There has been a growing call form sections of the Jamaican population for the naming of the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley), O.M, and the Honorable Louise Bennett-Coverly (Miss Lou), OM, as the country’s latest National Heroes. This call has been echoed and re-echoed over the last three decades and has crossed the desks of the responsible individuals across political administrations. To lay the blame at the feet of one or the other political administration would be a useless exercise as both sides have had multiple opportunities to field this issue. It is interesting that consistent with the political inaction, is the public sentiment expressed by the handful of individuals across the political divide. I would therefore like to, through the use this column, wade into this issue.
It is generally accepted that a hero is a person who is admired and
acknowledged for their courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities. By
extension, a National Hero is someone who, beyond that, has made significant positive
contributions to the growth and development of society, and someone who
represents the vast majority of all of us. In the circumstances, I am prepared
to state that both Bob Marley and Miss Lou already fits that bill. It is my
view also, that there are some highly placed Jamaicans with significant
influence who are opposed to the elevation of Marley to this status and as a
result, drippings of the paint from that brush, washes across any consideration
for Miss Lou.
The Honorable Robert Nesta Marley, OM, is proclaimed and
accepted worldwide as the “King of Reggae” having charted his own course in the
music industry with passion and creativity as a song writer, singer, and
performer. Marley successfully transcended three Jamaican musical genres from
the 1960’s through to the early 1980’s – Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae – his most
influential musical form. And, after almost four decades since his death, his
music is still relevant to millions of people across the globe. The consequence
of this is that no matter where you travel in the world, people will
undoubtedly know of Bob Marley. His legacy is loved and respected by many, and
his music is practically a religion on its own. It is intriguing that while
many are familiar with his music, they may not know who he was and what his
impact was on Jamaican culture. Yet we in Jamaica who are aware of his impact
on the island’s culture, are unwilling to give him his due.
Author Timothy White in his book “Catch A Fire: The Life of Bob Marley” hailed him
as the “most charismatic emissary of modern Pan-Africanism and regards Marley as
one of the greatest musical legends of our time. For my part, having seen Marley
perform live on two occasions, the first being Sunday, December 5, 1976, at the
Smile Jamaica Concert at National Heroes Park, and the second being the One
Love, Peace Concert on Saturday, April 22, 1978, I can attest to the magic of
his performances as his passion overflowed the stage and into the consciousness
of his audience. At 33 years of age, the
philosophy that guided his existence was omnipresent in his music; a philosophy
which primarily emphasized peace, love, equality, and his spirituality. His commitment
to his Rastafarian faith and his views on social issues were the cornerstone of
his music. It was this passion which to this day, has served to influence the
acceptance of Reggae music by people worldwide, particularly in Europe, North
America, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Reggae music originated in the bowels of Kingston’s inner-city communities in
the second half of the 1960s, just a few years after Marley had moved from Nine
Miles in St. Ann to Trench Town in Kingston. The music was largely scorned and
rejected by mainstream Jamaica and made up less than 5 percent of the play-list
on the island’s local radio station. A decade later, Marley had three albums in
rotation and several entries from each had slipped into both the RJR and JBC record
charts. Over the next five years, Robert Nesta Marley would be principally
responsible for Reggae’s acceptance as a major music-form not only in Jamaica but
across the entire world. This fact was underscored by the 2019 declaration by
the United Nations that Reggae, the Jamaican music that spread across the world
with its calls for social justice, peace, and love, be declared a global
treasure that must be safeguarded. According to the citation published by the
Paris based UNESCO, “Its contribution to international discourse on issues of
injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the
element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual.”
Jamaica’s Reggae music and Rastafarianism together combine as integral
components of the island’s cultural exports and are together responsible for
pulling hundreds of thousands of tourists the world over into the island.
Admittedly, the unmistakable and most recognizable face of that export is
Robert Nesta Marley. In this regard, Marley’s contribution to music and to
Reggae has been internationally and locally recognized with his song, ‘One
Love’, voted the best song of the 20th century, while the album ‘Exodus’ which
was released in 1977 and which stayed on the UK’s music chart for 56
consecutive weeks, was voted the greatest album of the Century by the US based,
Time Magazine. Both accomplishments must rank among the most the most
outstanding achievement any artiste could possibly desire.
Marley, despite living in Jamaica in a period marked by harsh violence-driven
political divisions, did his best to remain ‘A-political’ a decision for which
he almost paid with his life. He suffered gunshot injuries in an attack at his
home at 56 Hope Road, in Kingston on December3, 1976, a warning against a
decision that he had made to perform at a concert dubbed “Smile Jamaica” and
slated for December 5, 1976. The attack had the effect of elevating Marley in
the eyes of a majority of ‘salt-of-the-earth Jamaicans’ as bigger than the
island’s divisive politics and as a local hero who had triumphed above the adverse
intent of his attackers.
Having been born a mulatto in 20th century Jamaica, Marley suffered
considerable derision over his complexion. As he put it at the time, “My father
was white and my mother black, you know. Them call me half-caste, or whatever.
Well, me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor
the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me
to come from black and white, who give me this talent.”
One could say that his own life experiences led him to championing the fight
against oppression and inequality and to support the cause of the underprivileged.
It was no surprise that he was invited to play on the April 17, 1980, Zimbabwe
Independence festivities, a concert for which he personal paid all the costs of
attending. Marley, in playing the Zimbabwe concert gave Jamaica its loudest
voice and a permanent and prominent face in the culminating struggle against
oppression and racial discrimination in this Southern African State.
In 1981, Marley was awarded Jamaica’s third highest honor, the Order of Merit,
for his outstanding contribution to Jamaican culture. Forty years later, his
contribution to the country has multiplied exponentially. Across the world, Marley is celebrated as a
Prophet, while Jamaicans revere his work but criticize his Rastafarian
lifestyle, replete with his ganja smoking and the multiple women with whom he
had sired children. Ironically, ganja today has been legalized (as it should
always have been), and in respect of his womanizing, none of his children (his
seeds) have been allowed to sit on a sidewalk and beg bread. I say this to say
that none of us as Jamaicans are without sin and in that regard, Robert Nesta
Marley is one of us, warts, and all. No other Jamaican comes remotely close in
terms of their local or global reach and impact. Of the seven current National
Heroes, except for Marcus Mosiah Garvey, none has the current and lasting
social and economic impact. Robert Nesta Marley provides the ethos of the
Jamaican “can-do” spirit. He exemplifies the realizable potential of every
single Jamaican who is willing to put in the necessary work.
To the powers that be, I say that the time has come to make the Honorable
Robert Nesta Marley the country’s eighth National Hero.
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