THE EDITOR, Sir:
RECENTLY, I read of a plan by the Michael Manley Foundation to establish a museum Manley Centre this year to preserve the legacies of the former Prime Minister who died almost seven years ago.
While the move is commendable, it represents a need to admire the man, but not the Jamaican Prime Ministership. It signifies a need to glorify one individual, without acknowledging the countless others before and after him. It represents disregard for the bigger picture of nation building.
Judging on how Mr. Manley managed his public life, my guess is that he would not want such a monument. For though he was part of Jamaica's economic upper class, he was absorbed with humbleness. He had a firm understanding of the plight of the other man below the bridge.
Instead of satisfying its personal lofty goal of constructing the Manley Centre, the Michael Manley Foundation should think big. Try to think as big as the former Prime Minister. Team up with the government-political establishment, corporate Jamaica and the general citizenry to build a 'Prime Minister Library and Museum', which could house a political science/public policy library, the Michael Manley Centre and 'centres' for all former Prime Min-isters of Jamaica.
To fulfil another Michael Manley legacy of removing social barriers through the creation of economic opportunities for the 'small man', build the 'Prime Minister Library and Museum' in downtown Kingston as part of the former Prime Minister's contribution and effort to transform the capital city into a heritage tourism mecca.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL BROWN
miguelbro@yahoo.com
Washington, DC
Via Go-Jamaica
