May 11, 2009
Today In Jamaica’s News History – Hugh Shearer Rallies Jamaicans
May 11, 1967 – Prime Minister Hugh Shearer calls on Jamaicans to exercise “self-respect, alertness, courage and self-discipline to tackle the problems and challenges of the nation.” Shearer says that as Prime Minister, there are three alternatives facing the country. The first is to stop and stagnate, the second is to go on bended knees to a foreign country and beg, and the third is to face the challenges and tackle our problems with discipline.
“I do not propose to resort to the first; I cannot be and will not be Prime Minister under these circumstances. I also do not intend to go hat in hand with the problems of my Jamaican people to some other country to beg grants and handouts for Jamaica. I will never be Prime Minister under these circumstances. Somebody else, not me. I will instead succeed or fail on the third, which is to rely on the self-respect, the alertness, the courage, and the self-discipline of my own people to tackle the problems and the challenges of our nation.”
Source: Gleaner Newspaper Archives