Rihanna A Caribbean World Icon

                                                                              The Caribbean Is One Nation.

Rihanna used the moment to recall her youth. "Thank you so much," she said. Turning her direction to her mother, she continued, "I'll start by saying just about 20 years ago is when I really started making your life a living hell with my 'annoying little husky man voice,' you'd call it. And I mean just disrupting the entire neighborhood. . . I annoyed every one of my neighbors."

We have had reason to comment on the illustrious mega star Rihanna before and we are happy, that on this occasion, our comment is to congratulate her on receiving the American Music Awards, Icon Award. Any objective observer would agree that she deserves such an honor. We at Mahogany Coconut do not hide our ecstasy when young ,gifted Caribbean Nation citizens stamp their names on the                                                                    international page.

The new Caribbean nation cannot move forward without the excellence of a Brian Lara or a Rihanna. We note that there are also Caribbean Nation citizens who are making excellent contributions to the academic world.  Unfortunately, they are away from the cameras ,and their worth is sometimes not known outside distinguished academic circles. The region is the poorer for this relative obscurity.

Our writers and athletes have already brought great glory to our region. We have given the world calypso and the first million seller recording by Harry Belafonte. Many world renowned citizens have firm Caribbean roots: Colin Powell comes to mind. We now have a woman of Caribbean heritage,Chirlane McCray,  soon to inhabit the Governor’s mansion in New York, who does not hide her Caribbean roots; she is the wife of mayor elect Bill Blasio.Nobel Laureate Sir Arthur Lewis stands out as one of our most celebrated intellectuals/economists. Into to this Caribbean pool of talent we have Mr. Slinger Francisco,(the Mighty Sparrow) whose work has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institute.  Of course we gave the world Sir Garfield Sobers and the Steel drum.How can we forget Bob Marley.And we cannot forget the brilliance of a Walter Rodney, Lloyd Best or Dr.Eric Williams. We are forever indebted to Marcus Garvey. Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and Kamua Brathwaite.
Our women have made remarkable strides in the last half century: Dame Eugenia Charles, Portia Simpson -Miller; Kamla Persad -Bissenssar; Dame Nita Barrow .Our women cricketers are doing better than the our "boys" !We at the MCG, may not always agree and ocassionally are critical of our icons, but we are never disrespectful of their achievements, effort  and drive.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty therefore joins a group of Caribbean Nation icons and over achievers ;we note her humility and her undying connection to her homeland , neighbourhood ,family and friends.  We salute  and honor her supportive Mom, Monica Fenty, who had the privilege of presenting her daughter with this mighty award.

In recent times, throughout the Caribbean, we at the Mahogany Coconut Group (MCG) have been in the forefront of calling for violence against our women, children and elderly to cease. We therefore thank these two excellent representatives of all Caribbean women for a positive ,uplifting pause.

We say to  thanks to Rihanna and to her Mom, a sincere thank you, of the same weight and import.

Well done!