Enrico Stennett (9th October 1926- 7th July 2011) was born in a village in Jamaica named Maroon Town. Enrico Stennett arrived in the UK in 1947, at the age of 19, where within months he became a member of the League of Coloured People.
Tribute to Enrico Stennett
Enrico was born into a system and a community severely divided and stratified by skin, colour, race, class and culture, a system which still exists to this day in various ways and to which Enrico had dedicated his life to change.
Before reaching his teenage years he had experienced racism, hostility and suffering as a mixed race child. Race, racism, power and prejudice surrounded him from birth and subsequently determined his adult life and involvement to free people from exploitation, suffering and degradation.
For Enrico racism and the establishment of white supremacy supported by the Crown the Christian Church the Feudalists Landowners, the Imperialists, the Colonists and Capitalists has always been part and parcel of the white race to justify their enslavement, domination, exploitation and destruction of non-white people around the world. Slavery, Imperialism, Colonialism, Capitalism, and its related exploitation and destruction of tens of millions of black lives in Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, New-Zealand and the Caribbean and elsewhere by Europeans cannot and should never be forgotten for generations to come by black and white.
Throughout his working life Enrico was conscious that although slavery was legally abolished towards the latter part of the 19th century many aspects of the ideology and practice associated with white superiority still existed within the socio-economic, culture, political and institutional structures in Europe and America.
Enricos experience in Jamaica and especially in London made him the person he was. Even though he had completed his three scores and ten, he has never been a bitter or angry man, but a very thoughtful, considerate, determined and committed person to the working class in Britain and the world.
His experience and commitment to fairness and justice should have made him a famous charismatic and lively Politician or Trade Union Leader, but the envy and petty mindedness amongst some of the political, Trade Union and Community Leaders deprived him of the influence and power he deserved. He was trying to change our society for the betterment of everyone, black and white.
Enrico Stennett was a great man, a true Jamaican hero and Ambassador. His talents and charm helped him dance his way through life’s journey, as a business man, activist, friend, father and husband. He was more than a mentor; he was a solid force that still reminds us of the Jamaican dream that must still be worked for.
– A tribute From Enrico Stennett’s Friends and Family.
Click here for other articles by Enrico Stennett
The Land Caught in a Time Warp
More water at No6
Trains that Lead to Nowhere
The Pen is Mightier Than The Sword
I Was Forced to Sleep in Bombed Houses
Paramount Dancehall
British Empire
Voice from the Dead
Black Youth in the U.K Today
Are the Spirits of Adolph Hitler, Mussolini, and Oswald Moseley still with us Today?
The Birth of Fear in Jamaica
Will There Ever be a World Where We are Colour Blind?
How Britain and America Helped to Destroy the Island of Jamaica
How The Conservative Party Destroyed Britain
African Voice 1954
Speakers Corner