The Tribune

By PAUL G TURNQUEST

Chief Reporter

pturnquest@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell paid tribute to Sir Sidney Poitier during a dinner in his honour at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Sir Sidney, who has represented the Bahamas as the country’s ambassador to Japan and the United Nations Education Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), was also presented with a plaque on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his outstanding service to the country.

“Every Bahamian grows up knowing of Sidney Poitier,” Mr Davis said. “Every Bahamian knows the greatness of the man, achieved over an extraordinary lifetime. And Americans and Bahamians can agree: Sidney Poitier is one of a kind.

“Cat Island is a beautiful, hilly island in the central Bahamas. I have the honour to represent Cat Island in our national Parliament. His Excellency, Sir Sidney Poitier grew up on Cat Island working on a farm – fishing and swimming in clear, calm waters while attending school.

“Although he later moved to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, and then to the United States, as a Cat Islander I like to think that his early years in this small, beautiful place were critical to his greatness.

“Although the road was often rough and the way never fully clear, Sir Sidney never wavered; he never gave up; he made his way, and in the process gave generations of people born in poverty in many countries far and wide, a path that they could follow.”

With a remarkable career in the motion picture industry, and having been the first black person to receive an Academy Award for Best Actor, Sir Sidney has served as the Bahamas’ Ambassador to Japan since 1997 and was awarded the United States’ Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama in 2009.

Mr Davis said: “Sir Sidney has enhanced the cultural life of his two states of citizenship – the United States of America and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. I don’t believe that there is a single person in Japan who doesn’t know about the Bahamas because of Sir Sidney’s gracious service to the Bahamas as our principal diplomatic presence over the years.

“To say that we Bahamians are extremely proud of Sidney Poitier is to understate the obvious. We recognise this great man as one of our finest sons. We are grateful that even after he achieved his extraordinary success, he never left us. We are so much better as a nation for his service and for his example. He taught so many of us to dream big, to reach for the stars.”