Keith Shephard - Late Editor of TNT Mirror

Article for April 8, 2005

“It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part, the rest are lost in the multitude.” Voltaire- French Philosopher 1697 – 1778.

Last week, Trinidad and Tobago lost a great, yet simple man. I speak of none other than the late Keith Shepherd, Editor of the Sunday Mirror. Sheppy as he was and will always be affectionately known never indulged in the trimmings and luxuries so many of us seek as a measure of our success. Sheppy was well grounded and proud of who he was and what he stood for!

After more than 37 years in journalism, Keith Shepherd became more than an individual in the local journalistic fraternity. He was an icon who was sought out by men when they had no one else to turn to. I myself grew up reading Keith Shepherd, knowing him to be forthright, simple and ready to relate the issues to his own life. I will miss his style of writing, his unmistakable ability to tell it like it is.

“The good writer, the great writer has what I called the three S’s: the power to see, to sense and to say. That is, he is perception, he is feeling and he has the power to express in language what he observes and reacts to.” Lawrence Clark Powell [American writer 1906 – 2001]. Keith Shepherd was a great writer, not only because of his astuteness, but more so because of his ability to feel and for his readers to sense that feeling. Whether you agreed with him or not, Sheppy made his position clear and he held “no briefs” for anyone. As he would usually put it, “I was never a card carrying member of any political party.” He praised individuals when their actions were noble, just and proper. If you did shit on the other hand, you would have heard from him loud and clear.

Sheppy’s passion was to be the voice of the common man. He went out of his way to give them that voice, even to those who were wanted by the Police as was the case with the interview he did with Sheldon “Skelly” Lovell in July 2004, at a time when Crime Stoppers had a $100,000 reward on Skelly’s head. After all, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and Sheppy was bent on getting to the heart of what was going on!

He was never afraid to tackle the issues. From postulating the point that Jesus was indeed Black to the story of the Crucifixion itself, Sheppy always provided his background information, substantiating his claims, even referring to the Cambridge Encyclopaedia, documents sent to him and his own research.

On the issue of Bertille St. Clair whom he once defended after our defeat at the Gold Cup, Sheppy quickly made his disapproval known when it was alleged that St. Clair was discriminating against Rastas. Don’t forget mind you, that Sheppy himself was an avid football player back in the days when he played with the likes of Neale Greaves, Brian Rigsby and Wade Coker among others.

“These days man knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” [Oscar Wilde- Irish Poet 1854 – 1900]. I refer to this quotation not only because it applies just as much today as it did then, but for the simple reason that citizens of this country never really understood the true value of Keith Shepherd and what he did for them. He was literally at times the custodian of our democracy! When politicians and businessmen sought to plunder the national treasury and take advantage of the less fortunate, Sheppy was always there to expose them. Through the industrial protests of the 1980’s and the rise of the National Alliance for Reconstruction, to the 1990 Insurrection and to the convulsions within the PNM in 1995, Sheppy was always there giving us the ball by ball detail of what was really taking place on the inside.

According to Ernest Hemingway [American Novelist 1899 – 1961 and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature 1954], “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.” Well, Sheppy had an A class shit detector! It wasn’t two people who tried to use Sheppy especially when they wanted him to print some damaging story about their adversaries. He, however, sought the truth, and if given a story, he did his own investigations to verify the facts.

Sheppy is no longer with us in body, but he lives on in our hearts and in our minds. His spirit will continue to guide our objectivity and our search for the truth. “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” [Mark Twain- American writer 1835 – 1910]. Keith Shepherd lived and his journey took him on a path to self fulfilment and an awareness of his consciousness that few achieve in any lifetime. It allowed him to open his mind beyond what most of us accepted as the status quo and questioned the very foundation of the fragile and mostly vacuous society in which we live. Sheppy lived to promote justice, equality and fair-play for the common man, because simply put, he considered himself a common man, as we all should.

I agree with American Essayist Norman Cousins [1912 – 1990] who stated that “death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” Sheppy, in his own right was a fire breathing dragon or our own Spartacus if you like. Sheppy was willing to risk imprisonment for his beliefs because he knew he was right!

As Sheppy said in his article entitled “Living Colonial” we must move towards the ‘Age of Enlightenment.’ That is our commitment and our goal here at the TNT Mirror- to bring this country into the age of enlightenment. Don’t worry Sheppy, we’ll give them a run for their money!

This is a melancholy time for us all, but I guarantee you that Sheppy’s memory will live on and we at the Mirror will always remain a voice of the people, a voice of the common man. That was the vision of Patrick Chokolingo and Keith Shepherd and that is the vision of us all!