Tribute to Lloyd Best
Listening to the Youth
Natalia Kanem

I've learned a great deal about how to engage young people from Prof. Lloyd Best simply by observing the man in action.  We first met in New York during the tumultuous 1970s when he gave a number public lectures about Caribbean politics at various universities.  As graduate students of different nationalities coming from diverse fields, we flocked to hear Lloyd Best.  He didn’t shy away from the debate of ideas no matter the difficulty, yet was far less strident and formulaic on the podium than most of his contemporaries.  He always seemed to maintain a spirit of openness and curiosity towards other points of view (however erroneous, from his perspective).

We became better acquainted under the auspices of The Ford Foundation, which had the honor of partially supporting the publication of the introductory volume to the multi-volume series cataloguing his life’s work on plantation economy.  Lloyd was among the keynote speakers at  Dr. Damien Pwono's groundbreaking convening held in Port of Spain in June 2000, where the term cultural entrepreneurship was coined.  Eloquent as ever on that occasion, he proclaimed the importance of using culture not as a static paeon to tradition, but as a living tool to help Caribbean youth authentically shape an evolving identity.  Later, as we collaborated on his chapter in the forthcoming book titled “Calypso and Social Justice,” I was struck by his animated recollection (complete with energetic gestures of re-enactment) of the escapades of his salad days which played out against a backdrop of university politics punctuated by cricket and calypso.

I’ve observed Lloyd with young scholars at UWI and with the students who come annually from Trinity College in Connecticut to learn from him.  I’ve noticed that he doesn’t overpower them with the force of his singular intellect.  I see the respectful attention with which he listens to them, even as he corrects some misperception or the other.  I’m aware that he fully endorsed his daughter's decision at a very young age to turn to the alternative of home-schooling, seeing it as a normal and natural part of her self-determination.  And I enjoy seeing his fascination with the things that today's kids are pioneering -- whether hip hop or blogs or skateboards.  He is interested in their efforts and regards them with far less condemnation than many of us. 

Now that I am involved in building a new philanthropic venture that aims to help inspire, nurture and protect Africa’s children and youth, I too aspire to pay close attention to young people and to take their dreams and expressions seriously.  Knowing Lloyd’s long and illustrious experience as a United Nations diplomat in Africa, and knowing his commitment to assisting young people to use their own imagination and intellectual power to solve the staggering problems their generation is confronting, he was among those I consulted as we began.  I asked for ideas about what the foundations should prioritize as we develop a strategy to strengthen self-sufficiency of children and youth in Africa and their families and communities.

Lloyd’s words of advice?  “If young people are involved, you can’t avoid starting with music.  That is their common currency and there is great potential in drawing upon the artists who are already there.  Experiment with that and see.  It mightn’t work, but one has to try.”  It’s all there:  the spirit of curiosity and perseverance, a relish for social inquiry and experimentation, and a trust and recognition of the value of meeting young people ‘where they are’ instead of where one wishes they might be.

The African proverb says:  Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth (Yoruba).  How rare the elder who while occupying an exalted seat, still leans in, bending an ear to those much younger.