Personal Message to Trina: Our Freedoms and Truth

Dear Trina Johnson-Finn,

Now that you are free and able to return to our country, you can speak directly for yourself and let your truth be known. Thank God that in America you have the Freedom of Speech guaranteed by our Constitution.

Appropriately, this is African-American Music Month, a time for celebrating the history of the best in music and the fine artists who are a part of the American music scene. Several of the top artists that we celebrate are the same ones you so wonderfully honor with your tribute impersonations, keeping their stories alive and spreading their joy.

As a local writer, I am concerned about your plight, as well as that of others who are imprisoned under potentially harsh legal systems abroad; those systems that are, for all intents and purposes, foreign to the more democratic proceedings in the USA.

Let your songs sound loudly and proudly, Trina Johnson-Finn. You are a fine artist in your own right; impersonation and tribute to other fine artists is your rightful trade. Good music is the name of your game. Sing on. And sing especially of FREEDOM!

You were not forgotten. And let no one take for granted a justice system, such as ours in the United States of America, that allows a defendant to have fair representation and recourse.

Now that the process has moved forward and all the facts may be known, let the guilty parties be held accountable. You deserve to have your name and reputation cleared.

Kudos go out to your husband, Raymond Finn, for standing by his woman and fighting tirelessly. He is a role model for men — young and old — as well as anyone with a loved one caught up in a legal injustice.

I do not know you personally, but I know that I speak for others when I say this: We have all learned lessons through your ordeal. The greatest of which is to never stop fighting for our rights and our freedom!

Again, welcome home to Las Vegas, Nevada.

(The following news article is adapted for VCO from informational, courtesy website, TrinaJohnsonFinn.com , established to support the efforts for justice and truth.)

After three months, innocent singer returns home

Countless local residents are happy to welcome Trina Johnson-Finn back and relieved to see her more than three-month frightening ordeal end.

Much was written and much has been said in recent months--and not all of it was kind to Johnson-Finn, neither was all of it true. Depending on which blog posting was read, both she and her promoter were corrupt, or she was innocent and definitely getting a raw legal deal abroad.

Johnson-Finn is a singer who specializes in performing as a Toni Braxton impersonator, among other acts. She is a Braxton look-alike and sounds remarkably like the award-winning recording artist, who has headlined on the Las Vegas Strip.

On a recent trip to Suriname for a contracted performance as a Toni Braxton impersonator, Johnson-Finn was arrested and held for three months in custody in Suriname accused of falsely passing her performance off as the real Toni Braxton, according to published news accounts.

Johnson-Finn has performed tributes and sung backup with top-name celebrities, including Barbra Streisand and M.C. Hammer.

Many comments appeared across blog sites that prejudged the matter and lambasted the singer, her promotions team and her husband for trying to "scam" people, charges that husband Raymond Finn vehemently denies.

The website, www.FreeTrina.com, published these comments about the singer's troubles in Surinam:

“[Trina Johnson-Finn] was hired in February to impersonate Toni Braxton for a ‘private party’ in Suriname, South America. She went on stage and was booed and had things thrown at her. She had to be rushed off stage. As it turned out, the client was a ‘promoter’ scam artist who had promoted her as the real Toni Braxton. He skipped town with all the box office proceeds before Trina took stage,” it continues.

“On March 1, 2009, the authorities took Trina and her husband, Raymond [Finn], a bystander, into custody and charged them with fraud and swindling. Raymond spent two weeks in jail.”

The promoter, Angel Ventura, eventually confessed to the officials there and the American singer’s 100-day imprisonment was nearly over.

It was announced earlier this month that the singer would be released around June 10 to come home, and her arrival at McCarran International Airport was met by scores of local and visiting well-wishers and media, along with her husband, friends and peer performing artists.

Johnson-Finn is reportedly resting at her home and trying to put the “scary” event behind her, according to Deborah Smith Ford, an online activist supporter who writes for Examiner.com.

Johnson-Finn’s plight got the attention of and the support from many professional singers and stage artists who work in the U.S. and abroad as impersonators, among them are look-alikes and sound-alikes of Tina Turner, Cher, Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross, Liza Minelli and other renowned namesakes.