We offer a wide-ranging interview with Ronald “Ron” Milner Green in memory of our beloved teacher and the designer of the Dominica flag Alwin Bully of blessed memory.

A scholar, athlete, Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria, Makerere University lecturer at Kampala, Uganda, African liberation activist, member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee registering Black farmers to vote in the very dangerous 1960s rural Mississippi, a worker on a citrus growing Kibbutz in Israel, an associate of Malcolm X, Walter Rodney, Maurice Bishop, Amilcar Cabral, Ron was once the 400-meter champion of New York state. He also won the 400-meter national competition in Nigeria in the 1960s during his stint as a Peace Corps Volunteer lecturing at the Maru Teachers Training College.

Ron, a founder of and former President of the Dominica Amateur Basketball Association, was a scholar of note and champion sprinter at Cardinal Hayes Catholic High School in the Bronx, New York – representing that school for four years at the world-famous Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

While in Uganda, Ron experienced the aftermath of the coup de ‘etat, which brought the brutal General Idi Amin to power. On his return to Dominica, Ron became a leader of the Movement for a New Dominica and Dominica Liberation Movement. Between 1980 to 1995, Ron was a leader in the Small Projects Assistance Team (SPAT), which did much for rural development in Dominica. Between 1995-2000 Ron served as Education Minister of the United Workers Party, led administration, and initiated the universal secondary school education program. Upon taking office, Ron discovered that only 32% of elementary school students in Dominica made it to high school when he took office. Such a low number of students who could access high school led to expanding high school education opportunities during his leadership of the education ministry.

He also moved to ban corporal punishment in Dominica’s schools during his term in office. A gentleman, scholar, and athlete, Ron remains a committed social justice and development activist; the life of Ron Green is a most inspiring story of dedication to improving g life in Dominica, in Africa, and the United States – indeed to all champion of the betterment of humanity – despite the sacrifices.
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Sincerely,

Gabriel J. Christian, Esq. (President at Rebuild Dominica Inc)