Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner Writer
Left: A mourner all decked out for Miss Lou's funeral. Right: Miss Lou touched the lives of all Jamaicans at home and abroad, including events promoter and founder of the Florida-based Jamaica Aware-ness Inc., Sydney Roberts, who attended the service of thanksgiving. - Photos by norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
And so, the legend of our lifetime, the indomitable Louise Bennett-Coverley, has made her transition from this sphere to the next, and with such poignancy, her demise coming as it did just before our Emancipation and Independence celebrations, and thus once again focusing the debate on our national identity and language.
As she was remarkable in her life, so she proved in her departure to be no figment of anyone's imagination, but a real personality who straddled most of our nation's recent development.
And, in a unique way, provided that stark link from our past to our present, surviving the last vestiges of colonialism and post-colonial thinking and single-handedly fashioning the Jamaican cultural identity and language in the process.
Hers was not the mantle of righteous indignation and/or effrontery, in her quest to have national acceptance for what was then a disparateness of contending regional colloquial expressions with an underlying core of understanding by the people who used it.
But hers, if at all a mantle, was the disarming charm of a multi-talented and jocular personality that swept aside misguided socialised opposition to the 'natives' asserting their right to speak in the language they created in an effort to survive the rigours and trials and tribulations in their transplanted homeland!
To be sure, Louise Bennett-Coverley was no shrinking violet, but a woman of immense courage, bravery and fortitude.
Hers was the only voice in a young nation hell-bent on aping
young nation hell-bent on aping their former oppressors/masters, not only in dress, mode and speech, but also in things perceived as cultural and or theatrical. That she went against the establishmentarian practices of the day and identified with the 'common man', was to serve her in good stead as it earned her the undying admiration and iconoclastic status of folk heroine!
How truly ironic, but wholly appropriate, that in the media coverage of her passing and interment, the single overused word used to describe this towering figure was icon! But icon indeed she was, and unfalteringly so, even if the word itself, for all the attributes it implies, fails in totality to effectively convey the gargantuan feat and task this much lamented national figure of international repute and fame managed in her helping to forge and chart our national psyche.
She was the true essence of the revolutionary, one however, who achieved her aims and objectives with the tacit approval and understanding of her opponents, without the rancour and or animus, that revolutions tend to breed. And for my word, that was what exalted her to the pinnacle of greatness!
Upon reflection it quite difficult to escape the rhetorical question: who influenced whom? Was Miss Lou, influenced by her work or did she bring her influence to bear on her work?
Whatever the answer, one inescapable fact of her work and its impact, was the fact that, not unlike her persona, her work was the embodiment of the Jamaican spirit - the spirit of perseverance; the indomitable will; the beauty of mind and soul; and the irrepressible determination and individualism that in triumph or failure, understands the importance of serving the wider community.
Honestly, never have so many been beholden to one. But let us now, as she would, pick up ourselves and move on from our grief, and move forward, in celebration of her life, contribution and legacy.
And so, next time this year, we should be celebrating the inaugural staging of the Louise Bennett Literary and Dramatic Festival, as nothing else will doÉas she continues to walk good, with good duppy, walking with her.
And yes, indeed, 'dark nite, have peenie-wally.
