50 ICONS FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE

(Context: for the 50th anniversary of Independence a number of cultural experts were assembled in a committee ably chaired by Prof Brinsley Samaroo to choose 50 Icons to be celebrated on the anniversary. The committee found that it could not assemble of just 50 Heroes for a first cohort due to the sheer quantity of deserving genius the country had produced. In fact the list that the committee had come up with was of 100 superlative foundational individuals and groups. This still left dozens of deserving individuals and groups out. The only way that the committee found that this could be reconciled was for there to be a commitment to stage a second induction ceremony whereby this 2nd cohort of Heroes would be so honoured. Again Minister Bhoe Tewarie- followed by the Cabinet- resisted this suggestion and instead reduced the list. This dumbed down the list removing a brilliant series of individuals and groups which would have deepened the nation’s understanding of itself. Again my insistence and the insistence in principle from the committee was that the Best Practice should be that the exercise of choosing these Heroes should just be part of a larger eco-system of institutions and policies that situates Heroism at the centre of the civilisation of as a source of inspiration and as the foundation of its own industry. See ‘The Pathway to the 50 Icons’ document. Here is the full list of Heroes chosen by the committee plus the extras from my list. Look at the list of the 2nd 100 Icons and understand how rich T&T is in terms of the abundance of Heroic individuals and groups. Imagine how much richer the dialogue and inspirations for the citizens of T&T would have been with this expanded list.)

LIST 1 STATESMEN 1. Dr 2. ANR Robinson 3. Adrian Cola Rienzi 4. Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler 5. Rudrinath Capildeo 6. Sir 7. 8. Sir 9. Edwin Carrington- CARICOM LAW 10. HB Wooding SCHOLARS 11. CLR James 12. JD Elder ARTISTS 13. Peter Minshall 14. Ellie Mannette 15. Anthony Williams 16. Jit Samaroo 17. Colin Laird 18. Geoffrey Holder 19. Carlisle Chang 20. Pat Bishop 21. VS Naipaul 22. Earl Lovelace 23. Sparrow 24. Kitchener 25. Sundar Popo 26. Horace Ove 27. Beryl Mc Bernie 28. Meiling WAR HERO 29. Justice Ulric Cross SCIENTIST 30. Dr Stephen Blizzard 31. Anil Kokaram ACTIVIST 32. Sheila Prince 33. Dr Sylvan Bholes RELIGIOUS 34. Haji Shaffiq Rahaman 35. Archbishop Anthony Pantin 36. Abdul Aziz Trust 37. The Orisha Council of Elders 38. Roy Neehaul 39. Bishop Ternell Nelson 40. Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha SPORTS 41. Sir Learie Constantine 42. Hasley Crawford 43. Brian Lara 44. Soca Warriors 45. Dwight Yorke BUSINESS 46. Robert Montano 47. Helen Bhagwansingh 48. Anthony Sagba 49. Bob Yorke 50. Ranjit Kumar

LIST 2 ARTIST 1. George Bailey 2. Boochoonoosingh- father of T&T Ramleela 3. Leroy Clarke 4. Isiah Boodhoo 5. Noel Norton 6. Billy Ocean 7. Heather Headley 8. Lancelot Layne 9. Calypso Rose 10. Ras Shorty I 11. Daisy Voison 12. Boogsie Sharpe 13. Ray Holman 14. Bobby Mohammed 15. Mungal Patasar 16. Claudia Pegus 17. Heather Jones 18. Michael Anthony 19. Sam Selvon 20. Horace James 21. Banyan 22. Holly Betaudier 23. Hazel Ward 24. Sham Mohammed 25. James Lee Wah 26. Imelda Cruickshank RELIGIOUS 27. Ursula Bleasdell 28. Archbishop Griffith FINANCE 29. Victor Bruce 30. Vernon Charles BEAUTY 31. Penny EXPLORER 32. Harold and Kwaylan La Borde ACTIVIST 33. Andy Allan 34. Gerry Pantin 35. Ravi Ji 36. George Weekes 37. Diana Wyatt SPORTS 38. Gally Cummings 39. Mac Donald Bailey 40. Lystra Lewis STATESMEN 41. Reggie Dumas 42. Kim Sabeeny 43. Edric Connor 44. Joseph Charles 45. Cyril Duprey SCIENCE 46. Dr Stephen Bennet- Buffalypso 47. Dr David Picoo 48. Dr Emmanuel Cyprian Amoroso- Obstretics and Gynaecology SCHOLARS 49. Lloyd Best 50. John La Rose

LIST 3 MY NAMES FOR LIST 3: SPORTSMEN 1. Rodney Wilkes- first Olympic medallist, silver 2. Lennox Kilgour- olympic bronze 3. Ato Boldon- 4 times Olympic medallist, world Junior champ, record holder sub10s and 20s 4. The Wendell Mottley Sprint Relay Team- Olympic silver, world record indoor relay 5. Sonny Ramahdin- WI cricket spin genius 6. Deryck Murray- WI cricket genius keeper 7. Larry Gomes- WI cricket genius batsman 8. Gus Logie- WI cricket genius batsman 9. Kareem Abdul Jabar- great NBA player 10. Jean Pierre- netball superstar captain 11. Peggy Castenada- netball superstar 12. Michael Agostini- world record 100 yards with Jesse Owens 13. Basil Ince- relay record holder and sports admin and historian 14. Christopher Forde- Mr Universe 1964 15. Claude Noel- WBA Light-Heavyweight champ 16. Leslie Stewart- WBA Light-Heavyweight champ 17. Yolande Pompey- World heavyweight boxer 18. Giselle Salandy- multiple World boxing titles and records 19. Clifford Roach- WI cricket, 1st century and double-century holder 20. Roger Gibbon- double Gold medallist Commonwealth Games 21. Gene Samuel- multiple cycling titles, world record time trials 22. Jair Lynch- captain US Olympic gymnast 23. Gabrielle Reece- Volleyball and super-model 24. Ray Apollon- world wrestler

ARTISTS 25. Astor Johnson- T&T’s greatest choreographer 26. Pearl Primus- choreographer, Dance historian, holder of US highest medal for the Arts 27. Andre Tanker- father of fusion music 28. David Rudder- genius calypsonian 29. Dai Ailian (Tai Ai-Lien), or Sister Eileen- mother of modern Chinese dance 30. Brother Resistance – second generation keeper of Rapso flame 31. Trevor Macdonald- BAFTRA award holder, news pioneer in Britain 32. Ralph Mac Donald- 4 time Grammy award winner, multiple platinum artist 33. Sam Mendes- Oscar award winner, Bond movie director 34. Isaac Yankaran- East Indian music patriarch 35. Champa Devi- foundation legend in East Indian song and dance 36. Narsalo Ramaya- co-founder Naya Zamana and Triveni, vice-principal, researcher with NCIC 37. Attilah the Hun- 38. Dexter Simmons- Grammy award winner 39. Trinidad Theatre Workshop 40. Errol John 41. Merle Hodge 42. Freddie Kissoon 43. Paul Keens Douglas 44. Rabinadrath Maharaj- novelist 45. Eric Roach- poet 46. Wayne Brown- journalist, poet, literary activist 47. Shadow 48. Winsford Devine 49. Merchant 50. Paul Keens Douglas 51. Nia Long- Hollywood actress 52. Lorraine Toussaint- Hollywood actress 53. Hazel Goodman- Hollywood actress 54. Sullivan Walker- - Hollywood actor 55. Brownman Nick Ali- based Jazz-trumpeter, multiple award holder 56. Munilal Sagar Sookraj- singer, percussionist and composer of Indian folk melodies 57. Rajkumar Krisna Persad- iconic East Indian dancer and cultural officer 58. MP Alladin- folk painter 59. Geraldine Connor 60. Nalo Hopkinson- first Caribbean science fiction author 61. Winnifred Atwell- multiple platinum pianist 62. Edmundo Ross- father of English Latin-big band music 63. Hazel Scott- first black woman to host a US TV show, jazz and classical piano 64. Julia Edwards- limbo internationalist 65. The Caribbean School of Dance 66. Bertie Marshall 67. Spree Simon 68. Robert Greenidge 69. Toby Tobias 70. Clive Zanda- co-founder Kaiso-Jazz 71. Scofield Pilgrim- co-founder Kaiso-Jazz 72. Luisa Kimme

ARCHITECTS 73. Lewis- builder of Church of Assumption, Maraval 74. Roger Turton- arguably greatest architect of T&T 75. John Newel Lewis- local architect historian

ACTIVISTS 76. Gloria Jones- creator of Nottinghill Carnival, international socialist activist 77. George Padmore- father of Pan-Africanism 78. Lennox Pierre 79. Dom Basil Mathews 80. Elma Francois 81. Kwame Ture 82. Mr Blades- co-founder OWTU 83. Hubert Fauntleroy ‘The Black Eagle’ 84. OWTIU

BUSINESSMEN 85. Chan Hong Wing 86. Ishmael M Khan 87. Canadian newspaper guy 88. Ken Gordon 89. Roger Ames- president Warner Music

SCHOLARS 90. Anna Mahase 91. Dr Gordon Rohlehr 92. Prof Bridget Brereton 93. Dr Brinsley Samaroo 94. Albert Gomes 95. Errol Hill 96. Sir Arthur Lewis 97. Prof Ken Julien

PUBLIC SERVANTS & ECONOMISTS 98. Frank Barsotti 99. Frank Rampersad 100. Dame Jocelyn Barrow- multiple UK based governorships- BBC etc, the UK’s EU rep

SCIENTISTS 101. Dr Julian Kenny- scientist and environmental activist 102. Dr Bert Geoffrey Achong- co-discoverer Epstein-Barr virus 103. Prof Stephon Alexander- string theorist 104. Dr Andre Cropper- inventor of OLED 105. Dr Allistair Karmody- in-situ vein bypass surgery 106. Dr Collin Karmody- first operation to restore hearing 107. Dr Rodney Maingot- author classic textbook on abdominal surgery 108. Dr Lennox Pawan- discoverer and isolator of rabies virus 109. Dr Poon King- discoverer of effects of scorpion stings on the heart 110. Molly Gaskin- Caroni Bird Sanctuary 111. The Asa Wright Nature Centre