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For the founder of the Jamaica Rising Day Parade, Dr. Bill Tinglin, creating the celebration was about building something permanent, a public institution capable of celebrating Jamaica’s history, recognizing its global contributions and passing cultural pride to the next generation.
Born in Bethel Town, Westmoreland, Jamaica, and raised partly in New York, he says the values of his birthplace remained central to his life long after migration.
“Jamaica never left me,” he said. “Its values, faith, discipline, resilience, community, cultural pride, and respect for our elders have guided me throughout my life.”
Those values eventually became the foundation for the Jamaica Rising Day Parade.
Jamaicans have left their mark across New York and the wider United States in fields ranging from education and healthcare to government, business, public safety, religion, sports, music and the arts. Yet he believed the community needed a major public celebration that could bring those achievements, and the people behind them, together.
“My vision was never to organize people to walk along a street,” he explained. “It was to create an institution and an enduring legacy.”
That vision includes using the parade as a platform to celebrate Jamaican independence, honor pioneers, educate younger generations and strengthen connections throughout the diaspora. In the longer term, he sees the event growing into a world-class cultural celebration that also supports tourism, education, business development, youth empowerment, humanitarian service and international relationships.
The inaugural parade offered an early glimpse of what that could become.
Thousands came together carrying Jamaican flags, dancing, singing and publicly displaying their national pride. For its founder, watching the community embrace the event confirmed that there was an appetite for a celebration of this scale.
Turning the idea into reality, however, came with significant challenges.
Organizing an inaugural parade required navigating limited resources, sponsorship needs, changing operational requirements and tight deadlines. The experience, he said, reinforced the importance of collaboration and what can happen when a community rallies behind a shared purpose.
“Many people worked without compensation because they believed in the significance of what we were building,” he said.
He credited executive leaders, board members, directors, volunteers, performers, marshals, safety and medical personnel, sponsors, vendors, clergy, community organizations and media professionals with helping bring the event to life.
He also acknowledged longtime Jamaican-American trailblazer Dr. Una S. T. Clarke, Ambassador N. Nick Perry, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, elected and government officials, the New York City Police Department and community leaders who supported the effort.
Among the parade’s particularly meaningful moments was the participation of Holocaust survivors as Special Guests of Honor. Their inclusion, he said, broadened the message beyond cultural celebration to one of remembrance and shared humanity.
“One of the greatest lessons I learned is that leadership is not about receiving all the credit. It is about having the courage to initiate a vision, accepting responsibility for bringing it to life, and creating opportunities for others to contribute, lead, and be recognized.”
But he reserves his greatest appreciation for the Jamaicans who showed up.
“They came out with their flags, colors, families, music, energy, and pride,” he said. “They transformed an ambitious idea into a living expression of national identity. This parade belongs to them.”
The experience also prompted deeper reflection on what Jamaican identity means to him, and how that identity influences his approach to leadership.
“Being Jamaican means carrying within me the strength of a remarkable people who have repeatedly demonstrated that the size of our island does not determine the size of our influence,” he said.
That influence, he believes, is rooted in resilience: the ability to keep moving despite obstacles while balancing ambition with humility and individual achievement with responsibility to community.
He credits his parents, Harold and Rose Tinglin, with instilling many of those values during his childhood in Westmoreland. Their lessons about faith, perseverance, responsibility and caring for others remain central to how he approaches public service.
That philosophy also shapes his vision for the parade. He wants young Jamaicans to see themselves represented, elders and pioneers recognized while they can receive that recognition, and those working quietly behind the scenes to know their contributions matter.
“The Jamaica Rising Day Parade is a declaration that our history, culture, contributions, and future matter,” he said. “It is also a reminder that pride in our Jamaican identity should inspire us not only to celebrate, but also to educate, serve, build, and open doors for the generations coming behind us.”
English (US) ·