Back in April - rapper Moses Leviy, known as Shyne gave this station an extended interview in which he discussed all things Shyne - but what came across most emphatically was that he wanted a visa to go back to the USA - the place he had called home since his childhood.
Well now that call is going to a whole other level. There's a petition on the White House website to grant Shyne a visa.
The petition, which was posted on the website on May 16th by one "Adam W" from North Carolina makes the case - in very poor English, we might add - that Shyne was a model prisoner, and that he visited prisons in Belize to speak with inmates, speaking on the bad decisions he made when he was young. It adds that he is presently the cultural ambassador of Belize.
But, in order to pass the threshold for consideration, a petition needs twenty five thousand signatures, and guess how much this one has gotten so far? 311!
So it needs over twenty four thousand more by June 15th to have any prospect of success.
Slim odds, but in case you forgot why Shyne needs a visa - he says it's so that he can do his job as a cultural Ambassador for Belize! He made has case passionately back in April. We reprise a section of that interview:..
Moshe Levi Ben-David "Shyne"
"Let us focus our energy on convincing the United States of America to grant me a visa, to grant Moses Levi, so that I can take along with me NICH, the Belizean artist that Belize feels best represent them, whether it be Brother David, TR, Shyne, Melonie Gillett, Tany Carter, or any of the great artists that are down here. Take them a tour to perform for the White House, or to perform at a Gala throughout the United States, and present our culture, but I can't do that, Jules. I'm doing the best I can do with a stacked deck against me and one hand against my back. So, our energy should be focused on getting me a visa from the United States to travel freely, to promote this culture. So, it won't just be Shyne with celebrities. It will be Belize's finest doing renditions of Andi Palacio's hits, steel drum band, the Belize Orchestra. We can take the show on the road, but don't blame Shyne for not doing those things if the United States of America won't give me a visa. Now, they have not refused me, but we're in the midst of applying. All I am saying is let's be clear on why I may not have done more. It is not due to lack of diligence or my lack of effort. When I did XXL - this is the biggest urban magazine in the world. Their covers have the likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne, Jay Z, Kanye - all of the biggest artists in the world. They put me on that cover. When we did those photographs in Belize, the trailers of the photo-shoots had the Belizean Flag. Millions and millions of people who never heard about Belize now know about Belize. And we can take the Belizean approach and ask what is really doing for us. It is doing something; let the seeds be planted. Oak trees don't grow overnight. You have to plant those seeds. But again, Shyne needs the opportunity to help the country. If I can't get a visa to go to the United States, if I can't get a visa to go to London, if I can't get a visa to go to Canada, it will be extremely difficult for me to get my career back on track, and to reach the heights that I've reached, which enable me to do far more than I'm doing right now for the Belizean people."
And if you feel what he's saying, or if you're just sorry for the guy, you too can sign the petition at Whitehouse.gov - or you can find a link to it at 7newsbelize.com.
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