Each year, there are repeated calls for Jamaica’s national heroes list to be updated to include Reggae superstar Bob Marley, cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverley, and legendary sprinter Usain Bolt.
With the premiere of ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ in Jamaica this week, the question was posed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness on whether or not Marley will ever get national hero status.
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Holness said that recognition for iconic personalities is something being considered.
“We did put together a committee to look at it [naming Bob Marley as a national hero], and believe me, there were commissions before that, established a criteria for national hero. I think the conversation has so far evolved to having a category that identifies iconic personalities, people who have added great value to our countries. So there may be a designation. But, who knows, the conversation continues,” Holness said.
Jamaica currently has seven national heroes — Nanny of the Maroons, George William Gordon, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, Marcus Garvey, Sir Alexander Bustamante, and Norman Manley. The list has not been updated since 1982.
Repeated calls and surveys
In 2022, as Jamaica celebrated its 60th year of independence, several members of the diaspora called for Bob Marley to be named a national hero.
“Bob remains Jamaica’s largest unsponsored export,” Brooklyn-based University Professor Chandra Young said.
New York-based Entertainment Consultant, Anthony Turner, and Japanese Reggae Producer Eisaku “Selector A” Yamaguchi also shared similar sentiments.
That same year, an RJRGleaner Don Anderson poll revealed that close to one-third of Jamaicans are in favor of Marley or Miss Lou being named national heroes.
In 2021, Senator Dr. Floyd Morris said that he would table a motion in Parliament for Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Miss Lou and Usain Bolt to be named national heroes.
Morris’s call came a week after Bajan superstar and billionaire Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty was conferred the Order of National Hero in Barbados.
