Devon Dick | Toni-Ann Singh is Personality of the Year

Toni-Ann Singh won the Miss World competition through her excellent singing, beautiful speaking, and being a beauty with a purpose. Singh is the first Jamaican winner of the Miss World title to identify, openly and proudly, with a rural parish, St Thomas, and a rural district, Bath.

To identify with St Thomas is a big deal. St Thomas is stigmatised as the obeah capital of Jamaica, meaning something evil, superstitious and backward. There was a time when people were afraid to identify with the most famous son of the soil, National Hero Paul Bogle. In fact, last week a well-known Jamaican, in disagreeing with my recommendation that King’s House should be renamed Bogle House, claimed that ‘Gordon House’ has a ‘dignified’ sound to it, but Bogle House would be associated with violence and negativity. Because of Singh’s accomplishment, parishioners are walking with heads lifted high.

St Thomas is a forgotten and neglected parish. There was the Goodyear factory, offering high-paying jobs, but since its closure, over a decade ago, many promises have been made to develop the plant but to date, nothing. Furthermore, James Robertson, the member of parliament (MP) for St Thomas Western, after his USA visa was revoked, resigned from the Cabinet. Everybody knows that when a MP is a Cabinet minister, then more benefits accrue to the constituency. Therefore, St Thomas is at a disadvantage with Robertson not being a Cabinet minister. Now, Daryl Vaz has had his USA visa revoked, but no resignation. It is as if St Thomas ‘salt’. So, Miss Singh winning the Miss World title is good news for St Thomas. A prophetess has placed St Thomas in a good light.

Furthermore, Singh highlighted her maternal roots of Bath, and not the paternal origins of Arcadia. That was special because my parents were born in Bath, and all my four siblings from both my parents were born in Bath. Bath is a historic town with the oldest Botanical Gardens in Jamaica and also the healing streams of Bath Fountain, which is second to none. Bath gained notoriety during the 1860s as a place of injustice. An analysis of the court cases in Bath shows that the planter class won every case while the members of the peasantry won none. Singh showed the better side of the historic town of Bath. Singh, by highlighting and elevating Bath, St Thomas, shows that she is a conscious lady being comfortable with her rural roots and a willingness to share her glory with ordinary rural folks. She is not ashamed of rural Jamaica.

Extraordinary charisma

Singh has charisma. She is a charming person. She comes across as a nice human being. Furthermore, to get a competitor to rejoice at her winning, Miss World shows that she has extraordinary charisma. There was the celebration by Aileen Bailey when her competitor in the race, Veronica Campbell, won the Olympic 200-metre race, but they are from the same country. This show of youth overexuberance by Miss Nigeria is indicative of the effect Singh has on others.

Singh is charitable. Most celebrities wait until they are financially strong and then establish a foundation to help the less fortunate. Singh is not waiting on riches to use her influence and her little, plus her tremendous star power to help others through her first recording.

The only other Jamaica who could contend for Personality of the Year is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won the gold medal at 100 metres in the World Championships after returning from the birth of her child. That made us feel good and was a remarkable feat by FraserPryce.

However, Miss World Toni-Ann Singh, with her consciousness, charisma and charitable deeds, is Personality of the Year.

Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. He is author of ‘The Cross and the Machete’, and ‘Rebellion to Riot’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.