Orville Taylor | Unoo still dis Marcus

“If you di Marcus; you must bite the dust; equal rights and justice, that what he taught us…” A powerful lyric from 31 years ago, Capleton’s Don’t Dis the Trinity is still relevant today.

Other parts of the song, an affirmation of his Rastafarian catechism, include entreaties to neither disrespect Selassie I nor Emmanuel. Though not a Bobo Ras cloth turban wearing Rastafarian, it is difficult for me to deny the prophet status of our first national hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Finally, in his swan song, outgoing president of the US, Joe Biden, issued a posthumous presidential pardon for Garvey, based on his 1923 conviction.

It was long in coming. After all, there is every indication that forces inside his own Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and other persons of African descent, collaborated to lead him along a path, which ultimately led to his incarceration.

Unquestionably, Garvey suffered from poor advice and perhaps, even a bit of delusion, in thinking that purchasing sea vessels, without all of the trappings surrounding their operation could be a successful venture. In the end he was in deep ship and debt.

Interestingly, conversations with senior attorneys suggest that, despite any mens rea, that is, any intention to carry out a criminal act, Garvey might unwittingly have been led along a false trail by multiple individuals, who collected more than 30 pieces of silver. And by the way, the frequently mentioned ‘Bag a wire’, who allegedly betrayed him, might very well have been Jamaican and the references were not to what happened in the US, but right here on the rock, his country of birth.

That this pardon took place, in the same week of the birthday of civil rights legend Martin Luther King, and hours before new president, Donald Trump reaffirmed his intention to deport large numbers of non-Americans, as was done to Garvey in December 1927, is significant. The pardon came almost exactly 99 years to the date, when the American courts ordered the sale of the UNIA headquarters for unpaid taxes; potentially a major blow to the movement in America.

ACKNOWLEDGED

Still, it must be acknowledged that President Calvin Coolidge, did commute the sentence; America’s first act of clemency towards him.

Landing in Jamaica in 1927, with the interest of his people at heart, his prophetic status became self-evident. For all his insight and activism in the US, he clearly was blindsided by the events, which ultimately led to his removal. His 1929 manifesto is a tour de force. Visionary by even today’s standards; he proposed among other things, a 40-hour work week and a national minimum wage. These did not come into effect until 1975, with the National Minimum Wage Order.

Apart from seeking independence along the lines of that which was enjoyed in New Zealand, Garvey was a proponent of universal adult suffrage, and thus, one man, one vote.

Having formed a printer’s union around 1907, he understood the link between these organisations and political parties. As a matter of fact, he suggested in his manifesto, that trade union should form political parties and, elect legislators, who would then pass laws, which protect the working class; the majority of the population.

Recognising the sanctity of the right to vote, he proposed penalties against persons who attempt to induce or threaten voters. This was almost a decade before the People’s National Party (PNP) was formed, and 14 years before the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)

Though pan-Africanist, he was extremely concerned of the native population, and spoke of protection for local industries. Montegonians can credit Garvey for pushing for their city status. At the other end of the island, his second recommendation, Port Antonio, is still not yet there.

With only Kingston Technical, founded in 1896 and Carron Hall Vocational in St Mary, in 1924, Garvey’s vision was for a technical school in every single parish. His manifesto also included libraries and civic improvement in parish capitals.

LAND REFORM

Land reform was also included, bearing in mind the serious inequities relating to land ownership and distribution in this country. One will recall that out of the Morant Bay Rebellion, one of the observations of the investigating commission was, that labour issues, and the absence of land ownership, precipitated the uprising.

Knowing fully well that legal defence was out of the scope of the average Jamaican citizen, Garvey called for the provision of legal aid. It took another 71 years before the government finally acted. To the credit of the Norman Manley Law School, this service had already been made available after the first batch of graduates were produced during the 1970s.

Yet, for all of his insight, the cliché from St Mark about a prophet not having honour in his own country, is something which the current Jamaican administration, and both political parties need to confront, and apologise for the overall way in which Garvey was treated.

Almost a century later, when corruption and the integrity of the Integrity Commission are under the spotlight, his position that judges who disregarded the laws and Constitution, should be impeached, is today an impeccable canon of good governance and justice. It is for these remarks that he was convicted, of course, by judges themselves. Any suggestion that any holder of a government post is beyond reproach spits on Garvey’s name.

Apart from the sheer piracy of his legacy when the PNP and JLP were formed later, Norman Manley, the PNP’s founding president, was a thorn in his side. Suing him in a civil matter, he went for the jugular, appropriating his ‘throne’ as a settlement. Ultimately, the elites hounded and forced him into ‘exile’ in England, where he died in 1940.

It took 20 years after alternating administrations of the JLP and PNP, for an anti-black Parliament, to finally bring home his remains.

Thanks for the pardon and the local expungement by the current administration; but we need a formal apology for how we dissed him in life and death.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.