Members of Parliament, headed by acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, turned out yesterday to say farewell to Dr Don Blackman, the former educator, politician and parliamentarian who was described as “perhaps the greatest leader that Barbados never had”.
Former Prime Ministers Sir Lloyd Sandiford and Freundel Stuart were at the official funeral at the chapel of Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens, where eulogist Dr Aubrey Armstrong regaled the congregation with stories about the life and exploits of Blackman, who died in Florida on February 8, at age 86.
Armstrong, a lifelong friend, told those present and others following the live-streamed service in “Angola, Guyana, Texas, the Caribbean, the United States” and other parts of the world where Blackman’s advocacy was known, about the diverse endeavours of a man he described as “one of the greatest Barbadian politicians in the post-war era”.
Blackman was a Pan Africanist who subscribed to the ideals of the Black Power Movement in the United States. He was also influenced by the local trade union movement, as well as by Barbadian political stalwarts such as the late Errol Barrow, Armstrong said. (GC)
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