A number of high-profile incidents during the last 10 years have put the spotlight on racial injustice in the United States. For many activists, the George Floyd tragedy in 2020 was the last straw.

Jamaican singer Sista Time has lived in the US for nearly 50 years and has experienced her share of prejudice. The unstable racial climate in that country inspired her song Justice, which was released in January.

“I’ve been pulled over twice [by white police officers]. The first time was in The Bronx and he started digging up the car, searching for what? I don’t know. When he found nothing, he apologised,” she recalled.

Sista Time (real name Avonny Campbell) believes not much has changed since the unwarranted searches of her vehicle in New York, where she migrated to in 1971.

Justice, she stated, resulted from “police brutality against blacks, white racists, a broken system and corrupt leaders”.

Born in St Ann, Sista Time was raised in The Bronx, one of three New York City boroughs which had growing West Indian populations during the 1970s. Many of those immigrants, including Abner Louima of Haiti and Michael Griffith from Trinidad and Tobago, were victims of racial incidents that gained international media coverage.

Justice was written and produced by Sista Time who has been recording since 1991 when she did the song Bubble fi Me. Other singles by her include Change is Gonna Come and Revolution.

A patient care technician by profession, Sista Time resides in South Florida. Justice is one of the songs earmarked for her first EP, scheduled for release this year.