by Howard Campbell
[ORLANDO] – A key figure in legal affairs of the Jamaican Diaspora, Wayne Golding’s childhood in Jamaica inspired his personal and professional development. Born to a teenage mother in Kingston 58 years ago, the country’s turbulent political climate during the 1970s made him socially-aware.
That awareness has served him well as a leading immigration attorney based in Orlando where he heads The Golding Law Group, a litigation firm he founded in 2004.
“As a youth in Jamaica, an overwhelming sense of pride in country, myself and people was instilled in me every day, as I grew up in the era of the Rt. Most Honorable Michael Manley. As a young person, he made you feel that you were an entitled citizen of the biggest little country in the world and that education was your key to open doors to respect and success, no matter how lowly or poor of a background you came from. I felt that I had an obligation to see Jamaica succeed,” said Golding.
Many working-class Jamaicans hail Manley’s radical social programs during his first term (1972-76) as prime minister for them achieving against racial and social odds. Golding was raised in St. Mary, a hilly rural parish in eastern Jamaica, where his mother is from.
His initial education was in a “two-room school house” in that parish but on his return to Kingston, he entered a school that like Manley, had a lasting impact on his life.
KC Old Boy
“I must say one of my proudest moments was when I passed the Common Entrance exam for the great institution of Kingston College (KC) which I attended from 1976-1981. The education I received at Kingston College spanned more than just academics. We were taught to strive to be the very best at whatever we did in life, be confident and to be charitable in sharing our successes in life. Never let anything or anyone defeat you mentally in life. Fortis for life, as they say, ‘the brave may fall but never yield’,” Golding stated.
His transition from rural to urban life was worlds apart. In St. Mary, he walked miles to school and lived in a home with no electricity or running water.
After leaving St. Mary, Golding lived in Edgewater, a middle-class community in the Portmore housing development on the outskirts of Kingston. His mother’s home, he recalled, had “wall to wall carpet, central air condition and a telephone.”
Golding added that, “I formed friendships growing up in Edgewater which are still solid and maintained today although we now all live all over the world.”
Sports was a big part of his life in the heady ‘70s — from playing cricket with ‘coconut bow’ bats to running barefoot and playing football (soccer) with milk boxes for balls.
Wayne Golding migrated with his mother and younger brother to the United States in 1981, shortly after graduating from KC. They settled in New York where he earned a bachelor of arts degree from Queens College of the City University of New York in 1988. In addition, a law degree from Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in 2002.
Order of Distinction
His Diaspora work earned him the Order of Distinction, Jamaica’s sixth-highest honor, in 2019.
