Keznamdi Wants “Anti-Rasta Crimes” To Be Addressed By Jamaican Gov’t

Reggae Renaissance Keznamdi has knocked the Jamaican Government for what he says is its failure to address frontally, the issue of injustices being exacted upon members of Jamaica’s Rastafari population.

A few days ago the Victory artist sought to point out that historically, the Jamaican State has dealt with Rastafarians in a contemptuous manner, with the main case in point being the Coral Gardens Massacre which took place in Montego Bay, St James in the 1960s.

Weeks ago, he had sought to bring the tragedy to attention with the release of his new song titled Justice, a duet with Errol Edwards and its accompanying video, which he declared one of his “most powerful pieces” that he has ever made and his “biggest contribution as a musician to Rastafari”.

“The Coral Garden Massacre also known as Bad Friday is a fact that most Jamaicans and the World have no idea about. They don’t teach this history in schools that the Prime Minister of Jamaica in 1963 ordered Rastas to be rounded up, killed and arrested,” Keznamdi wrote.

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According to Gleaner newspaper records, the 1963 massacre reportedly stemmed from an old incident in which a “Rastafarian sympathiser, Rudolf Franklin, was shot and seriously injured by a property owner in a dispute over lands”.

Following the incident, Franklin and his colleagues decided to exact revenge by burning down the Ken Douglas Shell service station, an incident which resulted in a massive state crackdown against Rastafarians.

The then Prime Minister, Sir Alexander Bustamante, went to St James with the commissioner of police and head of the Jamaica Defence Force.  Scores of policemen from neighbouring parishes were deployed to Coral Gardens and surrounding areas where more than 150 ‘beard men’ were rounded up and arrested.  The police even captured Rastafarians from other parishes far removed from the incident and persecuted them.

Prior to the Coral Gardens Massacre there were a series of incidents involving the police exacting brute force on Rastas.  In fact, according to a report from the Office of the Public Defender, police while at training school often used images of Rastafarians as targets for shooting practice at the shooting range.

A myriad of other instances of abuse have been documented including the police burning down Prince Emmanuel’s Rastafari camp and arresting him in May 1958 while nine Rastafari families were forcibly evicted from lands in Spanish Town and their homes destroyed that June.  In October 1958, the police also raided a Rastafari camp in Westmoreland and imprisoned its leader who was later convicted and sentenced.

In commenting further on Coral Gardens, Keznamdi said that: “As a matter of fact the Government of Jamaica has never tried to make full public acknowledgment and proper financial reparation for these crimes against humanity. This is a True story and now it’s in a form of a short film and musical cry for Justice which is intended to wake up a new level of consciousness about continued atrocities of the State against Rasta as an indigenous group that has brought fame and revenue to the country. Now the whole world is watching.”

However, contrary to Keznamdi’s claims, in April 2017, Prime Minister Andrew Holness did apologize to the Rastafarian community for the atrocities committed against their members in the 1963 Coral Gardens massacre.

In an attempt to make restitution on behalf of the state, Holness said the government would establish a trust fund in the sum of $10 million to assist the beneficiaries of those who suffered loss during the “repressive” incident, a Gleaner report said.

Holness had also asked The Public Defender to carry out an extensive report on the Coral Gardens incident as well as locate survivors of the incident.

In a statement to Parliament, Holness had acknowledged that the Coral Gardens incident had been a source of pain and hurt for Rastas, and that the Coral Gardens incident “was a grave injustice”.

In acknowledging the wrong that was done by the state, the PM had also promised that such an incident would never again occur in Jamaica.

However, last week Keznamdi said that there has not been a lot of difference nowadays as it relates to police treatment of Rastafarians, with the latest case being the trimming of 18 year old Nzinga King of the Nyahbinghi Order, by a policewoman at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon.

According to him no suitable response has been presented by the Holness administration about the matter involving the young woman.

“Honorable @andrewholnessjm I hope this film has moved you as it has moved me to promote and protect a very special culture that was originated in Jamaica. We still haven’t heard a response of all the atrocities that has been done to Nzinga King, Ancient Bongo Lion and generations of ones before. The Rastafari community is feeling refused, used and abused over the years by the government,” he said.

Keznamdi said Holness has been given a golden opportunity to appease the Rastafarian community, and called on him to seize it without delay.

“So @andrewholnessjm now you get the chance to right the wrongs, what Yu gonna do with it? You have the power to call the police force and education system to justice and to introduce into laws stiff disciplinary action against any authority that denies the rights of members of the RasTafari community,’ he said.

The Reggae Revival artiste said he had made the film more than 2 ½ years ago, and for him it was dejavu, as things had remained the same.

The Rastafarian noted that he was still proud to say The Justice Film which illustrates the Coral Gardens situation, in its own way had been released as no music visualization of the tragedy had been undertaken before.

“A bittersweet moment knowing that these Anti Rasta crimes I sang and made a film about 2.5 years ago are still being committed today while eye water fill up my eyes,” he said.

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