The Washington-based Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) said the late former United States Secretary of State and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell “represented simply the very best of what Jamaica has to offer the world”.
Powell, a four-star general died on Monday from complications of COVID-19, his family said. He was 84. Powell’s family said that his immune system was compromised by multiple myeloma, a rare cancer that forms in the blood. His family also said he was vaccinated for COVID-19 and was also treated for the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
“We, the members and supporters of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, are in deep sadness learning that Colin Powell, a son of the soil, has passed,” said Dr. Claire Nelson, the Jamaican-born founder and ICS president.
“General Powell was well-respected by Caribbean peoples at home and abroad because of his open and obvious pride in his Jamaican roots, which he had never forgotten. He understood the immigrant story, as well as the African American narrative, and was a steadfast supporter of affirmative action as an equalizer for opportunity.
“As to be expected, we sometimes had differences of opinions on US foreign policy in the Caribbean. Nonetheless, we viewed him as a trusted diplomat, astute leader and military adviser, and a friend of the Caribbean,” Nelson told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“So iconic was the mark he has consistently left on the landscape that he had to be referenced in the original 2006 Resolution marking June as Caribbean American Heritage Month and every year since,” said Nelson, whose institute spearheaded the establishment of Caribbean American Heritage Month in the US.
Nelson said Powell was “the embodiment of the quintessential pioneer, a man of numerous firsts, the first Black US Secretary of State and the youngest officer appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among them.
“A lifelong friend of Jamaica, he would often be found at Jamaican independence celebrations at the Organization of American States, patiently indulging those of us in the community eager to shake his hand and get a photo op,” she said.
“As founder and president of the ICS, I now reflect, with such fondness and pride, on being in the graduating class with the General as commencement speaker at The George Washington University (in Washington) in February 1990, when I earned my doctoral degree.
“It was an extra-special thrill for me to shake his hand as I crossed the stage. So badly was I bursting with a desire to scream, ‘I am Jamaican, too!
“As we remember the great human being, statesman and iconic world figure, we are sending up fervent prayers for the Powell family, including Mr. Powell’s wife Alma and son Michael,” she said, adding “the amazing legacy of Colin L. Powell will live on for many generations”.
CMC
 said the late Colin Powell “represented simply the very best of what Jamaica has to offer."){kind=link}