The Editor, Sir:

I have been reading about the efforts of a group of Jamaicans to name Robert Nestor Marley a national hero and must share my disgust.

Brother Bob was a great musician and poet and contributed significantly to awareness of Jamaica internationally. Without question, he is an artiste to be admired for his accomplishments and his work did a lot to put reggae and Jamaica 'on the map', so to speak.

A 'hero' is defined as: (1) a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Or (2) a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal, i.e., 'He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.'

Not good enough

Now let's get real. Robert Nestor Marley is grossly unqualified. The truth is brother Bob did little that did not benefit himself and much less, given his roots, to benefit the impoverished of Jamaica. His title of father of many children by many mothers only adds to the disrepute of the Jamaican male. And support of offspring given his then wealth can only be described as sufficient, if that.

I idolised Bob at one time but would I ever want to see him called a 'national' hero? Hell no! A reggae hero definitely, but for somebody lacking one personal and countable motion to benefit the country and people of Jamaica over and above himself, again, hell no!

I am, etc.,

STEPHANIE F. SMITH

Stavsig@gmail.com

Sunrise, FL

Via Go-Jamaica