The Early Years of Rastafari Oppression In Jamaica

From its founding in the early 1930’s, the Jamaican state has targeted Rastafari. And for the next 30 years, this oppression of its members by the Jamaica State would continue and eventually culminated in April 1963 in the event now immortalised as the Coral Gardens Massacre. 

First, They Went After Leonard Howell

Originated in the 1930’s, Rastafari is credited with four persons: Robert Hinds, Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkely and Leonard Howell. In the early 30’s the men alongside, Altamont Reid and others, lecture to all who were willing to hear about the Black Messiah and the plight of Black Jamaicans. Rastafari, influence by the life and philosophy of Baptist priest Alexander Bedward and pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey as well as been influence by Hinduism and Christianity; and happenings in Eastern Africa, would resonate with oppressed Jamaicans at this time. By the mid 1930’s, Leonard Howell become one of its dominant figures. 

Howell, who would later become known as The Gong and G.G. Maragh, was born in Jamaica in 1898. He would travel abroad in the early 1900’s and quickly became a close confidant of Marcus Garvey. However, soon after, Howell was deported to Jamaica. And thus beginning in the 1930’s, he arise as one of the leaders in Rastafari. 

It was here that our story began of the state oppression against Rastafari. 

As early as 1933, there exist news report of the state verses Rastafari. A headline in The Daily Gleaner, published on March 16, 1934 says “Ras Tafari Discipline Found Guilty of Sedition”. The story involved Howell, Robert Hinds and other members of Rastafari had been in charge for preaching allegiance to Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia. Howell eventually served a a two-year sentence in an asylum after. Alongside the Gleaner, the case was also reported in another popular news outlet, the Jamaica Times. In his book, Rastafari: The Evolution of A People and Their Identity, the academic Dr. Charles Prices states: 

“The newspaper gave them attention that they perhaps could have never have attained on their own. The trial was intended to defang the Rastafari and given any new groups’s survival chances, the Rastafari had low odds of enduring. Yet eventually they flourished, though continually embattled because of their detractors.”

And would you know, just as Dr. Price state, Rastafari thrive and its members gradually increased. Still, the opposition continue. Between 1934 to 1935, other leaders were targeted and prosecuted. This includes Archibald Dunkley and Joseph Hibbert. In 1936, Acting Colonial Secretary A.R. Singham, complained to the island’s Governor, Sir Edward Denham, that people living in the parish of St. Thomas were being pressured by the movement, with numerous reports of harassment, noise complaints, children being removed from school, echoes of racial hatred and persons abandoning their properties to return to Africa. According to the Colonial Secretary, Rastafari had very much brought the parish of St. Thomas to a standstill. Despite a rebuttal published in the Gleaner by officers of the Ethiopian King of Kings in Jones Town, where the men explain the ideology of Rastafari, the outcry against Rastafari continued throughout the 1936. 

In the new year, on January 23, 1937, Vivian Burnham, a member of the Kingston and St. Andrew Civic League, the KSACL, penned a letter to the Governor, urging him to take action against the “blasphemous and indeed sacrilegious movement” of Rastafari. Burnham by the end of his letter, compared Rastafari influence to that of the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion and that Rastas are producing mental illness among its followers. A few weeks after on March 11, 1937, Colonial Secretary J.D. Lucie-Smith told the KSACL, that “the government is considering the enactment of legislation to prohibit the practices of these curious cults”. But as history, would have it, no official action was taken against Rastafari but that did not stop the letters from coming. And so by 1939, one of the loudest proponents against the movement, was the now founder and president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, Alexander Bustamante who wrote his now fame letter calling upon the state to curb Rastafari by arresting Howell.  In his July 6th 1939 letter addressed to the Colonial secretary, Bustamante stated: 

“Sir

Serious trouble is brewing at Port Morant in St. Thomas, owing to the mischievousness of a man whose name is Howell, leader of this terrible thing that is called “Rastafari”. This man, I understand went to the Asylum once. He subsequently went to prison for two years for a mediation which bordered on the line of high treason. In St. Thomas he is endeavouring to put one group against another group, and I would not be surprised if something serious happened to him; and that a riot does not take place there because he is tormenting serious trouble. I strongly suggest that you have this matter communicated to the inspector of Police for St. Thomas, because it would be very good for Government to receive a report from him as he is very anxious and concerned about the existing affair. It seems to me that the only right end proper place for this man in the Asylum. He is a danger to the peace of the Community. I think he is the greatest danger that exists in this country today and I believe the police can confirm this” 

I have the honour to be, 

Sir, 

Yours sincerely, 

A. Bustamante

By the 1940’s, the opposition moved from worldly attacks and individual arrest to continuous raids on the Rasta communities. Many of these police raids were been conducted at Pinnacle, Howell’s camp located in the parish of St. Catherine. Protoje in his song, Kingston Be Wise, off his 2013 album, "The 8th Year Affair”, immortalise this when he sang,  

“Like a no Sons of Solomon them have down deh

Leonard Howell, Pinnacle and them land deh

Subdivision, them deal it underhand deh” 

In 2015, Protoje would once more speak on the oppression on Howell and Rastafari in his song, “Criminal”, off his album, “Ancient Future”: 

“Dem lock up Leonard Howell, fi sell Selassie face
Dat couldn't stop the message, dis a Selassie place” 

And so by November 1940, officers from the Ministry of Health visited Pinnacle - health concerns they sited. Nineteen residents of Pinnacle were sent to the Spanish Town Hospital for treatment and were eventually admitted to the poorhouse. Three days later, two medical personnels arrived at the Pinnacle to access housing and sanitary conditions. In their report, they reported that over 200 persons lived on the compound where the four-four seated latreines were fly free, the water supply was clean and alongside good drainage, the light, ventilation and general sanitation of the community was satisfactory. In their own words, “The discipline is excellent”. Still, they did state that undernutrition was evident and so it happened, that eight of the nineteen of those who showed signs of undernutrition were admitted to the poorhouse. 

But in a change of events, weeks after the medical personals stated that living conditions at Pinnacle were in excellent order, in January of 1941, the director of medical services and the inspector of police visited Pinnacle and said that the living conditions of residents were unsatisfactory. They then asked the Parochial Board of St. Catherine to intervene by charging Howell with criminal negligence. But that didn’t go anywhere because according to the Board, in the case of Pinnacle, malnutrition is a case of ignorance rather than neglect. 

But the lack of charge against Howell didn’t stop the opposition. The new governor, Arthur Richards, already had Rastas on his radar when back in April of 1940, he wrote to the secretary of state of the colonies that the Howell meetings which drew over 500 plus persons had a racial feeling. And with this backing by the governor, on the 14th of July 1941, police officers descended upon Pinnacle to round up Howell and his followers. At this raid, 70 persons were arrested and 101 ganga bush removed. The police commissioner went on to say about the raid: 

“… has undoutedly had a good effect and was very popular with the surrounding inhabitant and it would appear that a certain amount of terrorism which has been exercised by member of the camp had been to a considerable extent broken” 

But the raid did not break the spirit of Rastafari. The members only migrated to other areas of the islands most notably the poorest underdeveloped areas of Kingston: Trench Town, Ackee Walk, Dungle, Denham Town and Back-O-Wall. Others went to Montego Bay and Westmoreland. And with World War II and the rise of political parties in Jamaica takings sector stage, later in the Jamaica 1940’s, the media and society did not pay that much attention to Rastas. 

Here Comes The 1950’s

But then came June of 1951. On June 11, 1951, on the front page of The Daily Gleaner was the breaking news, “Rastaman Charged with Palisadoes Murder”. The article reported that “a bearded man” murdered Sidney Garrell and attacked his girlfriend, Bernadette Hugh while the couple was on the beach off Palisades Road in Kingston. When a lineup was done, Alston Jolly, otherwise known was Whoppy King, was pointed out as the murderer. The thing though, Whoppy King lived in Dungle, where residents around the area described him as a member of Rastafari who trimmed his dreadlocks to hide from the police after committing the murder. Still, the arrest of Whoopy had repercussions. 

Firstly, many of the Rastas worked as dockworkers at Kingston’s waterfront and after Whoppy’s arrest, many of the men who worked on docks went on strike because according to them, they refused to work with bearded men, Rastas, from squatted areas, any longer. Secondly, after the murder, Rastas emerged as public enemy number one. Throughout the media there were calls for the crackdown on Rastas all over the Kingston area. And when the government at this time, now headed by the Jamaica Labour Party, JLP, moved in to oust the squatters and increase police patrols, the opposition, the People’s National Party, PNP, step in to cautious the government on responding to the Palisadoes murder as it would negatively impact the countries now booming tourist industry. PNP’s leader, Norman Manley, urged the government to practice some restraint in dealing with the murder and Rastas. In response, JLP labelled PNP and their leader, Manley, has supporters of Rastafari. 

And so you have it, the beginning of tribal politics involving Rastas and the island’s two major parties, which, honestly - that needs a whole other episode at another time. To this though, Dr. Price states, 

“This is one example of why many Rastas would reject Jamaican party politics; the association ruined their collective identity”. 

Still, despite the PNP opposition, the government took swift action against the Rastas in the wake of the Palisadoes attack. Security Minister, L.C.Bloomfield announced that an estimated 1500 Rasta squatters would be evicted - mostly those in the Wareika Hills. Even though residents of the areas targeted pleaded that they were there for years, had built homes and raised families; their cries did not help - families still got evicted. Then, a campaign involving the Dangerous Drugs Law was launched against those who possess ganga, and of course that campaign was against Rastas. In the weeks following after, numerous arrests were reported. 

Youth Black Faith 

In the same decade of the early 1950’s Rastas not only became more organised but a more identifying image was now been cultivated. And to this, we mean locs. Even though historians and social scientists have other theories attributed the wearing of locs by Rastas seeing as none of the founders wore locs, one group became the first group of Rastas with the hairstyle - Youth Black Faith. 

According to Jamaican sociologist, Barry Chevannes, the Youth Black Faith originated in West Kingston in the early 1940’s. As Frank Tan Van Dijk in his paper, “Sociological Means: Colonial Reactions to the Radicalisation of Rastafari in Jamaica, 1956-1959”, states, 

“They were dissatisfied with the hierarchical structure of older Rastafarians organisation, denouncing the established leadership for its reverence to Revival traditions and observance of colonial rules. In their bid to defy both the traditional leaders and society, groups like Youth Black Faith propagated the wearing of beards and locks…” 

Furthermore, the group was getting more media attention in the early 1950’s and so was there locs. At this time, the Mau Mau Rebellion kicked off in Kenya in October of 1952 and would last until the 1960. Mau Mau was the name given to the revolutionist among the Kikuyu and other persons in the surrounding are who fought British settlers. But what’s important to note was that some of leaders of Mau Mau wore their hair in locs and even so, was among the first group of people with locs to be photograph: Field Marshal Mwariamahad his shoulder length locs and General China who had spikey locs. 

Many black persons, especially those living under British colonialism, saw the Mau Mau uprising as representing the struggle of oppressed people worldwide and black Jamaicans were included.Youth Black Faith, and other new generation of Rastas including, Ras San Brown, Brother Bongo and Mortimo Planno, who would later become a drummer to Bob Marley, donned locs at this time and were in support of Mau Mau. And since members of Mau Mau were labeled as extremist, the Jamaican state further labeled Rastas as such as well and so the wheels of oppression against Rastas continue. 

Before we continued, we should state that there’s other connection between Jamaica and Mau Mau, but yes - that is for another episode so we continue. 

So one day, on April 14, 1954, members of Youth Black Faith took to the streets of Kingston. As the Gleaner reported, twenty-two men and eight women, march along North Street with banners, bibles and drums shouting, “We want to go to Ethiopia” and “Now, now, freedom”. But the 30 persons were soon arrested for marching without a permit under The Public Processions Law and even in their jail cells, the Rastas continued to shout. But what was even more fascinated about this day was there a policeman among Rasta demonstrators. When brought to court two days later after his arrested, he state: 

“My name is Ras Jackson, C. Jackson was my name when I was in Babylon, but now my name is changed”. 

And when the other demonstrators were brought to the judge, they too had name changes. Some identified themselves as “Freedom,”, “King David” or “Rastafari”. The Rastas were all charge with contempt of court and put in prison to serve their sentences but after two weeks were all discharge for been a nuisance as they refused to stop shouting while behind bars. 

A few weeks after the members of Youth Black Faith were release, on May 22, 1954, a large group of members from the police force and military, descended upon Pinnacle. During the raid, over eight tons of ganja, valuing several thousands pounds, were seized. It was reported this raid was the biggest raid in local police history. Two days later,  a second raid happened at Pinnacle and this time thousands of ganja plants and seeds were removed from the area. In the aftermath of the raid, over 140 Rastas were arrested and on March 25, they all were brought to the Spanish Town court to faced charges of either possession or cultivation of ganja. 

This raid was not in isolation however. A year earlier in January 1953, Winston Churchill, now prime minister of the UK, made his first visit to Jamaica. According to UWI Mona Cultural Studies Professor, Jahlani Niaah, at this time in the 1950’s, Jamaica was approaching full internal self-government and thus Pinnacle and the cultivation of ganja had to be demolished. See during the World War II, loads of ganja cultivated at Pinnacle was sent to British soldiers in the frontline and this posed a problem. Dr. Niaah explained, that upon Churchill visit, the government agenda was: 

“to remove traces of Howell’s linkages, alignments, economy, his national and international stature… and evidence of the facilitation that Howell was able to provide the war”. 

And so when the trail began on June 12, 1954, the arrested Rastas were brought infront of resident magistrate H.P.Allen who handed down charges from six months to two years, with hard labour. Most of the arrestees were women and most received the same sentences as the men. In fact, a woman named Anne Jarrett who was over 70 years old, and described as to be in bad health received six months of hard labour. There were no mention of Leonard Howell during this trial and even after actually, there were little updates on his activities. As such, this end our story on Leonard Howell but on our Lest We Forget Podcast, “Coolie Gang, Ghettos and Rastafari: A Story of Four Continents and A Couple Black Markets”, with guest host, Dominique Stewart, he goes into the later life of Howell. 

Still this raid on Pinnacle, further spread Rastas across slums in Kingston, Spanish Town and other parts of the island. 

Events of the Late 1950’s 

In 1955, the PNP won the general election and, thus Norman Manley became the country’s chief minister. Throughout 1955, 56, and 57, there were incidents between Rastas and police officers. but major events came in 1958. Early that year on March 19, in the company of a police superintendent, citizens set ablaze around 50 houses at Pinnacle, thus completely destroying the Rasta settlement. Around this time, the first universal Rastafarian convention was taking place. The event was a 21 day groundation organised by Prince Emmanuel Charles Edwards. Rastas from all over the island came all over to attend the event. The Jamaica Times newspaper reported that the Rastas had summoned the now governor, Kenneth Blackburne and Norman Manley, to discuss their departure back to Africa. They even sent a telegram to Queen Elizabeth II that states:

“We the Ancient Ethiopia call upon you for our repatriation for this is the 58th year. Emergency answer” 

But Rastas did not wait for the Queen’s answer. On March 22, a reported 300 Rastas, carrying red, green, gold and black banners, showed up in Victoria Park, which is today, St. Williams Grant Park. According to the state, the Rastas intended to capture Kingston in the name of Haile Selassie. The police eventually drove the Rastas out of the park. 

At this point, the Special Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, estimated that around 1900 Rastas were living in Kingston, St. Catherine and St. James. 

Then almost a year later in 1959, on May 7, a dispute between a Rasta gatekeeper, Sidney Maitland, and a market policeman took place. According to news report, a police officer tried to arrested Maitland but he resisted. This prompt the police officer to pullout his gun upon which Maitland was restrained and taken away to the police station. Protesting the treatment, vendors in the market stopped working while other flung stone at the police officers who were in the market. A police car was then set on fire and when a fire brigade showed up to deal with this, the rioters attacked them. The police retaliated with tear gas and burning many homes, some sources says as much as fifty, in Kingston Pen and Back-O-Wall. In the end, a reported eighty people were arrested - including eight women. 

But in the wake of the new decade, one of the biggest moments in Rastafari history would start to take shape. And it all started with Claudius Henry and the African Reform Church, Church of Christ. 

Claudius Henry and the African Reform Church 

After spending thirteen years in the United States, where he got his preacher license in 1950, Claudius Henry returned to Jamaica in December 1957. According to him, God had instructed him to returned to return to Jamaica to lead Black people to Africa. At first, Henry’s set up an informal congregation in 1958 in parts of Clarendon. Soon after, Edna Fisher, one of his devotee, invited him to set up a church on her land and as such, Henry move his church from Clarendon to 78 Rosalie Avenue in Kingston. 

Now with a growing congregation, Henry soon dumb himself the “Repairer of the Breach” and “Cyrus” where he was destined to lead the Black Israelites. And it with the latter proclamation that Henry started to tell his congregation that he will be putting steps in place for Black Jamaicans to go to Africa. This very much appeal to Rastas. Thus, as time went by, Henry announced that October 5, 1959, would be the day, they will depart to Africa. As such, he invited persons who want to take part to come to his Avenue Africa Reform Church of Christ (ARC). Weeks leading up to the date of departure, Henry was giving out “passports” for this trip even though he never specified the mode of transport - whether land or sea. One had to donate and then be given these “passports”. According to a October 1959 Gleaner article detailing a meeting in Hayes Square, Clarendon: 

“Light blue cards, for which donations were given, were issued tot hose desirous of going back to Africa”. 

The article continued:

“These cards were the passports of intending travelers’ and would entitle each holder and his family to go back to Africa “free of all encumbrances”

And when asked how these trips would be funded, Henry spoke on his travels to Ethiopia and discussions of Reparations he had with the Ethiopia state. In a published statement in The Star on October 5, 1959, he stated:

“I am back from Ethiopia, having gone there on important business concerning Repatriation and the welfare of the Black people of Jamaica as a whole. This has been my second visit to Ethiopia to discuss these matters on the spot, with responsible Ethiopian officials. The result of these discussion will be made known to the people of Jamaica in the right manner and in due time”. 

This explanation was ideal for many persons as come October 2, numerous persons started showing up at 78 Rosalie Avenue. The Star reported the atmosphere as being in a “enthusiastic and gay mood… singing to the accompaniment of music”

By October 5, the Day of Departure, thousands were at ARC where many had sold their possessions in preparation for the trip. According to Dr. Deborah Thomas in her book, “Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transactional Jamaica”, almost 15,000 tickets were sold at a shilling each. But the trip never materialised for as persons waited for the departure, Henry announced that October 5 was not the days of departure of but the “Deadline Day of Decision” which was entirely different. In summary, the trip materialised. Henry would leave Jamaica for New York for what he termed “private business” but upon his return to the island, would faced charges over the fiasco. This entire situation further propelling Rastas to national attention not being seen since Howell in the 1930’s. 

Still, while of this happening, the Jamaican state was watching. 

The Henry Rebellion of 1960 

In the aftermath of the Day of Departure fiasco, the state intensified their arrest of Rastas. Numerous police teams such as “Operation Beards”, “Operation Rastas", “Operation Rosalie” and “Operation Henry” were created. And if these sounded militarised, it was as the military was involved in many of these task force. 

With this increase intelligence of Henry occurring, come April 6, 1960, about 100 police officers raided the ARC headquarters. The next day a second raid occurred at four ARC branches in Clarendon. In its wake, Henry and 15 other persons, including two women, were arrested and jailed without bail. The reason for their arrest: the state said that they were apart of plot to assassinate members of the government in mid-April. 

In the weeks that followed this arrest, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, an ex Scotland Yard detective named George Mullen, flew to New York to find out more about Howell. He visited the headquarters of First African Corps, a self titled revolutionary organisation that was created to “liberate Africa from colonialism”. According to Mullen, many of the items found out at the facility were identical to materials seized at the ARC raids in Jamaica. 

The news startled many business elites in Jamaica who were afraid that all the happening around Henry would hurt Jamaica emerging image as a tourist destination. Around the same period, Time magazine published an article titled “The Lions of Judah’s Men” that read:

“is to be hailed on the streets of Kingston by a band of bearded Negroes yelling the slogan ‘Fire lightning, judgement! White man must go! Blood must flow!’”

Standing trail for treason felonies, the court proceeding of Henry and his affiliates took place on May 2, 1960 at the Half Way Tree courthouse. It was the first treason/felony case recorded in Jamaica. Shouting, singing and carrying banners, many Rastas and persons of ARC turned out to protest Henry’s arrest. In response, police officers beat Rastas with batons and hurled tear gas at them. 

While the trail was taken place, a top secret group called the “Rastafari Rehabilitation Committee” run by the Ministry of Home Affairs was created. Their mission as to reform Rastafari

Weeks after it formation, another escalation kicked off on June 21, 1960 where a group of men attacked British soldiers at the army regiment in Red Hills. Two soldiers were killed. As one Gleaner headline reported on June 22: 

“Desperadoes With Rapid-Fire Guns Kill Two Royal Hampshire Soldiers: Gang of Five, Som Bearded, Hijack Van, Escape to Sligoville”

The Desperadoes as they were dubbed by the media consisted of five Americans and two Jamaica. The Americans were Henry’s son, Reynold, William Jeter, Howard Rollins, Titus Damon and David Kenyatta. The two Jamaicans were: Eldred Morgan and Albert Gabbidon. 

According to government records, the police believed that the Desperadoes were to launch their insurrection in August where they were to target the General Penitentiary, the Central Police Station and the Headquarters House, the office of the Colonia secretary and home to the Jamaica Legislature. 

Still in the days that followed June 21, the Desperadoes evaded the police by holding persons at hostage for food, shelter and transportation. In its wake, the premier of the island, Norman Manley issued a state of emergency where he told the nation: 

“I want to ask every citizen to assist your government in protecting the good name of the country. I want to ask you all to report any unusual moments you may see of Rastafari people whether they are going in ones or twos or in groups, wherever they suddenly appear in suspicious circumstances”. 

A reward of 300 pounds for information leading to the capture of the men was on offered. A police task force of around 1000 personals was created in what up to that moment was the biggest manhunt in Jamaica’s history. 

On June 27th, the manhunt for the Desperadoes came to an end as the men were captured while they slept in a shop. According to a Gleaner June 28th, 1960 article:

“The men woke up a shop-keeper at Onrage grove on Sunday night, demanded food and drinks and having had them asleep on the floor of his house. They were awakened just before 5 o’clock yesterday morning by police demanded that they “come out with your hands up”

The men were taken into custody along with a sub-machine gun and several small arms and a large quantity of ammunition. 

At trial, the other detainees identified Reynolds as the leader of the group and even orchestrated teh killing of three Rastas whose decomposed bodies were found in Red Hills weeks prior. The authorities also recovered three letters one of which addressed to Cubas’ leader, Fidel Castro. As it read:

“We are getting ready for an invasion of Jamaica and therefore we need your help and personal advice”

In the end, Claudius Henry was found guilty and sent to prison. Upon being released from prison in 1967 he went back to Clarendon and built a self-sustaining community called Internal Peacemakers Association. On the other hand, Reynolds and the others were found guilty of least one murder and were sentenced to death and hanged on the gallows at the St Catherine District Prison.

Still if anything, the events of what is now known as the Henry Rebellion of 1960 further put Rastafari in a negative image. Many saw it as, “a potential breeding ground for communists, for violent revolutionaries and… a shelter for criminals”. As such, some kind of understanding of Rastafari would be needed to understand its members and it would be researchers at the UWI Mona who took up the call to exactly that. 

The Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica

The report was given wide distribution where The Gleaner carried multiple cartoons and even thirteen instalment of its contents. Now, there were some condemnation. The Roman Catholic priest. Gladstone Wilson, stated the report was “unworthy of scholars” but they were some who gave the report praise, such as Dr. L.C. Leslie, a former mayor of Spanish Town who having read the report stated that Rastas were “industrious” and not aligned with “subversive activities”. But whose thoughts on the report that were most important was members of Rastafari themselves. According to Dr. Nettleford in his book, Mirror Mirror: Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica”: 

“The Rastafari brethren whose letters had prompted the study in the first place were on the whole satisfied with the outcome. Even if they were not pleased with all the findings in the Report they seemed gratified with the developments in the wider society. For the first time, their cause was being publicity aired”. 

However, to note the report itself was largely addressed to Norman Manley where Dr. Arthur Lewis, who at this time was the principal of UWI, told Manley in the forward of the report: 

The team has made a number of recommendations, which require urgent consideration. The movement is large, and in a state of great unrest. Its problems require priority treatment. Though the movement has no single leader, or group of leaders, it is willing to produce a small group of prominent representatives to discuss with the Government the recommendations contained in this report. I very much hope that you may be able to arrange such a meeting at the earliest possible opportunity”

Now many recommendations were outlined in the report, one of which was a mission to Africa. Surprisingly, the government facilitated this where a small group of Rastas were sponsored by the state to visit the continent in 1961. Facing backlash from the media and elite on the island , the government defended their position by stating that Rastafarians were Jamaican and “this was a part of a wider policy on migration”. 

However, there was something more important about this move by the government. As stated by A.E. Gordon Buffonge in the work, “Culture and Political Opportunity: Rastafarian Links To The Jamaican Poor:” 

“Premier Manley’s acceptance of the University Report and implementation of some of its recommendations improved the movement’s image in Jamaica. By carrying out the Report’s recommendation of a mission to Africa, which included some Rastafari in the mission, Manley had given the movement some national credibility.” 

But whatever good the Manley government did for Rastafari image in 1960, was going to be challenged very soon. For almost two and half years after the report was published, what is arguably the biggest event in the history of Rasta oppression in Jamaica would occurred in a series of event that would become known as the Coral Gardens Massacre. 

The Coral Gardens Incident

So its the early 1960’s, Jamaica is getting ready to begin proceedings of independence; and its booming tourism industry has a racial paradise was taken form where Montego Bay was poised to be the future of that. At this time, the largest landowner in Montego Bay was the Custos of St. James, Sir Francis Moncrieff Kerr-Jarret - who traces his ancestry to landowners of St. James from the 1700’s. As such, this is not newly acquired land on his part; it has being in his family for centuries. As such, Kerr-Jarret was betting and pouring alot of energy into developing Montego Bay as the beacon of Jamaica’s tourist industry. 

But the issue is that in this imagery that the investors and the government had of Jamaica’s tourism industry, Rastas did not fit in that picture. As Dr. Horace Campbell stated in his paper: “Coral Gardens 1963: The Rastafari and Jamaican Independence”: 

“For the owners of the new and expanding hotel properties, the presence of Rastas was a disincentive for investors. Numerous calls were made for barriers to the movement of Rastafari in the Coral Gardens area. The aspiring 'developers' strove to prevent 'undesirables' from walking through private property… Montego Bay was being changed and segregated and ordinary workers were excluded from beaches and from public spaces. The processes of urbanization were changing the very nature of Jamaican society.

And out of this changing city, came a land dispute between the state, developers and a Rasta farmer named Benjamin ‘Rudolph’ Francis. 

Rudolph lived at Rose Hall but work at his farm above Salt Spring. In the 2015 government report “An Investigation Into The April 1963 Incident at Coral Gardens”, beginning in the early 1960’s Rudolph had multiple run-ins with the police. As it reads: 

“The first encounter between Rudolph and the police occurred when the police raided Rudolph's farm at about the time when the crops were ready for reaping. The police reaped what they wanted, and chopped down the rest. Rudolph told them that he is not a squatter. The Police told him that he was too close to Rose Hall. On a second occasion, the police again raided his farm, reaped what they wanted and chopped down the rest.”

According to Rudolph’s daughter in the 2011 documentary, “Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens” directed by John L. Jackson and Dr. Deborah A. Thomas, the land was left for him by his father. And with this, Rudolph refused to be displaced off this land. However, the next time the police came, things took a turn. As the report read: 

On the third occasion, Rudolph was on his farm working with his machete. The Police told him to drop the machete. He refused. They shot him three times in his stomach”

And as life would have it, Rudolph survived the gunshots but was severely ignored and had to have plastic surgery on his stomach. After this, he was then arrested and sent to prison for six months for possession of ganga. 

Upon his release, according to 2015 government report, 

“Rudolph felt very angry that he had been maliciously prosecuted, shot, seriously injured, tried, convicted and sentenced, for doing nothing wrong on his assessment” 

As such, on Holy Thursday on April 11, 1963, Rudolph and few other men attacked and burnt down a gas station and other buildings in the vicinity. When the police were called to the scene, Rudolph and his supporters clash with the officers and in its wake, Rudolph and two of his supporters, two police officers and three other citizens died. The next day, nine motor unites of the JDF travelled to Montego Bay and a large battalion of soldiers joined the police to response to the incident. The now Prime Minister, Sir Alexander Bustamante, and other government officials was flown from Kingston to Montego Bay. According to Dr. Charles Price, the incident at Coral Gardens “was treated as an insurrection when really it was a local dispute gone haywire”. As such, in the days that followed, more security forces on the orders of the government desencened upon Rasta communities. 

In a 1963 Public Opinion interview with notable journalist John Maxwell not too long after the incident, William Cole stated: 

“We got to understand what happen at Rose Hall and we got to understand that Bustamante said to bring all Rastas dead or alive”

This was the same thing told to other Rastas, featured in the documentary, “Bad Friday: Rastas After Coral Gardens”, to justify their torture.

In the 2015 government enquiry, now retired Special Corporal Clinton Somers’ testimonal stated he witnessed Prime Minister Bustamante, the Minister of Home Affairs and Commissioner of Police arrive at the station upon which he heard Bustamante said “bring in all Rasta, anything with beard, even if it’s ram goat!” He however stated that he did not hear the Prime Minister Bustamante say that they were to bring in all Rastas dead or alive.

Still, as life would have it, Rastas were indeed brought in for over a hundred, nationwide, were jailed, tortured and beaten. In just a week, the official count was about 160 Rastas. Oral accounts from Rastas documented the torture. As Cole, who was one of many Rastas jailed during the incident, told Maxwell in 1963, 

“A body of people come down on me with gun and stick and started to break the house door with a force, and demands me out of the house. My wife get frighten and run with the baby. They come into the house and fine me under the bed because I heard them crying for me to come out so they could beat me… a man lift up the sheet of the bed and point his gun at me and I come out. They start with their stick dem and they gun to murder me in the worst condition. Then they take me away to the Deeside lockup… The same continually murderation was going in the police transport. They mashed out my toenail with their police boots, spit in my face and juk me with they baton. But the worst position was in Falmouth… At Falmouth they asked me my name and I told them and then began again to murder me and Ellis all the while telling us ‘go back where you come from’. It was about 15 to 16 of them was in the station beating us… Some of them had batons and some had all kind of big stick and it was in the station there that they to kill us. They beat us until Ellis’ foot swell big so and they beat me until my hand burs’ and they break my knee-cap besides which they hit me in my back so bad that they semen run out of my line for three days straight… The prisoners shouted out that I was dead and the police got a doctor to see me. He said I should get three day’s hospital treatment but the police only close the door and left me there”. 

And although much of the focus of Coral Gardens were focused on men, Rasta women were also tortured. In the book, “Book of Memory: A Rastafari Testimony edited by Dr. Michael Kuelker, Rasta elder, Prince Elijah William recalled: 

“That morning, mi family were brutally hangled. Ruth were made to stand in the sun. If she were to falter and sit, they were ready to strike her. She and mi son, Skenchie, at that time six weeks old, burned up in the sun the whole day. The police-dem and civilian women comb out Ruth’s locks. I see fi I-self. She had nuff locks. Combed out one by one. 

Then there were those Rastas who fearing for their lives, opted to trim their locks and shave their beard to avoid the state. 

A few months later after the events of Coral Gardens, the trial began on July 16, 1963. Three men who were said to be associates of Rudolph - Clifton Larman, Carlton Bowen and Leabert Jarrett -were tried and sentenced to death by hanging. In May 1964, Jared was released on appeal but the two other men were hanged on December 2, 1964. 

Seven months after Coral Gardens a bill was introduced by the then Minister of Health, Dr. Herbert Eldemire to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act. The state used the event of Coral Gardens to call for more severity sentence, mandatory terms of imprisonment, on the cultivating, selling and otherwise dealing of ganga. The opposition oppose this where the opposition minister, Norman Manley, a known teetotaler, called for a ganga inquiry stressing that “Ganja no more dangerous than alcohol, tobacco” while then opposition member, Florizel Glasspole stressed that the act would make criminals of many young persons. This clearly pushed the rhertoric of PNP’s association with Rastafari. Still Bustamante stood his ground by saying, 

“Mr. Speaker, I do not believe in a long debate now multiplicity of words. This Government will use every authority at its command to have ganja smoking, growing, trading stamped out. They can talk all they want… the bill is going through as it is”. 

As the ruling government has the majority in the House, the bill was passed and by 1964, hundreds of Jamaicas were imprisoned for smoking and possession of ganga. It was not until 1972 that mandatory imprisonment as sentences was abolished.

Reconciliation

In 1963 John Maxwell wrote the following in the wake of the Coral Gardens incident: 

“Whatever we might feel about the Rastas, we must remember that are no less human because they were beards and worship God in a slightly less conventional manner than other Christians. If we agree to their persecution we are agreeing with Hitler Eichmann & Co. And we are agreeing if we do not raise up our voices and pens to insist that their rights must be respected”

Still, it would not be until April 2007 that Mike Henry became one of the first politicians to asked Rastafarians for forgiveness for the 1963 ‘Coral Gardens Incident’ and demanded that the Government compensate the victims of the persecution carried out by agents of the state. In December 2015, the official inquiry into the events was published. The author, the office of public defender stated: 

“This report recognises those Rastafarians who suffered discrimination and suppression and who were not involved and who in no way participated in any of the unlawful activities relating to the Coral Gardens events 1963”. 

By 2017, the now Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, who was also president of the Jamaica Labour Party, who was in power at the time of incident, formally apologised. In his statement, he states: 

“Fellow Jamaicans, the Coral Gardens Incident was a grave injustice. The Government acknowledges that the machinery of the Jamaican state evolved out of an era when it was considered appropriate to utilize the heavy hand of the state against citizens. Today, without equivocation, we apologise for what occurred in Coral Gardens.We express our regret and sorrow for this chapter in our national life that was characterised by brutality, injustice and repression, which was wrong and should never be repeated”. 

In his statement, the PM announced a 10million trust fund to benefit survivors of the 1963 incident, six lots at Pinnacle being declared a protected heritage site and a resources allocated to The Coral Gardens Benevolent Society. 

Still the events of that would become Coral Gardens has become the defining moment of the history of Rasta oppression in years to come. And couple with how his government dealt with the incident and his 1939 letter calling for the oppression of Rasta has spur debates on social and traditional media on the validity of Bustamante being made a National Hero. Yet, despite the state reconciliation efforts, the incident is still a sore spot for many Rastas. For as Chronixx would sing on the 2018 track, Flames, off Protoje’s album “A Matter of Time” 

“And me nah stop talk bout Coral Gardens till me dead”. 

Later Years

Another incident would happened beginning in 1963 where Rastas were one of the groups who would faced state violence when the government began an uproot of residents in Back-O-Wall to development the community. From 1963 to 1966, the West Kingston community would see many Rastas, Black Jamaicans and Indo-Jamaicans driven out of the community for it become the what was marked as the modelled community of “Tivoli Gardens”. But that deserves it own episode. 

Then on April 21, 1966, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie, the patriot saint of Rastafari, landed in Jamaica. Whether this diplomatic invitation repair the state’s relationship with Rasta, one cannot say for by 1968, it was Rastas, in the middle of brutality, discrimination and displacement from their homes, who would find appeal with the newly minted UWI African history professor, Dr. Walter Rodney. In October, the Guyanese professor was banned by the Jamaican government. 

And yet a shift from oppression to exploitation between the state and Rasta came a year later when Michael Manley became president of the People’s National Party. In his first general campaign as party president in 1972, he would exploit Rastafari imagery - thus playing on the perceived association of Rastas and his party. In his paper, ‘Rastafari: Culture of Resistance’ Dr. Horace Campbell stated that Manley “promoted and took advantage of the metaphysical interpretations of Rastafari… he exploited the spiritual and metaphysical content of Rastafari”. And as reggae music became the sound of the moment, Manley became the first politician to utilise it in a presidential campaign where he appropriate Delroy Wilson’s ‘Betta Mus Come’ and the song title would become the PNP official 1972 election campaign slogan. For more information on this, checkout our episode, “RIP Seaga But You Still Have These Politicians Out Here Sweating”.

And yet as history would have it, the countries most famous citizen, Bob Marley, was a Rasta. And today, in a twist of faith, Rastafari is a marketing tactic for the county’s current tourist model.

Now, many social scientist have stated that the country has come a far way from the first 30 years of Rasta oppression on the island but also stressed that there is still work to do. For example many persons, Rastas and non-Rastas alike, faced discrimination over their locs in Jamaica’s public institution and the corporate workplace.