AS I watched the celebrations for Black History Month, Reggae Month, and the birthday of musical icon Bob Marley, I observed a missing factor. If the Rastafari movement is the largest black consciousness movement in the world, then why not celebrate that power? If the Rastafari movement was formed under the leadership of Leonard P Howell, the original Gong, the founding philosopher and prophet of Rastafari, then why not celebrate Howell? Since the early Rastafarian activities at the Industrial Mission at Pinnacle gave rise to the foundation of reggae music, then why not celebrate the history of the movement according to the historical records?

There is a tradition in telling the story of Jamaica in which those who build are hardly recognised. We must always be able to separate what is popular and preferred from what is historical. The story of the real heroes in the anti-colonial struggles of 1930s is one such example. It is a story waiting to be written. I hope that those who are writing the history of Black History Month and Reggae Month do not make the same mistakes made by the storytellers of the history of the 1930s.

This concern about the celebrations was inspired by a television interview with Hector Wynter relating justifications written by Sylvia Wynter. Those justifications, as he recalled, were rooted in Greek culture of hero and heroism. It seems to me that much of our heroic selection is based on that criterion as opposed to definition and empirical evidence.

We have adopted Black History Month from the Black American experience. We must now decide how we will celebrate it. Sometimes we include bits and pieces of that experience and bits and pieces of some aspects of the black experience in Jamaica. Is it that we do not know what to do, or is it that there is a continuation of that approach ‘to sanitise’ blackness in Jamaica?

Blackness is hardly visible in our Black History Month celebrations, just as it is hardly visible in the country. This social phenomenon of what occured at Pinnacle in that humble rural setting has emerged as the largest black consciousness movement in the world. It is the most profound cultural force in the country that has severely influenced the arts, literature and music. Its contribution to thought construction is vast, with its enormous advocacy of self-reliance, especially among the labouring classes of this country. It was, indeed, the radical prophetic spirituality themes from Howell that united ex-slaves across the plantation. It took party politics to destroy that bond and spirit of unity among lower-class black people in this country.

Music was an important ingredient in the activities of the Rastafarian movement; from the street meetings of the 1930s to

the celebratory activities at Pinnacle during the 1940s and to the 1950s. In his major works on Rastafari, Barry Chevannes highlights the connection of the history of reggae music to the celebrations at Pinnacle. This aspect of his work was expanded by a Japanese scholar Yoshiko Shibata’s study on the history of reggae and its roots at Pinnacle. Bilby and Lieb provide refinement on this musical history. The researchers linked the roots of reggae music to Kumina music from Port Morant, St Thomas, where Howell had his headquarters from 1933 to 1939. They show how the early forms of the music were made popular by Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, and secreted throughout the inner-city community, especially in the western sections of Kingston and St Andrew.

As we celebrate those who make the music popular, we must also celebrate the founders and the foundation of the music. Leonard P Howell, the founder of the Rastafari idea and movement, has made colossal contribution to history, politics and culture of this country. He was a part of the group of returned residents of the 1930s who, influenced by racism and other factors in the USA, became the catalyst in the anti-colonial struggles that culminated in 1938. It is important to continue research and report on the role and contribution of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari to the emergence of reggae music.

There is no dispute about Marcus Garvey’s place in the history of Jamaica and also the history of the African American experience during the 1920s. There are others that may have influenced Garvey. John Russworm (mid-1830s) is one of the earliest pioneers in the back-to-Africa movement. He was born in Portland and was one of the first black people to have graduated from college in the USA. He was a staunch supporter of the Haitian Revolution. He went to Africa to live and work. There were also Dr T E S Scholes and Dr Robert Love, black men in Jamaica who advanced black consciousness and who fought for land reform to make black political representation for ex-slaves possible. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Paul Bogle-led uprising in Morant Bay, St. Thomas. His cries for “skin for skin, colour for colour”, uniting blacks across the plantations, may have been that seminal movement of the launch of black nationalism in Jamaica. We have yet touched the surface the history of heroic men such as Tacky and Sam Sharpe, their thinking and actions.

Moreover, we have not yet tapped into the history of this country. There are so many stories to tell our peoples and the world. Take the 1930s, for example, this section of our history is not just neglected, it is hidden. I believe that the fear is that the truth of the matter will disturb the present arrangement of today’s representation of that period and its heroes. If there was a hero and a crowd in the 1930s, that hero was St William Grant, among all those founders of the trade union movement, Father Coombs, H A Buchanan, among others. There were also the leaders of the Jamaica Progressive League, W Adolphe Roberts and others began and conducted the campaign for self-government in Jamaica.

There are so many things to say to the world about our experience since the first slave ship anchored on these shores. The present celebrations are like the movies, honouring stardom instead of freedom. There is that western great man conception of history that advances the idea that the biographies of preferred great men become the history of time and place. It would have been such a great thing to remember Peter Tosh for his music in support of African liberation struggles and also his national and international campaigns for the legalisation of ganja. Is it a coincidence that the Bill was made into law in February? As we celebrate in good spirits, let us also celebrate in truth.

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