Compromise on Pinnacle

Garnett Roper, Guest Columnist

Recently, there has been a much-publicised squabble between members of the Rastafarian community and the owners of the St Jago Development Company. The principals of the St Jago Development Company, who are well-known Jamaican entrepreneurs, Mrs Sherwood and Richard and Michael Lake, acquired the 500-acre property named The Pinnacle in 1989.

They later discovered that the property was the birthplace of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica. It was also a city of refuge for members of the movement against the harassment and persecution they suffered during the 1940s and 1950s.

Leonard Howell, the prophet and founder of the movement, had acquired this property from one Albert Chang in the 1930s. Over the last 10 years, members of the Rastafarian community have variously occupied Pinnacle, which is located near Sligoville, St Catherine, and in recent days, they have been threatening to increase their scale of squatting, while the owners have begun to consider the option of evicting them from the land.

The Pinnacle controversy has brought Jamaica to the pinnacle of historical irony. I believe that neither the eviction of Rastafarians from the 500-acre property called Pinnacle, the first home of Rastafari, nor the illegal occupation of private property by Rastafarians, will settle the outstanding historical wrongs. Rather, a unique opportunity is on offer to address at Pinnacle: the legacy of wrongs perpetrated by the Jamaican State and its ruling elite against the Rastafarian movement. According to a position paper prepared by Barbara Blake Hannah titled 'Pinnacle:History and Current Status', in 2008, this is what happened:

It came to a boiling point in 1954 with one of the first police-military operations in Jamaica. Under orders from Prime Minister Bustamante on special advisement from the monarch, a battalion of soldiers, police and select members of the Jamaica Secret Service executed a pre-emptive raid on The Pinnacle and destroyed the village, farmers, homes, and schools that had been constructed, leaving thousands homeless. Many refugees of The Pinnacle found shelter in Coral Gardens, another Rasta village that had sprung up in the early '40s and that, too, found itself a victim of social persecution and destruction which led to a number of deaths in 1960.

RIGHTING OUR WRONGS

The question that confronts us is, what do we do about The Pinnacle, which has been properly acquired by a Jamaican family of entrepreneurs but is the birthplace and original home of the Rastafari movement? What do we do now that we know that it was the site of unjust state action and persecution of a religious minority, Rastafari? I believe that the opportunity should be taken at this time to right that historical wrong.

Over the last 25 years, some development has taken place, and there are new constructions, completed and incomplete. What is necessary is to find a solution that does not disfranchise the new owners nor continue to disfranchise the members of the Rastafarian community that has never been compensated for the wrongs done to them. I suggest that the compromise is to develop the second as a series of Rastafari villages that are replicas of the four sites of historic injustice perpetrated against the movement, The Pinnacle, Back O' Wall, Coral Gardens and Wareika Hills. I believe that the 120-acre second phase of the development should be converted to a memorial village to commemorate the story of the movement.

We owe it to ourselves. After all, Rastafari has done a great deal to put Jamaica on the map, internationally. We do not need to look very far to confirm this: reggae is the musical language of Rasta before it was adopted by the rest of us and the international community. The iconic Rastaman, Bob Marley, is the most universally known Jamaican.

Until today, the Rastafarians of The Pinnacle were never compensated for loss of property, homes, life, and humiliation suffered. It is said that Howell had been arrested, incarcerated and was sent to Jamaica's mental institution more than 50 times. At one meeting, Howell was noted as having said that Mr Neville N. Ashenheim, a prominent lawyer of Jewish background, argued for the Bill of Rights in terms of protecting property rights and that property could not be confiscated without adequate compensation.

"At Emancipation, the planters were adequately compensated for 'freeing' the slaves, but I, Leonard Howell, was never compensated for Pinnacle and the crimes committed against me and the Rastafarian people." (taken from the petition to reclaim Pinnacle)

It is my view that The Pinnacle should be developed to retell the story of the other sites of conflict and oppression by the Jamaican State in its attempt to suppress and eliminate the movement. It must also be used to commemorate, lest we forget, Back o' Wall, Coral Gardens and Wareika Hills.

It cannot be allowed to be forgotten that there have been times in Jamaica's history when political administrations used their mantra to suppress the black underclass. Rastafari bore the brunt of that misfeasance on the part of the State, and their survival is in triumph over that misplaced use of the resources of the Jamaican State. However, there is a debt owed for compensation for wrongs perpetrated against them. Words are a poor substitute for the transfer of assets.

PARK PROPOSAL

I am proposing that the present owners of The Pinnacle, as members of the private sector, be invited to lead the development of the 120-acre site of The Pinnacle as a theme park and set of memorial villages. I do not believe that Mrs Sherwood or her sons have any particular debt to pay for any wrongs done. I do not believe that they have done anything wrong. But I do believe that as a society, we share a collective guilt for the wrongs done to Rasta.

The generosity of the Lake men and their mother is really an act of atonement on behalf of a society that has historically been in the habit of favouring those with the least melanin. The Jamaican State has done so, frequently, by wickedly disfranchising members of the underclass, especially those of African descent, and especially those who act in protest against the status quo.

An act of magnanimity and generosity by some small section of the owning class would send an important signal. I do not believe that anything else done by these persons, who choose to be involved in this way, in the rest of their lives, will match or exceed the significance to Jamaica and to themselves as this project at Pinnacle.

Second, I believe the Jamaican Government must play its part in providing a substantial part of the financing required for the project. Possible sources of funding include the National Housing Trust, PetroCaribe and the Tourism Enhancement Fund. I also believe that the Government should commit to recruiting (primarily from among the Rastafarian community), training and employing courtesy guides and tour guides for the Rasta villages.

Third, I believe the project should seek to attract international donor participation from two principal sources of funding. It must not be forgotten that this is fundamentally a project about justice. And, therefore, it is a locus for reparations to be paid by the British Monarchy.

The atrocities perpetrated against Rastafari were carried out by the colonial government and those who succeeded them as the Government of Jamaica. They must pay for these monumental acts of injustice carried out at The Pinnacle. Others must pay for Back o' Wall, Coral Gardens and Wareika Hills.

This project should be presented to the British government as a first among many reparations projects. The families of those who were evicted and disfranchised ought to receive compensation for their rights that were trampled upon. I believe that many in the international community who love Rasta and reggae would jump at the opportunity to participate.

I believe that The Pinnacle is the summit of historical ironies, but more, it represents a remarkable opportunity to right some historical wrongs.

Garnett Roper is chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company and president of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garnettroper@hotmail.com.