CATEGORY:SITUATION UPDATE -------------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA FRIDAY June 29,2007 by Nadia Bishop My name is Nadia Bishop. I am the daughter of the late Prime Minister of Grenada, Maurice Rupert Bishop. My mother Angela Bishop, and my brother John Bishop, support this statement (which builds on the statement published by my brother John Bishop last week). I was 14, and my brother was 16 years old on October 19, 1983, when my father’s execution was ordered by Bernard Coard and company. I will not go through every tear that was shed, or each dark cloud of social and psychological disruption that ravished our lives due to the early death of my father. I will not discuss the grief and remorse we experienced because my father was denied even the simple consolation of a respectful burial. In fact, my efforts to find my father’s remains are already well documented. My father was my best friend. The pain my family and I experienced need not be detailed to be understood. I understand that Bernard Coard and company’s lawyers are positioning their clients as the “victims” in this case by detailing their trauma upon hearing they were sentenced to death, among other things. I accede this title to them; they appear to have been victims of their insatiable desire for power. Maurice Bishop, however, was not a victim. His 20 years of service cannot be reduced to the last days of his life. Daddy was a visionary whose tremendous transforming love for Grenada, and Grenadians Galvanized reformation. He was a man I admired and respected greatly. Because of his dedication, he inspired me to believe in a transformative vision that could change the lives of an entire people. The power of his love for, and belief in Grenadians inspired them to believe in themselves, and in the great and luminous possibilities for our country. I am grateful to have lived with my father, and for all that he taught me. I am grateful to have seen his love for Grenada and been exposed to him as he actualized his vision. My Father lived as few people do, following his passion and bringing his dream to life. He lived a life of greatness and service to people of Grenada. Such a life was not that of a victim. I know this is not what I am supposed to say, I know I am supposed to describe all manner of pain, sorrow and loss so the court would feel in some measure the magnitude of the loss to me and my family. I cannot do that however. I choose not to focus on the last days of father’s life, but rather on his decades of passionate and dedicated service to Grenada, and his vision of all we could accomplish as a people. Even on his last day, his love was undiminished and he was more concerned about the safety of his beloved people that his own. This is the man I will remember. This is the greatness I will identify with, not a bullet ridden body, not a burnt body, not a body that lays in anonymity. Maurice Bishop taught me that love can make a difference in the world. His love made a difference in the lives of ordinary Grenadians who had never before had access to education, to health care, to a transformative vision for their lives. This legacy he has left his beloved Grenadians, not only in the form of social reforms, but as a beacon and a challenge to our youth. Yes, of course, we will have all wanted him around longer but let us chose to be grateful for his legacy, and let lesser contending lives remain as a warning that the light of a good man is better than that of several misguided ones. I trust this court will sentence Bernard Coard and company in alignment with justice, and cognizant of the lost sustained not only by the families of those who died, but by the people of Grenada.