The Editor, Sir:
Louise Bennett, Miss Lou, our cultural icon, can rest in peace with the knowledge that she has given her life to the recognition of the cultural identity of Jamaicans.
Miss Lou was born 81 years after the abolition of slavery and lived for 86 years. Her consciousness must be judged against the time and place in which she found herself in history.
She arrived at a time when the British ruled not only our country, but our minds.
In her time, no Jamaican of African descent could be seen working as a bank teller. That was a job reserved exclusively for Syrians, whites, Chinese and the like.
We must remind our young people of these atrocities against us, so that Miss Lou's mission and work can be fully appreciated.
Her pioneering efforts for us to love our African-influenced native tongue, was not an exercise in linguistics per se. It was an effort to confront the status quo and to say in a loud voice that we have a proud heritage that predates slavery.
It was no easy road for Miss Lou. She had to work against those who wished to forget our heritage and spoke with disgust against the beating of the drum and the rituals of pocomania.
They described our natural hair as being 'bad' and when we spoke our dialect we were talking 'bad'. To summarise it all, they taught us that any part of our African heritage, which survived the horrors of slavery, should be scorned.
In my school texts in the early '60s, Africa was deemed the 'dark continent'.
Today, our now internationally recognised folklorists called DJs, are a limb of the magnificent tree Miss Lou planted.
So as we say goodbye to our queen of patois lyrics, poet, satirist and humorist, we must recognise that Miss Lou was a true revolutionary.
She fought with her wit and her belief in self. She spoke on behalf of and in the language of the downtrodden.
We will always love and cherish her legacy. Miss Lou will find good company where she is with Nanny and all our other women of worth.
I am, etc.,
Bert S. Samuels
4 Duke Street
Kingston
