‘Giving back is in my DNA’ | Old Harbour Bay native Prof. Dexter B Gordon honoured by St Catherine municipality award

One such man is Professor Dexter Gordon who was thrusted into the spotlight recently when he was honoured for his decades’ worth of hard work in the Old Harbour Bay community and surrounding areas. This son of the soil who now resides in the United States was on National Heroes Day, lauded for his role in community development. The St. Catherine Municipal Corporation honoured Gordon at their annual Heroes Day award ceremony for being a true hero, one who works tirelessly, often without his cape.

Author, researcher and philanthropist, Dexter Barrington Gordon grew up in Old Harbour Bay and knows firsthand the struggles of families who live below the poverty lines as well as others who are only a pay cheque away from becoming another statistic. Now a distinguished professor at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington where he teaches African American studies, Professor Gordon has received many accolades over the years including the Dr. Martin Luther King Award for advocacy for racial equality and the elimination of discrimination against people of colour.

The St. Jago High and Jamaica Theological Seminary graduate has always been active in the community from his days as a youth, serving both the Old Harbour Bay Church and Old Harbour Bay Youth for Christ. His humanitarian spirit has always shone bright and goes back all the way to the 1980s when after Hurricane Gilbert he managed to secure housing assistance from persons living in Michigan. Rallying a strong troop of like-minded helpers, he introduced some 150 Americans to the island who brought building materials to assist in the rebuilding process. They along with many church members and residents were able to construct 25 homes which is an incredible feat. After Hurricane Ivan in 2004, he again organized much-needed supplies to those in need, and if this was not enough, he recently secured the resources for a computer lab at the Old Harbour Bay Community Centre.

His recent recognition on Heroes Day saw many of those whose lives he positively impacted turn out to pay tribute to him in a manner that touched him and further inspired this already humble servant of the people.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that the people from my community did this because I had no knowledge of it,” he said in an interview with Old Harbour News. “The recognition is nice but it’s the people from Old Harbour Bay who initiated it that make it so special. I understand that some 20-plus people signed off on it, some of them people I have not seen in many, many years so for them to take the initiative to do this is really heartwarming for me.”

As Professor Gordon explained it, being of service is second nature to him as that was the blueprint he saw around him as a child.

“I try to live my life the way I saw my parents live theirs which is fully integrated into all facets of the community,” he said. “Giving back is important because that is the best way to build communities. If we each take ownership and each make sure that our community is safe we will foster that much needed sense of pride and belonging. I’m a really strong believer in that.”

He added: “You see I come from a family of 16 children and I don’t think there ever was a time when my parents were not bringing home someone or some child who was facing destitution. My mother would always say ‘I will take you’ or my father would go fishing with a man and eventually would take in his children.”

Indeed his parents’ hearts as well as their home was always wide open to anyone seeking comfort, assistance, shelter or maybe just a meal.

He continued: “My aunt’s family size mirrored ours so when my parents had 11 kids, she too had 11 children and when she migrated, half of her children came to live with us. So our household was always a community space with people coming and going. There was an old man who lived in the house behind ours who was wheelchair bound and we all took turns pushing him around and attending to him.”

That sense of family coupled with the need to be resourceful was fostered early as he observed how his parents helped others to gain their own independence and economic footing from humble beginnings that over time facilitated several persons becoming entrepreneurs and homeowners in their own right, an achievement many would not have probably contemplated in their wildest dreams.

“My mother was the banker for the ‘Pardna’ and the women would come to her to sort out their money and that is how many of them built their homes. Then you have my father who was a strong and dedicated union delegate for the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union who used to tell the men to give him their household money to keep before they went to the bar. That is the kind of legacy I grew up on so helping people to help themselves is I guess a part of my DNA,” said Professor Gordon from his home in the United States.

It would be easier to help people and to help Jamaica live up to its full and wholesome potential, he shared, if we could tame the beast called crime that has been wreaking havoc on this nation unchecked for decades.

“I’ve made this argument for a long time: the day we bring crime under some reasonable control is the day we nuh have space to hold all the people who would flock to Jamaica. So many Jamaicans over 40 think about living back here but they cross it off because of the crime situation and I can’t say I blame them.  I grew up in the 60s and 70s and I’ve heard the term ‘restructuring’ often enough to know that the economic disparities have to be a part of what we attempt to fix to tackle issues of fairness, justice and people just feeling that they have a stake in the island so they will protect it and not break it down,” he said.

“In 2004 I remember calling the Old Harbour Bay diaspora after Hurricane Ivan. The storm had hit Jamaica from the south so Old Harbour Bay was severely damaged. We walked through the entire area, going to each and every house and later I said that the only two things growing in Old Harbour Bay were the population and poverty which is a recipe for disaster. We have to put our hands and hearts together to build Jamaica or decide if it is too forgone. That’s what I put to them.”

He therefore thinks that a feasible solution to many societal challenges is to get back to basics and build stronger and more resilient communities with each person playing their part and not expecting others to do the job for them.

“Communities will have to get together and decide to not only hold their political representatives accountable but also themselves,” he contends.
Currently, Professor Gordon is working in conjunction with his fellow organisers to deliver a stellar series of events for the upcoming homecoming festivities in Old Harbour Bay set for the yuletide season.

Detailing some of the plans ahead, professor Gordon said: “For some time now I have proposed that one of the ways to keep our communities thriving is to keep the legacy of our gatekeepers and stalwarts alive so there are individuals who we will be giving community recognition. We will pitch a tent and have an evening of nostalgia wherein we will honour Enid Campbell, long time principal of Old Harbour Bay Primary; Phyllis Jennings, now deceased, who was a powerful educator at the primary level as well as Lilieth ‘Patti’ Myton who is a cultural icon in the community. Let’s just say she is like the Louise Bennett of Old Harbour Bay as she was the artistic performer and creative organiser in the culture club who taught many young people how to creatively express themselves. These people took on the incredible task of enabling and educating the first generation of independent Jamaica which is huge. Even though we may laugh now about some of what transpires in Jamaica back then when we became independent there was no blueprint as to what we were going to be. It is these people that took our African retention and helped to shape us going forward. They committed their entire life to empower us, amidst all the various challenges and these stalwarts will be honoured during the homecoming period which runs from December 17 to January 3.

“When we gather these people, we want to have a tour of the skills training centre where we facilitate nursing and barbering and the honing and learning of several other skill sets. We want persons who can see the active effort that exists to give our young people the options that they need to have in order to instill hope for a better future because Jamaica is our little piece of paradise and we’re not giving up on it.”