CHIEF executive officer of the Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) Festival (LBCF), Professor Opal Palmer Adisa on Thursday urged Prime Minister Andrew Holness to rethink the position of making Miss Lou a national icon and instead make every effort to immortalise her as the heroine that she is.

Palmer Adisa, in a statement, also called on Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation to rename North Street the Louise Bennett Coverley Boulevard, and install a commemorative plaque suitably marking her birthplace at 40 North Street.

“The LBCF also calls on the Government to give support to the efforts of those entities like the Louise Bennett Coverley Festival who have made it a point of duty to annually honour her contribution… ensuring that future generations know about her work and the contribution that she has made to instilling a well-needed sense of pride and value in all things Jamaica,” said Palmer Adisa.

She said the prime minister’s announcement to declare Miss Lou and Robert Nesta Marley as national icons does not go far enough in honouring the contributions of both individuals. “Louise Bennett has been a national icon to many, many Jamaicans at home and abroad as well as to many throughout the globe. Her formidable contribution to the Jamaican landscape was even recognised with a Google Doodle on September 7, 2022 on her 103rd birthday,” she said.

She added that Miss Lou lived a life of heroism on behalf of her people, making numerous contributions in almost every aspect of Jamaican culture.

“While there are those who believe installing her as an icon is a progressive move, the Louise Bennett Coverley Festival (LBCF) stands with those who feel this designation underplays her role and contribution to the Jamaican people.

“She demonstrated repeatedly in several areas of the arts her heroism as she advocated for the importance and validity of our language, facing the backlash from those still imprisoned in mental slavery. She nationalised the Pantomime, one of the longest-running theatre traditions in the Caribbean, making it uniquely Jamaican. From her days at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts to her show at the
BBC, as well as her work in New York in the 1950s, she consistently lifted the Jamaican people on her shoulder and bore the torch to promote Jamaica in a positive light,” said the professor.

Added the professor: “Louise Bennett’s pioneering advocacy for the Jamaican language is as heroic as Nanny fighting the British and securing a treaty for her people. Louise Bennett, trekking to all the parishes across the island to study and record our idioms and traditions, is as bold and daring as Samuel Sharpe starting the 1831 rebellion which increased the calls to end slavery and the exploitation of his brothers and sisters. Louise Bennett’s vision and hopes for Jamaica as evidenced in her songs and her various writings is in keeping with Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) push for self-government. Louise Bennett’s stance in telling our Anansi stories to fortify us and position Anansi as having the fortitude to stand against a greater foe is as inspirational as Paul Bogle’s organised march to Morant Bay. And Louise Bennett’s insistence in giving voice and celebrating the ordinary Jamaican is as magnanimous as George William Gordon who understood that as a man with means and privilege, it was his duty to rail against injustice,” said Palmer Adisa.