KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Mar. 1, IWN – A member of the national heroes selection committee says he doesn’t think anyone from post-Independence St. Vincent and the Grenadines should be elevated to national hero status.
“This is a personal sentiment. I don’t necessarily think we should look at conferring national hero status on anyone within the post-Independence period, given its relative shortness or closeness in terms of us living now,” educator Curtis King said Thursday.
He was speaking at a lecture at the University of the West Indies Open Campus, where historian Dr. Adrian Fraser presented a case for George McIntosh to be made a national hero.
“In other words, I don’t think that we have had enough time for someone to so perform in that period to be elevated to that status,” King said. “I am not saying there might not be persons existing,” he further stated.
Read: Historian makes case for McIntosh as national hero
King said he divides the history of St. Vincent into three period: the battle for the control of St. Vincent — from 1600 to 1797; the colonial period — post 1797 to 1979 — the colonial period; and post Independence — from 1979.
“I personally believe that we ought to look at these different areas and if we do so with an analytical mind, we would be able to identify persons whose contribution would have been so outstanding that we can elevate them to national hero status,” King said.
“For example, … the first period, the battle for the control of St. Vincent, from where we have chosen our first national hero, His Excellency Joseph Chatoyer, I don’t necessarily think we have exhausted that period, in that there is the possibility that we can find other heroes in that period,” he said.
He further noted that McIntosh is from the second period, the colonial period
“And, as such, if we search that period again, we can find several persons on whom we can confer national hero status,” he said.