1 •
The Third orld' f1 t uper­
t r, ploneerln
ob rley,
erie of orld ide celebration
. of his life nd rt culmln tin In
In ton y 11, t e t nth n-
nive ary of hi untim ly de th
. at 36 from cancer.
arley ined Intern lion 1
fame hile still pe in for the
people of hi Jamaican
bomeland.
"Bob co idered him elf a
mellen er lth ml sion,"
evllle Garrick, former Ii btin
director for arley's roup, The
. W Hers, recently told Reute .
"I think what m de Bob 0
popular a th t he was able to
speak for all oppressed people
unive ally. He n't educ ted
formally, 0 he ouldn't get 10 t
in semantic ."
G rric , who i now a direc­
tor of the Bob Marley Found -
tion, aId the May 11 celebration
in J maicas capl! I city f'ea­
tured mu ician cto ely
lociated with M rley, dance
groups and other in er and
bands ho interpreted bls break
through mu ic.
Otber event commemorating
Marley's life included a
tclevi ion documentary called
"Time Will Tell," m jor com­
pact disc box et of hi wor to
be retea ed later thi year, and a
photo exhibition which traveled
from Pari to London and then
opened May 11 in New York.
E rlter this year,
..
Tuff/Gon /1 1 nd ecord
rele ed 'Talkin Blue,' com­
pact di c cont ining previo ly
unrele ed on recorded in
San Fr nci co when Marley and
the Wiler fir t toured the
United St ie .
On that vi it, M rley nd the
Wailer were opening for Sly
nd the F mily Stone ben they
ere abruptly dropped from the
tour in La Veg . It eem they
had been getting better reviews
th n the headline ct.
Without a tour, the group had
only one remaining commitment
in the U.S. - to play at the
Matrix in San Fr ncisco where
KSAN-FM r dio h d been
heavily playing their mo t
recent lbum. The two how
old out and two added how
also drew full crowd '.
The M trix show would later
be reg rded s among M rley
and the Wailers' finest live per­
formances ever. 'Talkin Blues'
fe ture cut from a tudlo
recording e ion the day after
the final Matrix show.
Interspersed between s�n.l
John Wh,i
I
•
.:
io
John Wblte
By CarolYD Warfield
Art$ Corresltlndent
"One day a Winston-Salem
5th grade teacher, said I was
slow academically and could
only expect to be a garbage
man."
"My father consoled me after
telling him her words. Never let
another et your course. You are
the motivator of your dream and
Marley. e tate
up for grab
By LIla COW
Ten years after Bob Marley's
death, key parties are till lock­
. ed in battle over control of his
. estate. It was back in 1989, that
the Jamaican Court of Appeal
approved a bid by I land
Record to acquire the estate '.
auets for $8.2 million. But it
appears the deal wa never final­
Ized. Several attemp have been
made to come to terms with the
Marley heirs, but were unsuc-'
ee ful. It appears that the is­
luel iIl�e etUed in an "a ets
.. Ie". �
no on else can set your heights.
FI y above the dark clouds and
keep in flight," his father said.
. Inspired by his father, John
White's flight has taken him to
heights the entire world has ac­
knowledged.
The list of award adds up to
over 200.
A veteran who approaches his
work with gratitude and en­
thusia m, White is a photojour­
nalist with the Chicago Sun
Times.
"My father used. to tell me and
my brother about good, best and .
better. Never let them rest until
your good is better and your bet-
ter best, he would say," White
slates.
"Over the years the snap of
my shutter has captured people'.
humanism wherever I find it,"
Whi te continued.
THE NATIO AL ESS
Photographer A soclauon
presented him The Joseph A.
Spregue Memorial � .rd for a
career of commitment and
leader hip .
COl ann unc­
in ob rley Day on the
m lclan' irthd y, February 6,
Prime Mini ter lch el M nley
called the I te mu lcl n "one of
the reate t men ho h sever
al ed the f ce of the e rth."
The ceremonle ic ed off
three d y of celebr tion in
Kin ton th t included perfor­
m nee by m ny of M rley'
children including Zi y M r­
ley and the Melody Makcr« and
reunion of the I-Three ,fe tur­
in Rita M rley, Judy Mo att
'and Marci Griffith.
In ddition, the J maica
Touri t Board i using M rley's
Ion "One Love" s the theme of
its advertising campaign thi
year. It focu e on J maica a
more than beache and un­
.Jh t it ha a vibrant culture a
ell. .
In his det iled biography of
Bob Marley, Catch A Fire,
author Timothy White illu trate
Marley' di tlnctlve bond with
the people of J maica by analyz­
ing the lyric to one of hi songs:
"The reference to dried ker­
nel being to ed to chickens in
the' ong 'Who the Cap Fit' are
incomprehen ible to the average
non-Jamaican listener, who is
un ware that the c ntral phrase
In f982 , his portfclio of fea­
ture photography captured a
Pulitizer ..
Five times he wa named
Photographer of the Year.
Whi te accompanied the Rev.
Jes ie Jackson to Africa the
winter of 1990, just before Nel­
son Mandela's historical prison
release.
Mandela greeting the world
won White the 1991 National
Press Photography Award.
Intimate sequences of Man­
dela at home laughing and talk­
ing with friends and the children
are superior photographs.
Scene of South African
town hips highlight· harsh and
gentle glances of apartheid's
caste.
In October, 1990 White went
to Moscow to participate in the
fi�st Soviet-American
Photojoumali ts Conference.
Faces from Whi te 's vas t
portfolio fea ture a homeless ci ty
InTvillsl , a US�R Republic,
Pope John Paul II' visit to
Mexico, scenes from the south­
side o'f Chicago; a 103 year-Old
boxer celebrating his birthday.
Photographs of Mother Tre sa
won White first place in the Na­
tional Headliners Competition.
The Champ's (Mohammed Ali)
religious training ritual. "Pray
for strong eyes, Mr. Cameraman,
so you might see better," Ali told
him.
ASIDE FROM the daily
demand of being on a ignment,
'White fi-nds time to exhibit and
teach.
He is Head of the Photojour­
nalism Department at Columbia
College, wbere he began teach­
ing in 1978, the year tenure
began with the Sun Times.
Whi te doe vol unteer photog­
raphy cIa sea for communhy
youth at the South Side Art Cen­
ter.
"I tell them to keep their
drea�s in focus and make every
day count for something," he
aid.
Recently, White exhibited
"My People: A Portrait of Afro­
American CuUure" at The Rock­
feller Center in ew York.
is actually a rural proverb. It
evoke the image of a farmer
silently scattering feed who is
aying, in effect: 'Don't call
yourself a chicken just because
you' �a t my feed; I never said I
was endeavoring to feed chick­
ens.' That is, 'You are who you
how yourself to be, not who
you might say you are.'
The fact the people around
the world revered Marley'
mu lc even though they couldn't
always understand the mes �ge
Bob M rley
enhanced hi appear to
Jamaicans all the more, White
wrote. Jamaican had a private
understanding of Marley - they
knew it and they loved it.
In death, Marley's stature has
grown from cultural leader to in­
ternational legend. White ex­
plains in Catch of Fire:
"Hi torically certain figure
sometime emerge ... lo
reinterpret old ymbol and in­
ve t them with new meaning. An
i nd ivid ual' deci ion to play
such a role may be purely uneon­
sciou , but it may evolve into an
acute w rene that he may, in­
deed have the gift/burden of
prophecy." :
"For Jamaican , nd ultimate­
ly for much of the Third WoIld,
Bob Marley w I such a mes­
sianic figure. He w frightened
by the responsibility, he Id,
but he had decided to alumt it.
By and by,' he explained, ",Jah
show every mom him hand, and
Jah ha show I mine.''' I