Baptiste: ‘I don’t expect any hero to be named this year’

Those hoping that another national hero will be named will be disappointed for yet another year.

While names like ET Joshua and George Mc Intosh are certainly in the forefront of such consideration, Minister of Culture Rene Baptiste told SEARCHLIGHT that she did not expect any hero to be named this year.{{more}}

Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer is this country’s only national hero.

On Tuesday, February 26, Minister Baptiste announced plans for what would be the, fifth year of National Heroes’ Month celebration.

Among the highlights of this year’s activities will be a tribute to ET Joshua, which will be held at his Kingstown cemetery burial site. There will also be two lectures for teachers on the 12th, and the 19th, along with a Bi-centenary of the Abolition of the Slave trade lecture by the Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves on the 26th.

The usual Heroes’ Day Wreath laying ceremony will be held at 8am on March 14th, along with the Balliceaux Remembrance Pilgrimage on the 29th.

Minister Baptiste, however, noted that efforts will be taken to ensure that the children and other persons attending the Wreath Laying ceremony will not be kept there unnecessarily long.

All presentations, except that of the feature address by Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves will be given a three-minute limit.

Minister Baptiste has invited members of the general public to join in the ET Joshua Remembrance activity.

She said that they are hoping to get copies of his speeches, which will be read at the event, and efforts are also being made to get audio copies of these speeches.

“We will really like to get his voice because this generation doesn’t know what his voice sounds like at all. The American children have the tapes of Martin Luther King Jr…and also the voice of President Kennedy, so we should try to retrieve any tape of the voice of ET Joshua and one of his speeches,” she said.(KJ)