MARCUS Garvey, Jamaica’s first acclaimed national hero, would have been 134 years old if he were alive today. Despite his death in London, England, in 1940, a broken and disillusioned man, he remains one of the most influential 20th-century black nationalist and pan-Africanist leaders.

He was born in St Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, but his influence spread worldwide, gaining him the title of Black Moses. With much audacity, he adopted an inspirational phrase from Booker T Washington’s book, Up From Slavery, which declared: “Up, you mighty race; you can conquer what you will.”

This mantra, which was subsequently adjusted to read: “You can accomplish what you will,” helped to fuel his vision of “drawing peoples of the [African] race together”. In this vein, he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914. Within a short period of time, Garvey, who was forced to pursue his dreams in the United States of America because of much rejection and scepticism in his homeland, saw this movement spread its wings right across the country and among negro populations throughout the world.

The essence of Garveyism was racial pride, spiritual redemption, and return to the ancestral and promised land (One Aim, One God, One Destiny).

Apart from the Rastafarian sect, Jamaicans in general have not embraced that vision, and it is perhaps even more ironic that up to the time of his death Garvey never had the opportunity to set foot on the African continent. Notwithstanding this unfortunate non-occurrence, Garvey appealed to the dreams of millions of negroes throughout the world as he made members of the black race feel proud at a time when they had little to be proud about. Of Garvey’s impact on the black race, it was once said: “He made them feel like somebody among white people who have said they were nobody.”

Tragically, in today’s Jamaica, the land of his birth, a large portion of the black population, especially in the lower and middle echelons of the society, have very little racial pride. It is no secret that many Jamaicans still maintain that “anything too black nuh good”, and we see this being played out in the practice of numerous young men and women who have opted to “bleach in order to reach”.

This has happened against a background in which our various political leaders have successively only paid lip service to Garveyism, to the extent that the country’s educational system has so far not fully embraced the need to teach Garveyism from kindergarten up to the tertiary level so that Jamaican nationals can feel a sense of pride in being black and beautiful.

It is to be noted that Garvey desperately sought to infiltrate the island’s political system in order to have a meaningful platform to expand his vision and inculcate his philosophy and teachings in the minds of his people, but this attempt was doomed to failure even though between 1928 and 1935 the UNIA played a pivotal role in politicising the masses. In the book Alexander Bustamante and Modern Jamaica by George E Eaton, which I had the honour to edit, the renowned professor noted that “Marcus Garvey himself attempted to participate directly in the political affairs of the country, but operating as he did within a colonial political structure, his ventures into Jamaican politics were only moderately successful. In 1929 he was elected a councillor of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, even while serving a three-month prison term for contempt of court. His seat was declared vacant, but Garvey was again re-elected upon his release. His attempt to launch a political party — the Jamaica People’s Political Party – in 1928, as well as a worker’s movement – the Jamaica Workers’ and Labourers Association – in 1930, both proved abortive, as was his attempt to win a seat in the Legislative Council in January 1930. When Garvey left Jamaica for the last time in 1935 to become an exile in London, his black, downtrodden, but racially aroused countrymen were forced to shed their preoccupation with distant Africa and to contemplate, with growing disillusionment, their immediate and depressing lot at home.”

In real terms, fast-forward to 2021, not much has changed, notwithstanding what I am tempted to refer to as the “politics of opportunism” which saw the emergence of an Alexander Bustamante and a Norman Manley. It is well known that Garvey was harassed through the courts and isolated by the black and coloured middle classes, which ultimately caused him to seek exile in England. And based on what is happening in Jamaica today, he would, perhaps, have faced the same level of ostracism and rejection from a post-colonial society that is yet to come to terms with itself in terms of self-determination, patriotism, and national identity.

Interestingly, back then, it was Alexander Bustamante who emerged as Garvey’s successor and champion of the Jamaican masses, using his trade unionism platform as his major tool for social, economic, and political change. Later on, his cousin Norman Manley would join the fray and between them both would have become the architects of modern Jamaica — warts and all. But, regrettably, Marcus Mosiah has never been sufficiently recognised as the John the Baptist that paved the way for these ‘messiahs’.

And so, every year when his birthday comes around we go through the cosmetic ritual of making flowery speeches while laying wreaths, but Garvey must be turning in his grave to see what is happening in his beloved homeland — the injustices against poor, black Jamaicans continue unabated, epitomised in the recent alleged trimming of the locks of a young Rastafarian woman, the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the self-flagellation because the average Jamaican sees himself or herself as a mere pawn in a divisive political system.

There can be no question that Garveyism will not be fully recognised in the homeland of Marcus Garvey until Jamaicans come to their senses and embrace what this visionary black man tried to do, even though he failed in many ways because a prophet is never accepted in his own country.

It is to be noted that Garvey did not simply espouse a pie-in-the-sky vision, his UNIA was about the promise of black economic upliftment via self-reliance and political equality via self-determination.

Yes, he may have gone overboard with his pan-African pursuit, but it is still appropriate for us to rally around the red, black, and green flag of black manhood. After all, Jamaica is greatly in need of leaders with testicular fortitude to take this crime-ravaged, poverty-stricken nation to the Promised Land. Don’t forget “Ole Marcus”, he is still relevant today and will always be until our national motto “Out of many one people” becomes a glowing reality.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved full-time in Jamaican media for the past 45 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica, where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.