Preserving our literary heritage
FOR MANY, many years, Guyanese singer/composer, Dave Martins kept posing the question like a nagging spin bowler, ‘Where are your Heroes, Caribbean?’ In that song, Martins, doing the research as usual, went to great lengths to examine precedents, and to show the import of recognising heroes. And the chorus, like choruses tend to do, kept hammering in the question, ‘Where are your heroes, Caribbean?/Show them to me!’ For a long period, that question went unanswered, during which time, many of the region’s icons went home, and a new generation of visionaries came on the scene.

That question, “…Where are your heroes, Caribbean’, went unanswered until it was answered partially by the book, ‘Here are your heroes, Caribbean’ by Standhope Williams.

The book is a partial answer to the song, because it captures only part of the Caribbean story; that part dealing with the conferral of the Order of the Caribbean Community upon awardees for the period of the first conferment (1992) to the fifth conferment (2002). The book’s partial answer to Martins’ question was no fault or shortcoming of the author; the book could not be, and was not, designed to record the deeds of the mighty men and women that fall outside the ambit of the award. For instance, the book was not designed to record The Triennial Award for Women. What the book does do, and does it well at that, is to capture the story of the awardees for the period of the first to the fifth conferment, amounting to seventeen icons. And there are many more than that number, perhaps seventeen times seventeen! Which was the focus of both Sir Shridath Ramphal and Dr Tyrone Ferguson at the beginning of the book.

Ramphal, in his preface, said: “It would be invidious to attempt to enumerate individuals who would have surely been members of the Order, had the Order existed in their time, but their contributions were monumental,” like our “cultural heroes, writers, poets, singers, dancers, and those who helped create a stage from which their talents could inspire West Indians.”

Ferguson, in his foreword, bemoans the fact that “too often, we take too much for granted our Caribbean personalities of excellence and world stature. We fail to constantly tell the tales of our Caribbean heroes,” and supports his argument by saying: “An indispensible anchor of Caribbean regionalism is the public recognition, acknowledgement, and consciousness of our heroes.”

The book is an “interactive multimedia volume…a permanent record of a unique group of Caribbean heroes and icons …it is an illustrated guide and informative overview of the lives of the distinguished recipients of the Order of the Caribbean (OCC) Award.”

Those awardees include Shridath Ramphal, William Demas, Derek Walcott, Dame Nita Barrow, Michael Norman Manley, Alister McIntyre, Philip Telford George, Garfield Sobers, Arthur Robinson, Philip Sherlock, Vere Bird, Slinger Francisco, George Alleyne, George Price, Lloyd Best, Mary Eugenia Charles, and John Compton.

The book also includes a section titled, ‘Creating the Insignia’. This section tells the story of how the winning insignia was designed. It tells that the winner of the insignia is the author to this book, Standhope Williams. It is instructive like the stories of the awardees, in that there is progression in Williams vision; first designing the insignia, then this book, with another in the making, capturing the other OCC awardees, the triennial women awardees and other icons of the Caribbean.

The progression of Williams’ vision is guided by the support and advice of his parents, his family, friends and workmates.

The ample appendices in no way take away from the readability of the main parts of the book, but in fact reinforce the work as a book that can be used in the education system of the Caribbean region and further afield.

At last! Here are your heroes, Caribbean’! Dote on them; be inspired by them by getting a copy of the book.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

What’s Happening:
• The Guyana Annual magazine is inviting entries to its eight literary competitions, and to its art and photography competitions.

• Be a part of the centenary celebrations of the National Library; see press for details. Make a tangible contribution by submitting relevant photos and recollections for possible publication in the Centenary Souvenir Magazine.