Carolyn Cooper | A monument to slavery in Emancipation Park?

My column, “Emancipation Park monument a naked disgrace,” published three Sundays ago, provoked a combative response from Hope Brooks. She’s a retired vice principal of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Incidentally, I think it was a mistake to clap Edna Manley’s name on the former Jamaica School of Art. According to Wikipedia, in 1995, the School was renamed “to commemorate her life; enduring legacy; and impact on Jamaican art, Caribbean Art and the art world as [a] whole. The renaming of the institution was part of its reclassification as a tertiary institution.”

The College comprises six Schools: Visual Art; Dance; Drama; Music; Arts Management; and Continuing Education and Allied Programmes. Why brand the entire College with the name of a single woman? Perhaps, the name could be reviewed next year, on the 30th anniversary of the college becoming a tertiary institution. But that’s another contentious story.

The headline of Brooks’ article, published last Sunday, is “Redemption Song is not a naked disgrace.” There was some controversy about the unauthorised use of the title of Bob Marley’s song for the name of the monument. Based on checks with the management of Emancipation Park, I’ve confirmed that:

1. There was a concern expressed by the Bob Marley Foundation. The Park had initially placed the term ‘none but ourselves can free our minds’ on the base of the dome of the monument. After these concerns were raised, the words were erased.

2. There is no patent on the term ‘Redemption Song’.

The monument still bears its original name. Marley’s words were copied from Marcus Garvey. The Bob Marley Foundation could not, reasonably, have claimed entitlement. Garvey actually said, “none but ourselves can free the mind.” Garvey’s “the” is more subtle than Marley’s “our.” Freedom of the mind encompasses far more than our own liberation.

A GOOD LAUGH

In the first sentence of her article, Brooks asserted that “Dr Carolyn Cooper does not like Laura Facey’s Emancipation Park monument titled Redemption Song.” This is not entirely true. I don’t particularly dislike the monument as an expression of Laura Facey’s distinctive vision of black bodies. My objection is to the judges’ selection of Facey’s design as an appropriate representation of Emancipation from slavery.

Brooks claimed: “I have no problem with her not liking it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.” But, it’s obvious that she did have a problem. She actually reprimanded me: “I do think she should desist from writing these pejorative articles against the monument as many will believe her because of who she is. Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development.”

I had a good laugh. Brooks is, obviously, unaware of my many detractors who have absolutely no regard for my academic qualifications. And rightly so! There were 30 responses to my column about the monument on The Gleaner’s website, most of which were negative. Mark Chue’s is a classic: “More Racialism, black, white, slavery, oppression ..... lawd!!!! Grievance peddling appears to be a form of addiction for some people. As for the edifice (a stupendous and marvelous work), art is really about expression not literal interpretation. I give thanks that it is a male and a female and not two males.”

‘NEGRO AROUSED’

Brooks raised the seemingly irrelevant issue of Edna Manley’s sculpture, ‘Negro Aroused.’ She mused: “I wonder if Cooper has ever taken a look at Edna Manley’s internationally famous sculpture Negro Aroused.” I have taken a very good look. It looks like a gorilla. Edna Manley herself revealed the challenge she faced in making the work in an interview with Sculpture Review:

“Negro Aroused . . . was trying to create a national vision, and it nearly killed me, it was trying to put something into being that was bigger than myself and almost other than myself.” As a mixed-race woman, Edna Manley realised that the negro she was attempting to arouse was “almost other.” She could have deleted ‘almost.’ Brooks falsely claimed that, in my column, I “suggest that skin colour or social class disqualifies a person from understanding black or any culture.” I did not. Like Manley, I recognised how difficult it can be to speak on behalf of others.

Brooks struggled to justify the selection of ‘Redemption Song.’ It’s great by association. But she reversed the order of influence: “Negro Aroused exhibits many of the same sculptural conventions that the Emancipation Monument does. The same naked figure, the same upward-facing head, the same partially amputated thighs, the figure likewise motionless and the arms peacefully clasped. I wonder if Cooper also considers Negro Aroused a perverse representation or one of impotence!?” I most certainly do. But it’s not an official monument to Emancipation.

THAT BRUTAL INSTITUTION

The “Design Brief” for the Emancipation Park monument established these requirements:

“1. be monumental in concept

2. visually reflect the concept and meaning of Emancipation

3. be self-explanatory from a Jamaican view-point

4. should integrate into the overall Park Design”

‘Redemption Song’ fails to meet the second requirement. It can quite reasonably be interpreted as a monument to slavery. One of the terrible aspects of that brutal institution was the maiming of black bodies – the cutting off of the feet of runaways, the chopping off of hands and fingers. The monument also fails to meet the third requirement. On what basis was it decided that the winning design was “self-explanatory” to Jamaicans? The public was not even invited to review entries.

Brooks falsely claimed that, “There is no ‘image’ of emancipation or freedom ....” The Caribbean photo archive actually documents black Jamaicans fully clothed at Emancipation in 1838: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caribbeanphotoarchive/4820734079

An essential element of emancipation from mental slavery is the capacity to fearlessly tell the truth about your history. As Garvey put it, “Mind is your only ruler, sovereign.”

P.S. I’m taking my annual break from writing for the month of September.

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com