NOT ENOUGH

The Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society (RCGBS) is unhappy with how the Government has handled reparation for the community as a whole, 60 years after the atrocities meted out during what became known as the Coral Gardens Massacre.

Pamela Rowe-Williams, who is the secretary of the RCGBS, told The Gleaner last Friday that the Government is yet to make reparations to the community, which remains discriminated against 60 years after the State-waged war.

Her comments come on the heels of the anniversary of the 1963 incident which occurred on April 11 and 12 – Holy Thursday and Good Friday – in Montego Bay, St James.

The police raided a Rastafarian camp, killing eight persons and injuring hundreds.

Rowe-Williams said that a 13-point list of recommendations was presented to the Government in 2016, which included a requirement for the State to apologise.

She said it was also recommended, among other things, that Rastafarian elders be given free healthcare; monetary compensation paid to survivors; scholarships awarded to Rastafarian children; written policies developed on the sporting of locs and beard to cement the acceptance of Rastafarian children in schools and Rastafarian employees in the workplace; as well as crown lands.

Rowe-Williams said that while the Government has provided monetary compensation for the victims through a trust fund managed by the Administrator General’s Department, that is not enough.

Some survivors who were severely impacted receive $100,000 monthly from the fund, while those impacted to a lesser extent receive $50,000.

She said that there are approximately 12 to 15 survivors and that the amount paid monthly is determined by the nature of their injuries.

“It is, in fact, the community that suffered. Individuals just got caught up and some persons got killed, but the community suffered greatly from the whole trauma of the declaration that they should be brought in, and the citizens cast them in ropes after they were paid one guinea per head for each Rastafari who was brought in,” said Rowe-Williams.

“So the targeting of community members, the destruction of properties, the destruction of camps islandwide, we need reparations. Children couldn’t go to school; if they did, they were turned away. The parents suffered such psychological trauma that the children themselves inherited that sufferation,” she added.

She said that to repair the damage done then and address the sustained discrimination that persists, the Government must recompense for that.

Prime Minister Andre Holness, in April 2017, apologised for the killings and announced the setup of a $10-million trust fund.

The RCGBS secretary said that the Government has since put over $110 million in the trust fund and has also setup a temporary elder care facility on rented premises for victims without families or caregivers.

But Rowe-Williams wants more.

She wants land in the Coral Gardens area to set up a museum to commemorate the victims and to serve as a reminder of what occurred.

Similarly, she wants the Government to assist with the preservation of the Rastafarian culture and the writing of the group’s history.

Rowe-Williams said that the Government must also assist with repatriation to a state in Africa and resettlement.

For those who will opt to remain behind, the Government must facilitate a free marijuana licence to cultivate the plant.

“Most of the recommendations had to do with community reparations and none of them has been addressed … . The community is not pleased with the total disregard that the Government has shown towards community reparations,” she argued.

Rowe-Williams said a 2018 announcement by Minister of Culture Olivia Grange in Parliament that the community would receive 50 acres of land and three scholarships for Rastafarian has not materialised.

“That has been announced and nothing. We have been writing letters. They have asked us to complete forms – the same forms, twice. We have completed them and still nothing. Recently, we were asked to submit our registration documents, which we promptly did, and [we’ve heard] nothing to date,” she said.

“The community was ignored and it is the community that was targeted for extinction,” she added.

The Gleaner contacted Grange for comment, but was told that she was not available at the time and equally was not in a position to respond to a message sent.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com