Every year, there are repeated requires Jamaica’s nationwide heroes record to be up to date to incorporate Reggae celebrity Bob Marley, cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverley, and legendary sprinter Usain Bolt.
With the premiere of ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ in Jamaica this week, the query was posed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness on whether or not or not Marley will ever get nationwide hero standing.
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Holness stated that recognition for iconic personalities is one thing being thought-about.
“We did put collectively a committee to have a look at it [naming Bob Marley as a national hero], and consider me, there have been commissions earlier than that, established a standards for nationwide hero. I believe the dialog has to date advanced to having a class that identifies iconic personalities, individuals who have added nice worth to our international locations. So there could also be a designation. However, who is aware of, the dialog continues,” Holness stated.
Jamaica at the moment has seven nationwide heroes — Nanny of the Maroons, George William Gordon, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, Marcus Garvey, Sir Alexander Bustamante, and Norman Manley. The record has not been updated since 1982.
Repeated calls and surveys
In 2022, as Jamaica celebrated its sixtieth yr of independence, a number of members of the diaspora known as for Bob Marley to be named a nationwide hero.
“Bob stays Jamaica’s largest unsponsored export,” Brooklyn-based College Professor Chandra Younger stated.
New York-based Leisure Guide, Anthony Turner, and Japanese Reggae Producer Eisaku “Selector A” Yamaguchi additionally shared related sentiments.
That very same yr, an RJRGleaner Don Anderson ballot revealed that near one-third of Jamaicans are in favor of Marley or Miss Lou being named nationwide heroes.
In 2021, Senator Dr. Floyd Morris stated that he would desk a movement in Parliament for Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Miss Lou and Usain Bolt to be named nationwide heroes.
Morris’s name got here every week after Bajan celebrity and billionaire Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty was conferred the Order of Nationwide Hero in Barbados.
