CARIMAC staff on Professor 'Rex' Nettleford

I first met Rex Nettleford as a 'small boy' at Cornwall College in 1953.  He had just graduated from sixth form and was teaching at the school for a year prior to entering the then UCWI on scholarship to read for his first degree. One of my first and a lasting memory of him was how passionate he was about the dance.  In fact, just a few weeks before his passing we were reminiscing on one of the first dances -- Boongoozu -- he choreographed for a concert at Cornwall and in which I participated.
I only lost touch with him during his sojourn at Oxford. He had returned to UWI by the time I was doing my own thesis research at Princeton, some 38 years ago, and I recall how helpful he was to me in sourcing material at that time.  Indeed it was Prof Nettleford who, in 1974, convinced and recruited me to take my first post at UWI as Resident Tutor for Eastern Jamaica in the Department of Extra Mural Studies which he headed at the time.  He was an unobtrusive and supportive Head of Department, who when the time came for me to move on encouraged me to apply for the post of Director of CARIMAC.

He had a soaring generosity of spirit even as he remained firmly rooted in his heritage; loved and supported his mother Ms. Palmer beyond duty as a grateful son, and was loyal to his friends to his last breath.

I am still coming to terms with the fact that after 57 years as a friend, mentor and colleague Rex is no more.

 The Hon Ralston ‘Rex’ Nettleford OM, should be named National Hero. This is my considered opinion.

The National Honours and Awards Act promulgated on July 18, 1969 instituted the Order of National Hero as the most senior order in Jamaica. It states, ‘The honour of the Order of National Hero may be conferred upon any person who was born in Jamaica or is, at the time of his or her death was, a citizen of Jamaica and rendered to Jamaica service of a most distinguished nature.

A member of the Order is entitled to be styled “Rt. Excellent” and the motto of the Order is “He built a city which hath foundations”.

Professor Rex Nettleford didn’t just build a city; he built a nation, a region, a consciousness and a respect of, for and among black people, with his spotlight on the black Caribbean. He built a collective intellect. He blazed the trail in iconoclastic scholarship on fundamental issues grounded in cultural identity, self-acceptance and the empowerment of a Jamaican/Caribbean people. 

As he often reminded us, we are all from the cane piece regardless of the position we hold now or held then – house slave, field slave. Rex Nettleford helped those of us who cared enough build an understanding of what it means to be a Jamaican by dint of hard work, passionate application and critical analysis. He gave to Jamaica service of a most distinguished nature in academia, trade unionism, public life, and through the performing arts, in particular dance.

He used the National Dance Theatre Company, which he co-founded in 1963, as the society’s mirror to itself. Mirror, Mirror! This quintessential man’s contribution should be rewarded with Jamaica’s highest national honour, Order of National Hero.

Engaging and stimulating
Let me be the first to say that the measure of the man would not allow him to see himself at these lofty heights. He would no doubt accept that he made his contribution but no more than several other Jamaicans. I see it differently Professor. You never knew and now you’ll never know the impact you had on so many for such varied reasons. If Prof (that’s what I called him) taught you, or even just engaged or interacted with you, you had to learn.

As a lecturer, he was totally conversant with his material, always fully prepared for class and respectful of the students’ interventions. He used no notes or printed lesson plan. His classes were structured, engaging and stimulating. There was an ease of logical sequencing. He also taught the importance of time management and punctuality. You never dared entered his lecture room late. 

I can’t ever recall seeing Rex Nettleford in a suit, the traditional jacket and tie. He wore karebas and I particularly liked him in the Nehru-neck kareba suits that made him look so regal. It didn’t matter the function he always stood out. His fashion statement was sartorial confidence. His carriage was that of someone who knew who he was; where he came from, where he had got to and was sure of where the path he was on would take him. 

Distinction between training and education
Prof had a special place in his heart for the students of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies. I believe he taught there from its inception in 1974 to his passing. Along with his myriad jobs on campus and his hectic travel schedule, he taught cohort after cohort, year after year of Media and Communication students. 

The students pursuing the one year intensive diploma course, all working journalists and persons with jobs in the Communication field benefitted tremendously from his classes. 

Rex Nettleford made it abundantly clear that journalists could not do a good, balanced, accurate or thorough job without understanding the context in which they operated; that of the history, politics and culture of the region, and by extension the world. So along with Prof Roy Augier they taught in these areas.

Prof made a very important distinction between training and education of journalists. He saw them both as important but he was more than concerned that too many journalists concerned themselves only with the training. A month or so after graduating with my Masters Degree I was off to St. Lucia to conduct a three-day UNESCO training workshop for journalists. Unknown to me Rex the Caribbean icon was there at the very time. Delivered to my hotel in St. Lucia was a handwritten letter on his Vice-Chancellor’s letter head which read in part, ‘Our journalists need to be educated and not just trained; and you, among a far too few in the fellowship, have demonstrated the wisdom of this’. His letter to me is one of my prized possessions. I framed it shortly after receipt.

Rex Utterances
Only Rex Nettleford would think of phrases such as ‘historical amnesia’, ‘do you drive your car without a rear view mirror’ when addressing why he constantly speaks about slavery and the need to look back and understand from whence we came. ‘A bhutto in a Benz is still a bhutto’. ‘The one that comes to you with the biggest smile has the longest dagger’. ‘You need to become psychologically attuned’. 

I weep not for Prof instead my attitude is one of gratitude. I thank God that he touched my life. I thank God for his intellect and commitment to his nation. Let us celebrate his memory and the decades he spent on that investigating and elucidating the need for all of us to grasp the understanding of the urgent need for each of us to move to a place of ‘Inward Stretch; Outward Reach’.

Expanding the vision
His contribution to nation building and regionalism cannot be quantified and will take decades to be fully comprehended. But perhaps the best way to memorialise and recognise his true worth is by bestowing on him the Order of National Hero, he more than any other deserves it. For me, this is befitting the status of the man. 

Ralston Milton ‘Rex’ Nettleford helped you and me, shape our identity, often without us even knowing it. He may not have marched from Stony Gut nor was he arrested and charged for complicity. His fate was not that of hanging on October 23 or 24, 1865. Rex Nettleford must have contemplated time and again that poignant statement, ‘I would rather die upon yonder gallows than live in slavery’. His was not the task to start the Universal Negro Improvement Association nor was he engaged in the planning of guerrilla warfare to confuse the British. It was not Rex who confronted the colonial governor with the words, ‘Long live the King! But Denham must go’ nor was it he who said, ‘I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica, to win political power which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring.’

What Rex Nettleford did was to take the vision and expand the foundation of our six heroes and one heroine, individually and collectively, combining his intellect and creative genius to position the Nation of Jamaica and the Caribbean Region on a global pedestal. Is that the work of someone worthy of the mantle of Nation Hero or what!

As you would say Rex, Bless you!

It is very difficult to put into words the thoughts and reflections that come readily to mind about Professor Rex Nettleford.

One thing that stands out is the graceful and peaceful spirit with which he greeted staff as he moved through the department, to and from the Radio Studio, for his twice-weekly sessions with the Diploma students.  He seemed never to be in haste but yet his steps and strides were ones of purpose and focus. Never rude, intrusive or unkind in his interaction with staff, often asking: "Is Mel (Blake) here?"

He was not a simple man, but a profound gentleman. Prof. Nettleford maybe one of the most approachable academia that walked among us and was very pleasant - you wanted to say hello, to help and to make the  short one-hour stay on those two days per week a comfortable one for him.  His value of people points to integrity of character -- what he believed and shared is how he lived for all to see, students and staff alike. 

He is already deeply missed and sometimes the reality of his passing leaves a crushing pain of loss, and the desire for his presence even for another week deepens.

Through all the eulogies, accolades and remembrances, I looked for a mention of Prof. Nettleford's JBC-TV commentaries, but have not yet seen one.

The short pieces, to be sure, form a very small part of the massive Nettleford oeuvre, but they are worth remembering and should be pulled from whatever archive they are in and shown immediately. 'Commentary' came on at night, after the news I believe, and featured a topic that he had thought enough on to share with viewers. His topics centred on culture, history, national development, regional politics and so on, but it was his voice, clear as a bell, that glued us to the screen each time. Prof. Nettleford was the epitome of the Jamaican intellectual, unafraid of telling truths, but equally free to change his mind as facts changed -- without fear. It is fitting that someone close to him, taught by him or inspired by him, produce such a programme for this millennium. The long shadow he cast in his work should be inspiring, not intimidating. God forbid that Jamaica allows him to become its last pure intellectual.

 I had the privilege to be acquainted with Prof. Nettleford both in and outside of the classroom.

I will remember him for his selflessness as much as his outstanding intellect and discipline.

Professor Rex Nettleford had no airs about him despite his fame and the admiration with which he was held by so very, very many.  He was ever so approachable and accessible.

He was an excellent educator and the grade A that he awarded me as his student, was then and remains today even more so with the passage of time, the one I am most proud of.  My fuller appreciation of Caribbean Society was strengthened by him in an effortless and deliberate manner which was his style.

When I was asked to help with the orientation of newly arrived Canada-based Officers at the Canadian High Commission and I asked Prof if he would come and address them, he said "Yes, I would be delighted to" without blinking an eye and gave one of his well received sessions on Jamaicaness and the role the Officers could expect to play and contribute to Jamaica.  I shall miss this giant of a man.