My heart is heavy. The eldest leader of my family passed away at a hospital in NYC after battling the #coronavirus for just three short days. He was my favorite uncle. My family has lost a dynamic, diplomatic soul who loved us all...just because. This thread is in his honor.
My uncle is the reason all my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings are in the US. He left Jamaica in the early 70s but never forgot us. My siblings and I have pledged that we will never forget him and will keep his legacy strong by telling stories of our time with him.
His story was an #immigrantstory. Even before he became a US citizen, he submitted immigration applications for his siblings and their children. He drove trucks all across the NY tri-state area delivering food and saving his money to send back home.
He took on the role of surrogate father for all my cousins whose fathers died or deserted them. He loved us all dearly. He loved the dance floor, even at 78 years of age. He taught me and my cousins what it means to cut a rug and mash up the dance floor. He was a real #yardie
He travelled far to attend my engagement party, my wedding and my college graduation. Right after my graduation, I gave him a copy of my bachelor’s degree and a plaque to honor him. When I completed my PhD, I did the same thing. I needed him to know that my success was also his.
He spoke at family events with unparalleled pride and grace. He never completed high school, but he read scores of books on social history and developed a remarkable eloquence that left me and my cousins with high school diplomas wanting more(and better) from our schools
He loved people and people loved him. Walking with him in Brooklyn,the Bronx or Jamaica, I often felt like I was walking with someone famous. He was just so savvy and so smooth. He taught me that if you value people, then you must value relationships—and learning people’s names!
He was especially fond of naming and honoring the elders of our family. He weeped when they died. He was never afraid to bend his 6-foot-two frame to cry openly for the elders who left us too soon. Forgive me, then, if I am not afraid to cry for him now. He deserves my tears.
In a time when life insurance—or any insurance for that matter—was unheard of to my family in rural 🇯🇲, my uncle covered all the funeral expenses for the children and elders in our family. He didn’t just send money. He showed up to every funeral to ‘send them off right’.
I am deeply saddened by the fact that my uncle passed away due to #coronavirus. Tears are not enough in this moment. It breaks my heart though that we won’t be able to ‘send him off right.’ What he did for so many elders, we just can’t do for him because of #COVID19.
He wanted to be buried in Jamaica. Not possible now. He wanted a large funeral. Not possible now. He wanted a grand ninth-night and repass celebration. Not possible now. All the funeral rites and rituals we would usually have for an elder are not possible now.
The only measure of consolation I can find in this moment is the profound fact he loved us and he knew we loved him too.
We showed him a measure of this love before he left us. Two years ago, my relatives and I gathered around his hospital bed in 2018 to celebrate his birthday. We sang for him. He clapped for us when we were through. His work here on earth is through and now we clap for him too.
