Hero, saviour, criminal?
On Sunday, October 11, 2015 the 150th anniversary of the Morant Bay Rebellion — now uprising — was observed. This day marked a horrendous chapter in Jamaica’s history of colonial security forces’ brutality that caused the death of over 400 black Jamaicans, the flogging of 600 men and women, and the demolition and burning of over 1,000 homes by the then colonial government.
On Sunday, October 11, 2015 the 150th anniversary of the Morant Bay Rebellion — now uprising — was observed. This day marked a horrendous chapter in Jamaica’s history of colonial security forces’ brutality that caused the death of over 400 black Jamaicans, the flogging of 600 men and women, and the demolition and burning of over 1,000 homes by the then colonial government.
In 1919, in India, then another British colony, the Amristar massacre took place, during which colonial forces brought on the killing/slaughter of some 379 Indians and injured over 1,000.
What do these two massacres have in common, apart from the sheer savagery and brutality unleashed on the governed by their governors at the time? The central figure in the Morant Bay Rebellion was Governor Edward John Eyre, who gave the orders (so to speak), and in the case of India, it was Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer. The similarity lies in just how both these men were treated by society, and particularly by the British press.
Governor Eyre was suspended from his governorship in early December 1865, and a commission of enquiry convened. The enquiry gathered evidence from over 700 witnesses over a period of 51 days, and by June 1866 the report was submitted to the British Parliament in London. Eyre was eventually relieved of his post as governor and retired without a pension. However, he was hailed by many of his countrymen at the time for carrying out his duty as a governor and “saving” the colony from being taken over by “black, rebellious savages”. Even the British press at that time appeared to focus more on condemning the rebels as opposed to the obvious unlawful acts performed by the governor.
In the case of the Amristar massacre, Brigadier-General Dyer on his recall to England was given somewhat of a hero’s welcome. The House of Lords praised Dyer and gave him a sword inscribed with the words, “Saviour of the Punjab”. In addition, a large fund was raised by Dyer’s sympathisers (26,000 pounds, a present-day equivalent of 1,000,000 pounds) and presented it to him. The families of the victims received the paltry sum of 37 pounds, or the now equivalent of 1,459 pounds for each victim.
Both of these men were regarded as saviours, given at worst a slap on the wrist for their ‘crimes’. The British press were, by and large, accepting that, at all cost, despite the obvious cruelty and injustices, the establishment or status quo was to be preserved. So, if a few black skulls were cracked or crushed in the process, it was for a noble cause.
Does the 2010 Tivoli incident have any similarities with either the Morant Bay or Amristar massacres? Well, only about 70 black people were killed by the State, and we were not natives or a colony, and the person giving the orders was black. The Tivoli Commission of Enquiry took us five years to get started, and we are certainly not going to hear evidence from over 700 witnesses. It appears that the Jamaican press has bought into the lie that the security forces “saved” Jamaica or reclaimed territory (Tivoli) from a criminal warlord/gangster. Will the victims be appropriately compensated?
We could arrange for the ground breaking for the new prison to be done in time for the next anniversary of the Morant Bay Rebellion, and invite Prime Minister David Cameron of Great Britain back to do the honours from the steps of the Morant Bay courthouse. During the ceremony, Prime Minister Cameron could hand a sword suitably inscribed “Saviours of Jamaica” to our security forces who so nobly saved us at Tivoli in 2010.
Finally, do we feel outrage at those who carried out the killings or toward the act itself, regardless of whodunit?
alldouglas@aol.com