‘Robbery!’

ST ANN historian Dr Frank Lawrence is among several parishioners who have expressed disappointment that St Ann native, reggae legend Robert ‘Bob’ Marley, is not represented on any of the new notes the Government is set to introduce to the country.

“That’s (Bob’s omission) one of the first calculated comments that I made to somebody,” Dr Lawrence told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

“I don’t think of all the people on the notes none has brought in more money into Jamaica than Bob Marley, so to really somewhat rob him of this occasion of profiling him in a financial area … .

“I call it a robbery because we’re talking about money, robbing that nation of that opportunity of recognising one who has contributed so much money, so much in monetary terms and cultural terms to the knowledge of Jamaica. It’s kind of robbing rural Jamaica of their contribution to the whole matter of nation-building,” the historian said.

Lawrence said the process of profiling our heroes is too political.

“I think it’s too political and I think the country has not been built by only politicians but it has been built by a lot of ordinary people, a lot of people who have made contributions in various ways,” he pointed out.

Claudette Livingston, from the Nine Miles area in St Ann, who holds the distinct privilege of being sister to both Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, believes her brother’s image should be on one of the notes.

“Why not? Of course! Of course, I agree. That would be a nice thing.”

She said she and some relatives spoke about the issue some years ago.

“Why not have his face on some money because him represent him country so strong(ly),” she said.

Another community member, former mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Vinette Robb-Oddman, expressed disappointment that Marley’s image was not selected to be on any of the notes.

BOB HAS BEEN A HERO

“We, especially in Nine Miles, are very disappointed seeing that Bob has been a hero; Bob was a messenger for this world and some of the persons who are on it are not as deserving as Bob,” Robb-Oddman told The Gleaner.

Referring to the One Love peace concert that Marley orchestrated back in the 1970 that brought warring political factions together to make peace, she labelled the St Ann icon a peacemaker.

“He was a peacemaker, he was sending messages across the world (through his music) and even now we see some of the messages unveiling. So a man of that class is deserving of getting the national hero and then – a two-thousand note is coming out – I would have expected Bob would be on it seeing that he wasn’t on it before.”

“So seeing it last night on the news and seeing the notes and he wasn’t on any, I was very disappointed and when I shared my thoughts with others they were also disappointed,” the former mayor disclosed.

Several persons from the entertainment industry in St Ann also threw their weight behind Marley’s image not being “on the money”.

“I’m very disappointed that Bob Marley is not on the money because we need to do as much as we can to honour the work of Bob Marley,” said music producer Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards.

“I think it goes further than Marley being on a note, I think Marley should definitely be a national hero with all that he has done for Jamaica and putting Jamaica on the map, bringing tourist dollars to this country. He should be national hero and definitely he should be on the money,” Edwards said.

Ocho Rios reggae artiste Paul ‘Little Hero’ Gayle told The Gleaner that Marley deserves the honour because of his history-making exploits in music.

“Mi believe he should be on one of them, yes, because him do a great job. Many places we go and them don’t even know Jamaica, them say Bob Marley country,” said Edwards.

“So I expect they would do that still. But mi nuh know if them a wait fi a next time or what but we would appreciate if them do that.”

Popular dancehall selector Mixmaster Ovadose said he includes a Marley song in his juggling every time he plays, and he supports the move to have Marley on a note.

“Him haffi inna di juggling every night, man. And most definitely, him should a deh pon one ah dem fi real. Maybe gi him a new note, a $10,000, yuh know wha a mean?” Ovadose stated.

“But a real thing, dem should a have him face pon one ah dem, mi feel dat would a lift up di country one likkle way fi know say di great Bob Marley de pon it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Lawrence is also somewhat disappointed with the continued low profile being accorded Jamaica’s first National Hero Marcus Garvey. Garvey is currently on the $20 coin, but is now projected to be on the newly designed $1,000 note.

GARVEY, WORLD-CLASS NATIONAL HERO

“I think it’s still a kind of low profiling. It’s a low profiling of one of our greatest national heroes, world-class national hero. I expected Marcus Garvey to be even more prominent. I expected him to have been on one of the higher notes; but probably the hundred is the one that circulates more, but hundred can hardly buy anything nowadays,” Lawrence noted.

Robb-Oddman doesn’t see much of a difference between Garvey being on the $100 note as opposed to the $20 coin.

“It doesn’t make much difference, Marcus was a great man,” she pointed out. “But if I had even seen Bob and Marcus on the $2,000 bill, I would be feeling happier this morning,” Robb-Oddman added.

Lawrence believes there is still time to change to reflect the people’s views and concerns.

“And I think if a lot of these things are brought out we might be able to turn things around a little,” he said.

carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com