Ethiopian Prayer

Howell was born in Redlands, Crooked River, Clarendon. There is no evidence that he was a member of the US armed forces but it is certain that he has done some travelling. He left Jamaica as a youth and returned in 1932. In 1933 he began preaching "Ras Tafari as messiah returned to earth". Unable to get the attention of the urban crowd, he went to St Thomas -- areas such as Seaforth, Trinityville, Morant Bay and Port Morant -- where he found a most fertile soil for his new idea and message. It is important to bear in mind what was happening in that parish during the period (1933-1938). Also important to note are the antecedents of "skin for skin" message and uprising by Bogle in 1865 and the peculiar characteristics of the parish regarding African retentions in religion and other cultural activities.

According to his testimony, Howell began preaching in 1933. He was arrested in Seaforth on December of 1933. He was tried for sedition at the High Court in Morant Bay under the leadership of Chief Justice Sir Robert William Lyall-Grant. He was imprisoned for two years. While he was incarcerated, the movement grew. He was arrested a second time but was diverted to the asylum. It is observed that at the 1934 trial in Morant Bay, he put forward the most illuminating treatise on the origins of the philosophy Rastafari. The colonial authorities wanted to prevent a second chapter in that book of philosophy, described as "devil doctrine" by the chief justice.

Howell was described by the newspaper reporter as "dapper" having a beard resembling that of the Emperor of Ethiopia. He wore a three-piece black suit with a rosette of black, green and gold. The same was worn by his followers in the audience. Indeed, most recently, Mr Frank Gordon OD, wrote on the national flag and its colours. I am sure Frank will be surprised that Howell was the pioneer in capturing the combination of these colours as a symbol of the movement. Regarding the article, it is important to note the timeline in the history of Howell and the movement. He was released from prison in 1936; went back to St Thomas in 1938-1939. He was driven violently out of the parish by the terror of the police, politicians, planters and trade unionist mob from Port Morant. He established the Ethiopian Salvation Society in 1939, bought Pinnacle in 1940 and by 1954 the government, in its anti-communist drive, invaded and destroyed Pinnacle, the first Rastafari commune.

Some observers, for example Ken Post, argue that the role of the Rastafari movement was not significant in the activities of the 1930s. If this were so, then why were Howell and the movement under such scrutiny by the local police and Scotland Yard? His letters abroad to people such as George Padmore were intercepted in England and packages from Padmore to Howell were seized in Jamaica. A "secret" correspondence from Colonel Sir Vernon Kell to Colonial secretary C L Wollery dated 1938 states:

Howell has apparently started a movement which he calls the African Salvation Union of Jamaica. He described it as an international organisation pledged to support morally and financially the continued independence, national integrity and complete sovereignty of Africa.

There are many more "secret" correspondences from the Colonial Office in Jamaica to London and from the police to the attorney-general. These are correspondence about a significant personality and idea, making Howell a serious political figure of the period.

Howell was indeed "dapper", the most militant Rastafari. According to the Observer article (Feb 9), militant Rastas did not embrace his conservative image so they began to grow dreadlocks. Not so. The emergence of the dreadlocks came at a certain time in the movement. It emerged about the time when Ethiopia was invaded by Italy. It was influenced by the unfolding of new images from Africa especially from Kikuyu fighters and others who established solidarity with Haile Selassie against the Italians. The article, however, carried a significant statement by Howell: "We the living members of the Ethiopian Salvation society shall serve Haile Selassie to the end and all well-thinking men and women regardless of colour and creed will do likewise." Indeed, today, Rastafari is not just a Jamaican phenomenon. It has become a universal force. What the planters, the trade unionists, the colonial authorities, established churches and the police tried to crush in infancy has emerged as a new centre of power in the world. Howell, in my thinking, has to be one of the most influential Jamaicans of the 20th and the 21st centuries.

It is important to note that Howell was put under the police microscope the moment he arrived in Jamaica in 1932. The book La Premier Rasta by Helene Lee mentioned his troubles with the police; how the raids and seizures destroyed evidence vital to the history of the man and the movement.

The leaders of the established and evangelical churches worked hand in hand with the police to terrorise and uproot Howell from St Thomas. Including the planters, they were all violently opposed to the "race conscious' doctrine of Rastafari. Apparently, there was a fear that the message would dislodge the "ex-slaves" from the plantation culture. In an effort to answer, "Who is the Man?" I will examine the reactions of individuals and institutions in their speeches and letters about Howell.

On May 14, 1933, the inspector in charge of the Morant Bay police station, W A Adams, had this to say in a "confidential" correspondence Rex vs Leonard Howell for sedition:

The Detective instructed me to keep an eye on a man named Leonard Howell, a Jamaican, who has been holding meeting in Kingston on the subject of Rastafari, King of Abyssinia, and whose speeches at his meetings might have a bad influence on the less educated people.

The chief justice, Sir Robert William Lyall-Grant, lived in Africa before serving in Jamaica. He presided over the trial of John Chilembwe's followers in the 1915 rising in Nyasaland. The rising came about as a result of Africans asserting themselves to reclaim land stolen by the British. In 1934, he had this to say as he sentenced Howell for preaching "devil" doctrine:

"Howell, you have been convicted by the jury for uttering seditious language: this is such language as is calculated to cause disturbance and violence among the ignorant people of this country...to stir up the people against the government and to do acts of violence and I mistake not, you have already succeeded in making people discontented and committed acts of violence."

While Howell was in prison, the movement grew. Many events occurred between 1934 and 1938. In 1938, the people of Seaforth, St Thomas led the way for the famous "uprisings" of the 1930s. After his 1938 return to St Thomas, Howell, responding to the fierce laws, began to have his meetings indoor. This did not prevent the mob related to the trade union leader and the planters, under the protection of the police to raid Howell's headquarters. The place was pillaged and destroyed. Bearing in mind the events of Serge Island earlier, planters and labour leaders were still apprehensive of Howell and the movement of Rastafari. It is important to note what Alexander Bustamante had to say about Howell and the Rastafari Movement prior to the events in Pt Morant. The following is an extract from a letter dated July 6, 1939 from Bustamante:

"Serious trouble is brewing at Port Morant in St Thomas, owing to a mischievousness of a man whose name is Howell, leader of this terrible thing they called the 'Rastafari'. In St Thomas, he is endeavouring to put one group against another and would not be surprised if something serious happens to him; and for that a riot does not take place here because he is fomenting serious trouble...It seems to me the only right and proper place for this man is 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."

Indeed, a riot was fomented against Howell. It was this early experience of political violence that ran Howell out of St Thomas. He returned to Kingston and in 1940 he bought Pinnacle. The latter was crushed by the same Bustamante in his 1954 anti-communist drive.

I am asking the police to look at its history and turn over a new leaf. What a better time to do this, Peter Phillips. I urge the members of the Rastafari movement to take heed of the experiences of Howell and look to a new future. Indeed, what the original Gong started, the new Gong, Marley, continued. Tuff Gong takes Pinnacle beyond Sligoville.