A Hero’s Welcome at Vigil Turned Celebration

To the cynical, the events of Thursday and indeed this entire week seem to have played out like the most sugary movie script this side of the Hallmark Channel or maybe Lifetime. And the old adage still holds true that something too good to be true usually is. But for others, to hold that view oversimplifies just how much Kelvin Usher’s return meant to the hundreds of young people gathered at the Battlefield Park on Thursday evening. Their thunderous, overjoyed welcome seemed for a moment to overwhelm and awe the man of the moment himself. The seventeen-year-old recovered enough to deliver a speech of thanks – and a call for unity. It is a call echoed by many in attendance, as Aaron Humes reports.

Aaron Humes, Reporting

After four days on the run, the glare of media cameras seemed to overwhelm young Kelvin Usher as he received a welcome akin to musical or sporting royalty. On this day, he was the hero – returned against all odds. And like most heroes, he found something timely and passionate to say.

Kelvin Usher, Reunited with His Family

“I would like to say thank you to everybody. Everybody who mi di look out fu me, who went out deh and search fu me, I neva mi know people mi love me like this [crowd cheers]. I love all of uno, I mi a do di same thing fu all of uno. Just give thanks. Thank God fu mek I come out of the bush. I gone through a lot, for real. I gone through a lot. This mek I really happy you know. So much people come together like this for one person. It’s amazing. Da so uno could be man. Da so we fu be man. No fu be angry and violent and thing. Loving, unity. Give thanks, done know.”

Police ringed the Battlefield Park, but for the most part they were ignored, props to the dramatic centerpiece of this idyll of thanksgiving and emotion. Kelvin’s dad, Cameron Usher also known as Ras Ruben, also gave thanks for that unity. He says that, more than anything else helped his son come home – and moved the authorities to finally step in.

Cameron Usher Sr.

Cameron Usher Sr., Father

“I have to thank all of my bredda, all, all. Because fi dehn strength mek all ah dehn get frighten, scare them the most, because they see everybody weh di war with one another right now come together as one entity, with one heart and one soul and cohn find my son. And that strength found my son because my son used that as hope and faith and come out of the bush with all he went through. So we have to give thanks for everybody’s faith, everybody, every last prayer, yard and foreign. Every last mouth that said Kelvin, come home, and Kelvin alive. Give thanks.”

Two other attendees we spoke with emphasized that our unity as a people must overcome all differences, that if we all truly worked together then much more can be realized.

Aries Young

Aries Young, Attended Vigil

“I am happy to see that my young people can come together under one common slate and reason with one another. It was more than politics, it was more than what was happening around, it was definitely about one of us. So this is one thing I would like to see more often – young people coming out at the forefront and being there and coming to one level with each other without political interference.”

Reporter

“You think if things had not gone the way they did today, we might have had a different result out here?”

Aries Young

“Definitely yes. Maybe it would have turned out more violently, because the pressure was on for answers. That’s what really brought people out. They were looking for answers and today they got their answers.”

Marciney Butler

Marciney Butler, Attended Vigil

“The experience out here was full of love and everybody came together as one, as youths. And we are just happy that Kelvin is back home, and we thank everybody who came out to support because this is not only a movement. It reminds me of my little cousin that was murdered.”

Reporter

“What do you expect to see coming out after tonight? He’s back home, the authorities have had their say; so what happens next?”

Marciney Butler

“We hope that they find the other youths that are missing right now – Erwin and Daniel. Just hope that this movement continues so they understand where we’re coming from.”

Aaron Humes reporting for News Five.