Christian Preachers As Enemies Of The State, Part 1: Alexander Bedward (Transcript)
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Bedward’s Early Life
Alexander Bedward was born of very poor, black patronage, in 1800’s typical. Andrew, Jamaica B. W. I., in about the year 1859. He was uneducated and grew up as a labourer on the Mona Estate. As a workman, he was highly commended. However, according to A.A. Brooks, “his lasciviousness strongly prevailed against the reins of his moral nature and caused sore unpleasantness in his marriage life” i.e. there were reports that he regularly cheat on his wife with other women and he was physically and emotional abuse to her, and to his children as well. By the late 1870’s, reports said he had seven children. For thirteen years, he suffered from a terrible illness, and despite the doctors he consulted, he got no better; and this, doctors said maybe a change in climate will solve the issue. In 1883, he left Jamaica for Colon. Colon and Panama Canal
Colón is a city in Panama. It is a seaport that lies near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. In the mid 1800’s, a large contingent of West Indians went to Panama. In 1830’s, the British Emancipation Act was brought into force which abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. Promises that former enslaves would get land, paid a fair wage and have the opportunity of a better life in a post slavery West Indies, never materialised. Therefore, with the onset of the construction of the Panama Railroad in 1850, thousands of West Indians began to migrate to Panama in search of a better life. In 1880, large infrastructure continued in Panama with the building of the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean so that trading between North America, South America, Europe, Asia & Africa, could be more efficient. France was ultimately the first country to attempt the task. This was not easy as along with the incessant rains that caused heavy landslides, there was no effective means for combating the spread of yellow fever and malaria. It was so difficult that funding was pulled from the project in 1888. As history would goes, the US would purchase French from the canal in 1902, and they got the project, restructured it and start commencing the building of the canal in 1905. Panama Canal would finish in 1914, around the time of World War I. When France had the project between 1880 and 1888, many Jamaicans left home to work on the project. According to Panama Canal statistics, during the French phase of the Panama Canal construction (1881-89), 84,000 persons left the island; 62,000 of whom returned. Migration hit its highest numbers between the years 1882 and 1884, when 32,958 left with 14,962 returning. Between 1880 and 1940, 336,500 Jamaicans emigrated; 80 percent of this total left between 1880 and 1920. Bedward, then returned, to Jamaica in 1885 after spending two years in Panama and coming back to Jamaica as a Colon man. A Colon man was the name given to men in who return to Jamaica from working in the Colon, Panama. They were very noticeable in their suits and jewellery. This serves as the inspiration behind the Jamaica Folk Song, “One, Two, Three, Four, Colon Man A Come". The Great Return
Returning to Jamaica in August of 1885, he was immediately seized with the old disease, and therefore, he left on the following Saturday, returning to Colon, leaving wife, children, and all with the expressed intention of not returning to Jamaica again. Arriving in Colon, he readily got back his former good position or employment: but now the condition of his health was very bad, and for the first three or four days he went out to work, only to take sick so severely that he was forced back to his bed. According to A. A. Brooks, on the sixth night of his arrival, in Colon, Bedward had two very remarkable visions. He saw the appearance of a man who stood before him and said, “Go back to Jamaica. If you stay here, you will die and loose your soul, but if you go back to Jamaica, you will save your soul and be the means of saving many others.” Bedward said, “But, I cannot go, for having recently come here, I have no money to pay my passage. Then another vision, a man said to me: “Come here, I do send you to August Town.” “To August Town?” said Bedward. “Why that is the place I am fleeing from.” The man responded, “Go to August Town, and fast on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then be baptised: for I have a special work for you to do.” He left Colon and arrived in Jamaica on the 10th of August, 1885, and immediately began preparations for baptism under a man named Mr. Raderford. Bedward was baptised on the second Sunday in January of 1886.August Town
Formerly called Free Town, Pumpkin Hill and African Hill, August Town began has a settlement for runway enslaves from the Mona Estate and it also served as a burial ground for enslaves . According to the Dictionary of Place Names in Jamaica, August Town was named from the fact that freedom came to the enslaved people on Augus Mawnin – 1st of August 1838. Religious Practice
H. E. S. Wood aka Shakespeare came from the US at an early date and lived in Spanish Town. It is reported that he was called by God to live in St. David’s, in about 1876. He then became the leader of the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church. The term Native Baptist came into use around 1832, right after the Christmas Rebellion of Jamaica. There were two distinct Native Baptist groups: the Jamaica Native Baptist Missionary Society, formed sometime between September, 1839, and July 1840, a few years before the English Baptists had established an independent missionary society in Jamaica; and the second group, the Native Baptist Communion, was formed around 1860-61 in Jamaica, and was concentrated mainly in the eastern section of the island. Two of the most well-known leaders of the Native Baptist Communion were George William Gordon and Paul Bogle. In June 1879, Shakespeare visited Dallas Castle, St. Andrew, and prophesied that there would be a destruction by a flood. A flood eventually came on the 11th of October and entirely destroyed a Wesleyan Chapel and other buildings. In December 1888, Shakespeare visited August Town with a message saying, “Thus saith the Lord behold the sins of August Town have come, up before me, and I will destroy the place as I did Dallas Castle except the people repent. If they will come together, take their white cups, and hold to me a fast, I will not destroy them. But if they will not repent and obey me, I will sink the valley and make the two hills meet.” In 1889, after convening a meeting in Papine Square in that parish, he selected and ordained twelve men, one of whom was Alexander Bedward, and twelve women to be elders of his church. Woods then departed the country, leaving his elders in charge of the Native Baptist church. Before his departure, he predicted that a healing fountain would be opened up in the Hope River area, near August Town, but that the man who would lead the flock was not ready. Bedward was to become that man. On the 10th of October, Bedward began his ministry and on the 22nd December 1891, at the age of 32, he made his first public performance at the Mona River, dispensing the water as medicine, and baptising. The Legend of Bedward and the River
With the help of V. Dawson, a former baptist gospel worker, Bedward built up a vast organisation, where by 1895, it became the largest and most influential revivalist group in Jamaica. Vermont Satchelle in his paper, ‘Early Stirrings of Black Nationalism in Colonial Jamaica’ stated, “The sacrament of baptism in the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church had not just religious but also political significance. Being baptized in the living stream, meant much more than the washing away of sins and the transforming of the sinner into a child and elect of God. Baptism into Bedwardism meant that the baptized, in solidarity with other baptized members, vowed to fight societal and spiritual evils. It came to encompass the fight of the black lower classes against the evils of socio-economic and racial oppression. At each baptismal service Bedward instructed the newly baptized and reminded other members of the congregation that through baptism they were transformed into the elect of God with a mission to bring an end to oppression forced on them by the government and the whites”. According to Bedward, "De Lord takes me by the han and leads me to a place in the 'Ope River and says to me 'Bedward, my prophet dip up dis water, pour it into a big Spanish jar, bless it an whosoever drink shall be healed in body an' soul - once I made water wine, behold I now make water medicine. And you, have I ordained my dispenser, watchman, shepherd and trumpeter'.Between 1891 to 1894, hundreds of persons, women being the most numerous’, visited the Hope River with Bedward as the legend of him and the Hope River spread not only across Jamaica but the whole Caribbean region and even certain parts of Central America. One observer stated,” "There was not a square mile of Jamaica that had not yielded at least a dozen souls into the strong arm of Bedward to be baptised. August Town had now become a Mecca”. This chronicles the famous Jamaica folk song, Jamaican folk standard: “Dip dem,, Bedward, , dip dem / Dip dem in the healing stream / Dip dem deep, but not too deep / dip dem fi cure bad feeling.” John Lanigan, a reporter of the Daily Gleaner, who visited Bedward's healing and baptismal services on several occasions and had interviews with him, reported that upwards of 1,000 person attended meetings and hundreds were baptised. Membership grew in the thousands as branches of the church sprang up throughout Jamaica and overseas. Bedward boasted that he had followers right across the island. Estimation stated that during the height of Bedwardism, the movement attracted a membership of over 7000. There was an active membership in every parish of Jamaica with the exception of Trelawny. Alexander Bedward lore was also the power of his words - the power of prophecy. In his paper, "A Tale of Two Tragedies: Forgetting and Remembering Kingston (1907) and Port-au-Prince (2010)", historian Dr. Matthew J. Smith stated: “Followers of Alexander Bedward, an early twentieth century religious leader with a significant presence in Kingston, believed their beloved leader knew of impending doom in the city long before it happened on the afternoon of January 14, 1907. Bedward was said to have predicted the event just hours before at a gathering at the Hope River in St. Andrew parish. He stated, they later claimed, that “a loaded gun was pointed at Kingston” that would soon release its ammunition. The boast was one of many that had become part of Bedward’s lore” The Church
By 1893, Bedward was now known as “Shepherd”, claimed he was divinely instructed to build a Church. In June 1894, the cornerstone was laid. The original church at August Town Road was not completed until 1905, and bears a plaque with the inscription “Union Camp organised 1894, and built in 1905.” According to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, “the church at 67 August Town Road bears significance on two levels. It is a relic of a politico-religious nationalist, who in a society marked by racism, economic oppression and social and political inequality for the black majority, dared to challenge the status quo of the oppressed”State Crackdown
In the same year, that Bedward assumed leadership of his church, an American-educated preacher named Robert Love arrived in Jamaica with the intention of challenging white authority and racially empowering Afro-Jamaicans—not through the power of religious revelation and the rhetoric of racial division, but by encouraging the education of black and launching a voter registration drive. The next year, 1896, Love persuaded two Afro-Jamaican men to run in the election. Love would go on to create the Jamaica Advocate, which would become an influential newspaper in Jamaica. Bedward would also emerge as one to challenge colonial power. Around the 1890’s, at the height of Bedward ministry, he started to attract the attention of the state. His sermons were political, where he called on the black majority to rise up and take action against the prevailing system of racial discrimination, socio-economic deprivation, injustice and the tyranny of minority colonial rule. According to the Daily Gleaner, on January 22, Bedward had a service where he launched an attack on the whites, including the governor, Sir Henry Arthur Black, who served in the post from 1889 - 1898. Bedward stated, “Brethren, the Bible is difficult to understand. Thanks to Jesus, I am able to understand it. Thanks to Jesus and blessed be his holy name. I can understand it and I, the servant of Jesus will tell you. The Pharisees and Sadducees are the white men. We (the black masses] are the true people. The white men are hypocrites, robbers and thieves. They are all liars.”He then proceeded to read Matthew 16, 2-3, ‘He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red! And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”He then went on to say, “Here are constables, corporals and inspectors. I defy them to arrest me. They may kill the body but they cannot kill the soul. Let them come up here and arrest me. They cannot do it. I defy them. Brethren hell will be your portion if you do not rise up and crush the white man. The time is coming; I tell you the time is coming. There is a white wall and a black wall, and the white wall is closing around the black wall; but the black wall is bigger than the white wall and they must knock the white wall down. The white wall has opposed us for years. Now we must oppress the white wall. The governor passes laws to oppress the black people. They take their money out of their pockets. They rob them of their bread and they do nothing for it. Let them remember the Morant Bay Rebellion. I tell you the government are thieves and liars and the head of the government and the governor is a scoundrel and a robber… the ministers can do nothing for you. They fill the almshouses, hospitals and prisons. The only that can save you is the August Town healing stream and Alexander Bedward, the prophet of Jesus can save you”Bedward appealed to the black masses to take up action against the white and this scared a lot of white people, especially the mentioned of Morant Bay Rebellion, which authorities and the uppers class deemed a “race war”. It also did not help that Paul Bogle, one of the heroes of the rebellion, was also a leader in the Native Baptist Church in St. Thomas. Thus, to curb any organising of any ‘race war’, the state utilised the Jamaica Constabulary Force, which ironically, was created out of the Morant Bay Rebellion to protect the white establishment and to bring peace and law on the island, in the case of any black uprising. At 3:00 a.m. on 22 January 1895, a strong detachment of police led by William James Calder, acting inspector of the St Andrew, four other police inspectors, a few detectives and thirty police constables, all carrying side-arms and rifles, went to August Town and arrested Bedward. The warrant for his arrest charged him for uttering seditious language and described him as: “a wicked, malicious, seditious and evil disposed person, who, wickedly, maliciously and seditiously contriving and intending the peace of Our Lady the Queen and of this island to disquiet and disturb, and the liege subjects of Our Lady the Queen to incite and move to hatred and dislike of Our said Lady the Queen of the Government established by law in this island and to move and persuade great numbers of the liege subjects of Our said Lady the Queen to insurrections, riots, tumults and breach of the peace and to prevent by force of arms the execution of the laws of this island” According to the Daily Gleaner, Bedward offered no resistance; his only remark was, "You take me like a thief in the night.” He was handcuffed, strapped to a buggy and taken to the Half Way Tree Police station where he was placed in jail to appear the next morning before Auther L. Vendryes, resident magistrate for St Andrew, to answer the charges of incitement to sedition, insurrection and rebellion. Bedward was to stand trial at the sitting of the Kingston Circuit Court due to commence on the 22 April. The judge further ordered that Bedward be remanded in custody without bail. Thus Bedward remained in prison for three months. The movement had lost its voice temporarily, however on 24 April 1895, the day set for the hearing of the case, over 600 of his followers demonstrated outside the court house, some throwing stones at the mounted orderlies. However, they were soon dispelled by the authorities. Dr Cargill, physician and district medical officer, was called to testify on Bedward's health. He reported that "Bedward was suffering from 'mental intoxication’ more from amentia than dementia. That he spoke without thought like a little child.”Still, the proclamation of madness on black persons in Jamaica was used as a punishment during the 1800s and early 1900s, thus asylum was a prison of some sort. In the 1890’s the Gleaner newspaper ran reports about the vast overcrowding of the island’s only asylum. Edward White, author of Rise Up: Why Alexander Bedward Promised to Fly to Heavens, stated that this “supposed proof that a contagion of madness was spreading out of control, especially among the black population”. Still, according to the historian Leonard Smith, in 1863/64 the Jamaican Lunatic Asylum admitted seventy-one black people and two white people. In the case, the jury found Bedward not guilty on the grounds of insanity where the christian preacher was then sent to mental asylum for treatment which according to historian, Veront Satchell, “in reality for incarceration since the asylum was not much different from a prison”. When Bedward was released from prison, he continued his work at Union Camped, but “in a somewhat subdued manner”. In his first sermon after his release he declared that the scribes had made false accusation against him, although he had not spoken against the queen, the governor and the upper class but against clergymen and physicians: "They tried to cause disturbance and injury against me and to crush me” Despite Bedward's release, his arrest and incarceration affected him and the movement for a long while. Nevertheless, the state was still worried over the stronghold that Bedward had over his members and thus, the land in August Town that Bedward occupied as owner, like that of so many other lower-class Jamaicans at that time, came under dispute. The Commissioner of Lands challenged Bedward's rights to the plot where Bedward proclaimed that he refused to move as this was his home where he has lived for thirty - three years.For the next two decades, Bedward continued this subdued manner and seemed to be in retreat. This retreat however, according to Veront Satchell, “must be seen in relation to the emergence and development of the Universal Negro Improvement Association led by Marcus Garvey, a This political movement, with its powerful doctrine of racial pride, black consciousness, black self-help and its international cry of (Pan Africanism), came to overshadow Bedwardism.”Social Welfare
Although Bedward's political rhetoric became somewhat subdued after his first incarceration, he remained extremely influential among the masses as he sought to develop social welfare programmes for his followers. Many members of his church, especially those in August Town, lived in communal camps and as such their individual needs were seen in light of the community. The fruits on the churchyards were collectively owned, and at crop time they were sold and the proceeds placed in a common fund for welfare purposes. At baptism, the inductee was given a membership card, which attracted an annual fee of one shilling. At Holy Communion services, a further three pence was collected and periodically other collections were taken to meet specific welfare needs. These monetary contributions went towards providing basic welfare services for members. The healthy members cared for the sick and the those low on funds were assisted. Whenever a member was in need of anything the leader would be informed and goods would be purchased from the fund. A "Burial Scheme" was also created, for which a special fund was collected to meet the funeral expenses of members. There also was a common burial ground in Union Camp at August Town for members. In the absence of government welfare programmes, which were badly needed at that time, Bedward's Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church attempted to provide important social welfare services for its members.Flight To Heaven
In December 1920, Bedward, now in his 70s, declared that he was Jesus Christ; that, like Elijah, he would ascend to heaven in a flaming chariot on the last day of that year; and that he would return three days later to take his faithful followers to glory. He would then rain down fire upon the elect and destroy the whites. He instructed his followers to gather at Union Camp to witness this ascension. Mythological tales about men and women blessed with the power of flight have been a staple of West African folklore for centuries. In other parts of the world, the myth of the flying Africans has been mentioned countless times eg, the tale of Igbo Landing; Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. It is said this flight by Africans can only be blocked by the use of salt and thus why enslaves were given cured meat by plantation owners: to keep them from flying. The popular folk song, 'Fly Away Home', speak about the dreams of flying Africans. Thousands of those residing throughout the island and abroad gathered in August Town. The governor, in response to this mass gathering and in anticipation of a widespread revolt against the constituted authority, dispatched a strong police contingent to ensure that no civil disturbance took place. On Bedward’s arrival at the river on December 31, 1920, he took to his chariot, which in this case was a chair balanced to a tree—and declared that he would ascend at ten o’clock that morning. When ten passed, Bedward stated that it would occur at three in the afternoon. However, when three passed, Bedward stayed in his chair. When the hands of the clock swept past ten that night, Bedward clambered down from his chariot and went home as well as all the persons present. Second Arrest
In April of the following year (1921) Bedward announced that on the twenty-seventh of that month he and his followers would march into Kingston to do battle with the enemies, presumably the whites. Bedward summoned his followers to August Town to prepare for this march. He also sent a messenger to the city to obtain permission from the authorities to use the park for a public meeting. This request was refused and instead, a senior police officer was sent to August Town to persuade Bedward not to march. Bedward, however, stated: "I must go, I must go to deliver my people. Do you know who I am? I am the Lord Jesus Christ. Must I obey you and disobey my father?"Governor Sir Leslie Probyn, assessing the situation as dangerous, immediately convened an emergency meeting at Kings House with the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police on the night of 26 April to decide on how best to handle the situation and especially, how Bedward should be handled. The meeting agreed that any possible disturbance of the peace should be averted and that no march should take place. However, if Bedward decided to proceed with the march, he should be met with the strongest joint police military party available and that be arrested. At about 5 o'clock on the morning of 27th of April, Bedward with approximately 800 of his followers, started their march to Kingston. The marchers, dressed in white clothing and armed with small wooden crosses and palm leaves, proceeded, singing "Onward Christian Soldiers". As they marched ,Sam Burke with about 60 well-armed police officers drawn from Sutton Street, Half Way Tree and Matilda's Corner police stations, and a detachment of an equal number of soldiers from two platoons of the Royal Sussex Regiment, waited in ambush at Matilda's Corner, ready to stop the marchers. The operation was headed by Deputy Inspector General O’Sullivan. On reaching the vicinity of the Mona sugar estate work yard around 6:15 a.m., the marchers were met by Burke with the joint police-military force, who diverted them and escorted them to the Half Way Tree Police Station.SC Burke tried the group in batches of 10 and was able to deal with 237 (212 men and 25 women) of the 800 defendants, all of whom were found guilty and received sentences varying from seven to fourteen days hard labour in the Spanish Town Penitentiary. The other batch of the 800 were told by Burke that they would be given a second chance and thus they were sent home without sentences. However, Bedward and five others who declared that Bedward was Jesus Christ, the deliverer, were remanded in custody for medical observation and their trial date set for the 4th May of 1921. On 4 May, the day of the trial of Bedward and others, Resident Magistrate Burke, started the court case at 10:00am. The case of Regina vs. Alexander Bedward for assaulting a policeman while in the execution of his duty was the first one to be called. Dr Charles Edwards, district medical officer for lower St Andrew, testified that Bedward had been under his observation for one week, and he was of the opinion that the individual was of unsound mind.The state determined to arrest Bedward permanently, had an issue. For although Bedward had been determined "a person of unsound mind", a lunatic, since he was in the court room he was not "wandering at large", so he could not be charged according to the law. Bedward was thus freed of the charges on the grounds of lunacy and his co-defendants were also set free. Thus setting Bedward free, the state allow him him to be on the streets, “wandering at large”. Therefore, in that scenario, he could be arrested, tried, convicted and ultimately confined to the asylum. On the same day, Bedward was set free. While he and his followers were on their way home, on reaching the Half Way Tree Square, just a short distance away from the court house, to the surprise of his followers and Bedward, Sergeant-Major Williams apprehended him on a warrant for his arrest on the grounds of lunacy: "of unsound mind|s] wandering at large". A shocked Bedward was booked to face the court for a second time on the same day, this time to answer to charges of lunacy. While this drama was unfolding outside the court house, the case of the five defendants who had been remanded with Bedward for medical observation was brought before the court for trial where they were eventually sent home. Bedward was then brought into the court house and was again arraigned before Burke. The two main witnesses were Dr Edwards, the doctor who had just declared Bedward a lunatic, and Sergeant-Major Williams who had just arrested him. The two police officers and a census taker, whom Bedward had allegedly beaten, also testified for the crown. Dr Edwards' testimony, as was to be expected, was a repeat of his earlier statement, with a few additions. According to Edwards, Bedward suffered from the hallucination that he (Bedward) was the Messiah who had returned to free his people and that God had spoken to him and told him what to do. In closing, Edwards stated that in his opinion Bedward was certainly dangerous. The evidence of the two police officers and the census taker were then heard, after which the magistrate announced his decision to commit Bedward to the lunatic asylum. At this juncture Bedward exclaimed, "Can't I say something?’’The magistrate totally ignored Bedward's request. His only response was, "Take him away!" and he proceeded to write the judgement order: "I adjudge Alexander Bedward a person of unsound mind; and he is committed to the Lunatic Asylum”. Bedward was found guilty and sentenced to the Kingston Lunatic Asylum where he spent the last ten years of his life. He died on the 8th of November 1931.Legacy
Many followers remained faithful quietly awaiting his return, but for the most part, the movement was dead. Nevertheless, Bedwardism would give rise to another era of Jamaica history: the emergence of Rastafari. second in command to Bedward, Robert Hinds, would join forces with a student of Marcus Garvey, Leonard Howell, to become founders of Rastafari where the teachings of Bedward is seen through, what is considered the first book of Rastafari, The Promised Key, which is published under the Howell’s pseudonym, G.G. Maragh. To know more about this early developments of Rastafari and the Hindu influence that shaped it, check out our Lest We Forget podcast episode with guest host, Dominique Stewart: “Coolie Gang, Ghettos and Rastafari: A Story of Four Continents and A Couple Black Markets” Still, Veront Satchell in his paper, ‘Early Stirrings of Black Nationalism in Colonial Jamaica” stated: “Alexander Bedward is of immense significance in the development of racial awareness and consciousness and of political mobilization in Jamaican society. He introduced new levels of organization and new symbols of unity and power among the black lower classes. As an indigenous response to the colonial situation he represented a real force of change. Of course, Bedwardism, like most other liberation movements of the time, failed to accomplish its immediate goals, because it was suppressed and defeated. However, according to Benjamin C. Roy, these resistance movements did not fail to achieve a broader purpose. In most instances, they stimulated a new historical awareness which later issued in the nationalistic consciousness of the pre-independence period. The activities of Alexander Bedward were undoubtedly among the earliest stirrings of black nationalism in colonial Jamaica” Dr. Kei Miller in his novel, Augustown, which among other things, chronicles the December 31st 1920 ascension of Bedward, had this to say: “You might stop to consider this: that when these dreadlocked men and women, when these children of Zion, when these smokers of weed and these singers of reggae, when they chant songs such as, "If I had the wings of a dove,” or "I'll fly away to Zion” these songs hold within them the memory of Bedward. Such songs, sung at the right moment, can lift a man or a woman all the way up to heaven. Call it what you will -“history ," or just another "old-time story” - there really was a time in Jamaica, 1920 to be precise, when a great thing was about to happen but did not happen. Though people across the length and breadth of the island believed it was going to happen, though they desperately needed it to happen, it did not. But the story as it is recorded, and as it is still whispered today, is only one version. It is the story as told by people like William Grant- Stanley, by journalists, by governors, by people who sat on wide verandahs overlooking the city, by people who were determined that the great thing should not happen. Look, this isn't magic realism. This is not another story about superstitious island people and their primitive beliefs. No. You don't get off that easy. This is a story about people as real as you are, and as real as I once was before I became a bodiless thing floating up here in the sky. You may as well stop to consider a more urgent question; not whether you believe in this story or not, but whether this story is about the kinds of people you have never taken the time to believe in.”