National Icon or National Hero? - Holness, Golding differ on honouring Miss Lou and Bob Marley

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding have taken divergent approaches in their calls to honour two Jamaican greats, Louise Bennett-Coverley and Bob Marley, based on their messages marking today's National Heroes' Day.

While both leaders laud their contributions to Jamaican life, Holness proposes creating a new national honour, the "Order of National Icon" for the two legends, while Golding advocates for Marley to be elevated to the country's highest honour, National Hero.

In his message, Holness announced that the Government has completed preliminary work and will be moving forward with the legal process to introduce a new national honour the "Order of National Icon".

He said once the legal process is completed, it will be conferred on Bennett-Coverley, affectionately known as 'Miss Lou', and Bob Marley, saying the honour will be "a most well-deserved and long overdue recognition of their legendary contributions to Jamaican culture and music."

"Miss Lou's work in promoting Jamaican Patois and folk traditions has cemented her as a pioneer of our national identity, while Bob Marley's music transcended borders, making him an international ambassador of reggae and a symbol of resistance to oppression and a beacon of unity and love," Holness said.

Golding, however, called for Marley to be formally recognised as a National Hero. He argued, “time come for his status as a hero to be formalised here at home,” adding that Marley "more than any other has made our music an inspirational force of liberation, justice, and equality for all the peoples of the world."

"His greatness is embraced in all corners of the earth. He gave us the enduring power of One Love," Golding added, linking Marley's legacy to this year's National Heroes Day theme. He did not mention Miss Lou. 

Bob Marley and Miss Lou died in May 1981 and July 2006, respectively. The two are members of the Order of Merit, the third highest national honour. 

The Order of National Hero is the most senior order and may be conferred upon a Jamaican who has rendered to the country service of a most distinguished nature.

Calls have grown over the decades for both to receive the honour, which has been conferred on just seven persons.

Some 44 per cent of Jamaicans support Marley becoming a National Hero with Miss Lou second with 36 per cent, according to a national poll published in January by the Don Anderson-led Market Research Services. It is similar to results from previous polls. 

In 2009, a parliamentary committee recommended introducing a new honour, the "Order of Jamaican Heritage," citing Marley and Miss Lou as examples.  That honour, the committee proposed, would be Jamaica's second-highest national honour and would be bestowed on “individuals who made significant contributions to Jamaica's heritage over an extended period of time.

However, in 2022, former Poet Laureate Professor Mervyn Morris suggested expanding the criteria for heroism but opposed creating a second-tier award.

“It may be a good idea to expand the notion of national hero than pushing them to the side and calling them cultural icons," he told The Gleaner. 

Director and curator of the Jamaica Music Museum at the Institute of Jamaica, Herbie Miller, also argued that both Bob Marley and Miss Lou ought to be recognised as national heroes “for how they have helped to liberate the slumbering mentality of Jamaican people through the arts”.

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