A resolution to observe the visit to Jamaica of slain US civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr more than five decades ago is the source of a quarrel between Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) councillors at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

Despite the resolution being moved by a JLP councillor and seconded by a PNP councillor, 21 JLP councillors voted for its approval and 11 PNP councillors abstained.

Councillor Tosha Schwapp (JLP, Stony Hill Division), who moved the resolution, wants June 20 and 21 — the days of Dr King’s historic visit to Jamaica in 1965 — to be commemorated annually in schools, museums, public institutions, and municipal buildings in the capital city through displays of his work in shaping world history.

The resolution, which was seconded by Councillor Venesha Phillips (PNP, Papine Division), also called for a section of a future ‘City of Kingston’ museum to be specially designated in Dr King’s memory.

Schwapp said that when Dr King visited the island he found Jamaica’s motto, ‘Out of Many, One People’, inspirational as it related to his dream of a United States where equality of all races existed.

Schwapp called for civics to again be taught in schools, arguing, “If civics was in the school curriculum I don’t believe bleaching would be an issue.”

However, minority leader Councillor Andrew Swaby (PNP, Vineyard Town Division) said that during the life of the current council or preceding councils no decision had ever been taken to establish a city of Kingston museum. Such a proposal would have to be discussed and approved, he argued.

Swaby said that while his caucus respected Dr King’s work in the struggle for racial equality and harmony, “We wish that the majority side had given greater thought to the construction of this resolution.”

Swaby, who said that insufficient time was given for some of the points in the resolution to be carefully researched, pointed out that in the year of Dr King’s visit, “the Government passed a resolution in the Parliament to rename Trench Town Comprehensive High School the Dr Martin Luther King Junior High School. However, the resolution was never implemented”.

“One needs more time to research what else the Government/city may have committed to and ensure that those commitments are honoured before embarking on a futuristic mission,” Swaby said.

To prove his statement about the proposed renaming of the school, Swaby provided the Jamaica Observer with a copy of a document entitled History of Trench Town High School.

The section on the possibility of renaming Trench Town High School states:

“Following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, April 1968, a resolution was brought to the Senate to rename Trench Town Comprehensive High to the Martin Luther King High School, in honour of his memory and the principles he stood for. The resolution was brought to the Senate on Friday, May 17th 1968 by Senator Hector Wynter, state minister in the Ministry of Education. He stated that, Dr King, in his short life, had been able to accomplish a great deal and had made an impact on the world as a civil rights leader, and thereby, ‘in paying our respects to his memory let us remember his principles, let us model ourselves on him by living committed lives – lives committed to the principles of love, peace, non-violence and equality of all’,” Senator Wynter said.

“This resolution was seconded by the Opposition Senator Kenneth Hill who endorsed the move by stating that, ‘Dr King was not a pacifist, but an active and militant apostle of human rights in the truest sense.’ ”

It was further requested that copies of the resolution be given to Dr King’s widow and members of his family, with expressions of deepest sympathy. That resolution was not realised.”

Dr King and his wife Coretta visited Jamaica several times, but their 1965 visit was the most impactful, as it included him giving a sermon at the valedictory service at The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, on June 20.

The following day he was presented with the keys to the city of Kingston at a function held at the National Stadium.