adminIbo Foroma Rastafarian Perspectives
LEONARD Percival Howell is widely regarded as the very first Rastafari leader, indicated for instance by Hélène Lee’s “The First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism.” Born in Red Hills, a district in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica, on June 16, 1898; Howell was of African descent and he championed peaceful religious-political resistance against unjustified dominion of the lowly by the “high” in a racially sensitive British colonial environment.
His dark complexion enhanced his leadership, but in the context of colonial Jamaica this also ensured that he would have to struggle to maintain this leadership position. The most prominent leaders by the end of the 1930s were the coloured or brown-skinned creole nationalists, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley, who were leaders of the labour movement.
Howell became their adversary partly because he had put himself into the role of a leader of the poor and dispossessed majority of the island and partly because of his dark-skinned complexion, which made him a more attractive option as a leader to the majority African population than his brown-skinned competitors at the head of the organised labour movement.
As a son of strangers in a strange land (captivity), Howell shared the history of the black majority, namely the subjugation and dispossession under British slavery and British colonial rule. Creole nationalists rejected as too revolutionary Howell’s Black Nationalism but they could not ignore him.
Howell’s emergence in Clarendon took place at a time when many East Indians lived in parts of the parish. It is therefore no surprise Leonard Percival (learned perceive-all) made use of his exposure to Indian culture, Hindi language and especially religion.
This mighty influence catapulted him into becoming a powerful yet humbled leading figure much comparable to Mahtma Gandhi and was fundamental in founding the Rastafari movement.
Indians had arrived as indentured labourers, and were attracted to Howell by his opposition to colonialism, based on their experience in Jamaica. And through his association with the Indians, he enhanced his anti-colonial message.
An estimated 37 000 Indians had arrived in Jamaica between 1843 and 1916, mostly to do the plantation work that the black population had done as slaves and which many had abandoned after the emancipation of 1838.
They were unwilling to accept the unfair wages, high rents for plantation housing, and the poor management practices of the planters. To make matters worse, most of these plantation owners were also their former slave-holders (Scarano 1989:73; Shepherd 1996:245; Shepherd 2009:191).
Howell’s use of Hindu ‘visual’ symbolism in the promotion of the Rastafari movement has received attention from scholars, and the most recent work on this has been done by the late art historian, Petrine Archer (Archer 2011:2).
In addition, the ritual use of marijuana, and its association with Indians, which appear in the traditions of sadhana and prasad, has been examined in other studies (Mansingh&Mansingh 1985:96-115).
By amalgamating African and Indian traditions in his shaping of the Rastafari movement, Howell gave both groups representation and a sense of agency in colonial Jamaica. Together, they made Howell appealing to Indians, while his popularity among dark-skinned, African-identified Jamaicans escalated.
Unlike many of his black and brown followers, Howell was quite literate, not only writing The Promised Key, but starting a newspaper, “The People’s Voice,” in the late 1930s, and as Chavannes has observed, Howell promoted himself as learned and well-read. Adopting a range of identities and titles including scientist, medical doctor, philosopher, and prophet, Leonard further intrigued his followers.
Together, these identities enhanced his authority by giving his followers the impression that he was a man of many talents, therefore someone who was undoubtedly qualified to lead (Chevannes 1994:122, 124).
When he returned to Jamaica in 1932, Howell had been away since 1916, living as an immigrant like the Indians who came to Jamaica. Howell’s leaving was the beginning of his contempt for colonial Jamaica, which would only deepen and remain with him for life.
Howell’s foundational leadership of the Rastafari movement shows his contribution to black nationalism and by extension, his role in Jamaica’s fight against colonialism.
Howell is most famous for enduring infinite attempts to be suppressed by the colonial government, local press, traditional churches, labour leadership, and creole nationalism,as well as parts of the civilian population, including whites, coloureds, and blacks.
The attempted suppression of Howell was an extensive campaign, which indicated the fear that Howell’s message and activities could trigger the removal of British rule from colonial Jamaica.
Howell and his lieutenant, Robert Hinds, spread the ideas of the Rastafari Movement during its early phase when it gained traction among the poorest group in the society, the peasantry.
Hinds, Joseph Hibbert, and Henry Archibald Dunkley later became leaders of their own groups. Interestingly, it wasn’t the institutional opposition to Howell per se that catapulted him and the early Rastafari movement to the national stage; instead antagonism toward Howell was couched in a resistance to his promotion of the divinity of Emperor Selassie I.
Howell preached the divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia who had been crowned in Addis Ababa in 1930, and established the first Rastafari Community in Jamaica in the hills of St. Catherine’s parish in 1940.
In 1954, the police force of the partially creole nationalist government raided the Pinnacle encampment for the second time, hoping to end the popularity of Howell and the burgeoning Rastafari Movement.
Howell’s message was revolutionary. He advised the black people of colonial Jamaica that Emperor Selassie I was “the head over all man” and “the Supreme God” advice or instructions that he repeated in his book, The Promised Key, which was published in 1935 (Howell 1995:5).
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter