July 29, 1996
VICTORY FOR OUR DIVERSITY
By CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD
Toronto Sun
ATLANTA -- Jamaica is the place where Donovan Bailey was born and was a boy, and he has a boy's memory of the endless and brilliant summer that is the legacy of a safe, loving and reasonably happy childhood.
"Nature," the world's fastest man said yesterday when asked what Jamaica means to him.
"Peace." He paused a moment. "Easy living." He smiled. "I grew up in the country. Fresh water, fresh food," long days spent with his dad, George, and beloved mother, Daisy, who taught him to be independent and remains "the biggest influence" on his life.
Canada is where he arrived at the age of 13, where he went to high school, made lifelong friends, many of whom are with him here in Atlanta, grew into a man and became, first, a business success with his own import-export firm, then a world-class athlete.
"I'm Jamaican-born," he said in answer to a pointed question from a Canadian reporter. "I am also a Canadian citizen. There's no way I'm going to choose between what country I won the medal for."
This is a topic which mystifies Americans, of whom it can usually be said that, no matter their birthplace, are always Americans first. As one U.S. reporter said to Bailey yesterday, "Why are you always being asked about this Jamaica-Canada stuff? I never hear any other athletes being asked this kind of thing." Bailey easily told him it was probably a result of comments attributed to him in a controversial Sports Illustrated story published just before the Games started, remarks he has adamantly and consistently denied.
But that isn't, in fact, the whole truth.
There's something else at work here, and what it is is the long-time policy in Canada which promotes multiculturalism as a national ideal. From the federal government, which discourages racism in advertising campaigns, to the Toronto school board, which offers heritage-language classes so children of immigrants can be schooled in their first cultures, Canada has for decades actively encouraged its citizens to treasure their ethnicity and told them they need not abandon one identity upon taking on a new one.
Bailey is both a product of this somewhat arbitrary, state-endorsed notion, in full flight when he was in school, and its best advertisement: It is difficult to imagine how two such diverse cultures could more gracefully co-exist than they do in this 28-year-old man. Who could ever object to multi-cult if it always worked as well as it does in Bailey?
The irony is that many Canadians would, and always have, and do object, even to Bailey's decidedly mild remarks on this subject.
When, at his victory press conference the other night, he was asked by a Caribbean reporter about his Jamaican roots, he replied, in his usual direct and mannerly way, that of course he was proud of his heritage. He was equally quick to elaborate. "I'm a Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter." What could be simpler? But later, in the Canadian press corps, there were murmured grumblings that Bailey had not seized the moment to pronounce himself, first and foremost, a Canuck.
This is the mixed message we so often send the newer of our fellow citizens.
It goes like this: "Yeah, yeah, sure you can hang onto your heritage, as long as you do it quietly. And don't ever throw it back to us." In other words, a good many Canadian-born Canadians take great offence when those who come to our country take it to heart when we tell them we don't expect patriotism from them, only perhaps a measure of gratitude.
Bailey, in my view correctly, is not going to play the game this way.
For one thing, he is clearly aware of the widespread perception in Toronto that the Jamaican-Canadian community is a troubled one, rife with out-of-control young men who are often in conflict with the police, and feels a responsibility to do what he can to counteract that. As he told reporters yesterday, "There's a lot of stuff written about Jamaicans, negative things, so when I get a chance to tell people some positive things, I do. There are lots of guys taking care of their kids, working."
In fact, Bailey and the other Canadian sprinters have put into practice the ethic that in our differences, there can be new strength.
Bailey and Robert Esmie are from Jamaica. Bruny Surin was born in Haiti, Carlton Chambers in Canada. Glenroy Gilbert is originally from Trinidad. Together, they have formed a sprint team that is unusual for its cohesiveness and selflessness.
The fastest man in the world is also one of the nicest.
He is generous in his praise for friends and running mates, and with his time. He dedicated his gold medal race to his uncle Keith Ashley, who died of pancreatic cancer the night before Bailey's race. Bailey's family had kept the news from him until after he had run. He is obviously adored by his coach, that careful and discerning American, Dan Pfaff, who detailed for the press Bailey's shortcomings yesterday (he's late, regards running any distance greater than 200 metres as punishment, thrives on chaos, disappears at inopportune moments, enjoys sleeping too much, and is a terrible dominos player) and then admitted the truth, that "he's one of my best friends, and he's a great dad" to his little girl, Adriana.
"He wears clothes loosely," said Pfaff, "he wears life loosely."
One of the last things Donovan Bailey said yesterday, quite spontaneously, was that he can't ever imagine living anywhere else but Canada and Jamaica. That is our national dream; we gave it to him. He ought not, I think, to be resented for believing we meant what we said.
