news reports and public records. It is not actual footage. Some details of appearance and setting are artistic interpretations; the people other than Mieres are fictional likenesses. Chapters 0:00 Title and notice 0:14 Trailer 0:52 The record opens 1:58 What the courts ever held 3:22 The boats 4:47 June 2019 5:43 The night 7:15 Shorto 8:25 The same day 9:53 The funeral 11:16 The record Sources Trinidad Guardian (25-26 July 2019, 2 August 2019 court report, "Sandman's life of crime", "Two gang leaders killed on same day", "Reclaiming Las Cuevas, Sea Lots, after Sandman and Dole"); Trinidad Express (25-26 July 2019, 2 August 2019, 2017 charge and bail reports, "Wife hid in cupboard", "Police swarm Las Cuevas"); Newsday Trinidad (25-26 July 2019, 14 June 2020); TV6, Stabroek News, Loop News and AZP News reports; Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network, "Silence on Both Sides of the Gulf"; InsightCrime on the Gulf of Paria boats. Court outcome after the August 2019 charge was not found in public reporting. Want new Griot stories early? Become a VIP member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8_wqkHeicT0lZqkZw8uoMw/join

    Sandman: Trinidad's Most Feared Kingpin and the Night Men Said They Were Police

  4. 1d ago

    Grenada, 1983: Maurice Bishop's Last Days and the Trial of the Grenada 17

    On October 19, 1983, Maurice Bishop, the Prime Minister of Grenada, and seven others were executed at Fort Rupert in St. George's. Six days later, the United States invaded. In 1986 a Grenadian court tried seventeen people. This episode tells the record: the events, the trial and its verdicts, the sentences and their commutation, the criticism of the trial's fairness by Amnesty International, and the question that remains, where Bishop's remains are. Sources: Global Voices, Amnesty International reporting on the trial, the U.S. State Department human rights reports, Grenadian press (NOW Grenada, The New Today), BlackPast and other histories. Where sources differ, the episode says so. Verdicts and sentences are stated by date.

    Grenada, 1983: Maurice Bishop's Last Days and the Trial of the Grenada 17

  5. 2d ago

    Trinidad, 1990: The Jamaat al Muslimeen Attempt to Overthrow the Government

    On July 27, 1990, 114 members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen attacked the Parliament building and the national television station in Port of Spain, and took the Prime Minister and Cabinet hostage. The siege lasted six days. Twenty-four people died. This episode tells what the record shows: the attack, the surrender and the amnesty, the court rulings that followed, and what a 2014 Commission of Enquiry concluded about the warnings that were missed. Sources: the Report of the Commission of Enquiry (2014) as summarized, academic work by Mahabir (2013), Ragoonath (1993) and Meighoo (2003), BBC reporting, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, and Jamaica Observer. Where accounts differ, the episode says so.

    Trinidad, 1990: The Jamaat al Muslimeen Attempt to Overthrow the Government

  6. 2d ago

    Jamaican Gangster: Claudie Massop | He Made Peace. Police Shot Him 40 Times.

    On a Sunday evening in February 1979, police stopped a taxi at the corner of Industrial Terrace and Marcus Garvey Drive in West Kingston. Three men died. One of them was Claudius "Claudie" Massop, the Tivoli Gardens strongman who, ten months earlier, had signed a peace treaty with his rival Bucky Marshall and helped bring Bob Marley home for the One Love Peace Concert. The police said he jumped out and fired first. The driver said the men had their hands up. Doctors counted forty gunshot wounds. Four policemen were charged with murder, and in 1982 a jury acquitted them all. This documentary follows the record — from Back-O-Wall and Tivoli, through the 1976 state of emergency and a shared jail cell, to the treaty, London, the concert, and the two accounts of his last minutes. Allegations against Claudie Massop were never tested in court; he was never convicted of the murders he was charged with. The police officers charged over his death were acquitted. Scenes are reconstructions made for this film, not archival footage. Chapters 0:00 The roadblock 1:49 Denham Town and Tivoli 3:34 The record 5:54 Borders and the emergency 7:24 The cell and the treaty 9:16 Bringing Bob Marley home 11:08 One Love 12:39 The cracks 14:10 Two stories 16:34 The funeral and the trial 17:44 What came after 19:03 Who was Claudie Massop? Sources Jamaica Observer (Karyl Walker 2007; Sybil Hibbert 2013; 2008; 2013; 2018); The Gleaner (2005, 2008, 2015, 2021 — Imani Tafari-Ama); Bob Marley: Legend collection (Google Arts & Culture); Caribbean Beat; Andscape. Watch next: Jamaican Don of All Dons: Jim Brown.

    Jamaican Gangster: Claudie Massop | He Made Peace. Police Shot Him 40 Times.

  7. 4d ago

    The Bahamas, 1984: The Commission of Inquiry Into Drug Trafficking

    In 1983 an American television report alleged that the highest levels of the Bahamian government were linked to the drug trade. In 1984 Prime Minister Lynden Pindling called a commission of inquiry. This episode tells what the record shows: the allegations that started it, the hearings in Miami and Nassau, the testimony of one witness that the prime minister himself disputed, the commission's reported findings about corruption between 1978 and 1982, and what did and did not follow. Pindling was never charged with any crime. Sources: UPI coverage of the 1984 hearings, Washington Post reporting quoted by Bahamian historians, The Nassau Guardian, Bahamianology, and published histories of Bahamian independence. Where a figure comes from a single account, the episode says so.

    The Bahamas, 1984: The Commission of Inquiry Into Drug Trafficking

  8. 4d ago

    Early Bird Phipps: Zeeks's Brother and the Spanglers' Man in New York

    For more than twenty years, a painted face looked out over the corner of Matthews Lane and Beeston Street in Kingston. In February 2013, police painted it over. The man on that wall was Glenford "Early Bird" Phipps — remembered in Matthews Lane for a basic school that still carries his name, remembered by Bob Marley's circle as the cook who went with them to Germany in 1980, and named in a 1991 New Jersey State Commission of Investigation report as the man who had headed the Spangler Posse's New York City operations. When he was killed in Kingston in 1990, he was working as Supervisor of Metropolitan Parks and Markets. This documentary follows the record — the report, the reporting, and a poem by Kamau Brathwaite — to show how one life held all of those places at once, and what the record still cannot tell us. The report's statements are an intelligence assessment by a state commission, not court findings. We found no record that Early Bird was ever charged in the United States. Scenes are reconstructions made for this film; they are not archival footage. Chapters 0:00 The painted face 2:29 Chapter 1 — Matthews Lane 5:50 Chapter 2 — Bob Marley's cook 8:04 Chapter 3 — The American record 12:28 Chapter 4 — July 1990 15:11 Chapter 5 — The murals 17:13 Chapter 6 — Four pictures of one man Sources New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, "Afro-Lineal Organized Crime" (March 1991) Jamaica Observer; The Gleaner; Ioan Grillo, "Jamaican Organized Crime After the Fall of Dudus Coke", CTC Sentinel (2014); Annie Paul, "Iconoclasm in Babylon" (2013); Kamau Brathwaite, "Trench Town Rock" (1994) Watch next: Zeeks Phipps (the brother's story). #Jamaica #TrueCrime #JamaicanHistory

    Early Bird Phipps: Zeeks's Brother and the Spanglers' Man in New York
See All (728)

2.2
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

The Griot is a modern historical, cinematic, movie, and podcast platform inspired by the African griot, the ancient storyteller and keeper of legacy. We bring history, action, drama, fiction, documentaries, culture, and untold stories to life through powerful visual and audio storytelling. Stories. Roots. Legacy.

Information

You Might Also Like