TRIBUTE BY PRIME MINISTER BRUCE GOLDING AT PROFESSOR REX NETTLEFORD’S THANKSGIVING SERVICE

TRIBUTE BY
PRIME MINISTER BRUCE GOLDING
AT PROFESSOR REX NETTLEFORD'S
THANKSGIVING SERVICE
FEBRUARY 16, 2010

There are many facets of the life of the Hon. Rex Nettleford that taken separately and singularly made him an extraordinary man. There was, as the leader of the Opposition has made reference to, a little boy from humble beginnings in Bunkers Hill, who excelled, became a Rhodes Scholar, was widely acclaimed for his own scholarship and ultimately became the Vice Chancellor of the University of all the West Indies.

He was the first alumni to do so and it is a fitting tribute to a man who could be forgiven if when asked about his nationality might have responded, ‘I am Caribbean'.

There was Rex Nettleford, that superb mind, that restless intellect, that felt itself called to validate our identity, for many of us have doubts about that identity. Many of us have doubts about who we really are, how others saw us and how we saw ourselves. Many of us looked in the mirror and didn't like what we saw and tried every conceivable means of changing.

Rex Nettleford helped to clean that mirror to enable us to see ourselves for who we really are and caused us to revalue ourselves. He constantly challenged our eagerness to wear an alternative identity that could never better us.

Then there was Rex Nettleford, that extremely gifted artist who took one of our oldest and most intuitive forms of cultural expressions, our dance, gave it a life of its own on a stage of its own, and enabled it to command respect in many parts of the world, but most importantly here at home where he opened our eyes to the rich value of an asset we didn't realize we had.

Then there was Rex Nettleford, that never failing servant of his nation and his region, called upon so many times to take up responsibilities where his respected knowledge and authority and his intellectual integrity, were important. There were so many occasions when something of great importance needed to be done and the answer was
"Let Rex do it".

He was all these things and more, all woven together to make Rex Nettleford the extraordinary human being that he was. He will be missed by many and in many places, by the artistic community which has lost one of its most talented researchers, conceptualizers, artistes, and proponents. By the UWI family that has lost an outstanding leader, builder, and an untiring advocate. By the entire Caribbean and Jamaica in particular that have lost one of our most able, willing and dedicated sons who never knew how to say ‘No' on any of the many occasions that he was called on to report to duty.

Death reminds us that man does indeed have but a short time to live. It is the use we make of that time that determines what if anything of our lives will never die. There is much about the life of the Hon. Rex Nettleford that can never die. The bridges he has built that have enabled our minds to travel beyond their self imposed boundaries. The confidence he has inspired us to have in ourselves are a shape of our past, mindful of our failures but triumphant in our successes and energized by the vast horizon of opportunity that is before us, if only we would see clearly now.

The organizations that he helped to build, such as the National Dance Theatre Company, the Extra Mural department of the University of the West Indies which became the School of Continuing Studies and now the UWI's fourth campus and the Trade Union Education Institute, now renamed in honour of the late Hugh Lawson Shearer, all of which must now carry on his work with the same zeal with which he helped to build them.

There are his published works, his writings and his commentaries which remain relevant both as a reference to the past and a guide to the future. The work and the legacy he has left us has helped to change our lives and enrich our existence and experience and provide us with a better understanding of how we must move forward as a people.

The people of Jamaica owe Rex Nettleford a huge debt of gratitude, a debt we will never be able to repay but a debt we acknowledge today to a proud spirit and a grateful heart.