Stylish Manifestations of African Heritage in the Home

A Radical Reclamation of Identity for Busy Black Parents

“Dad, imagine if our house was a temple or museum, like an archive of family history and black history and all the family members had to come here to remember… we'd probably have lots of reunions, don't you think?”

~Kyrha-Joy Pessoa

In the cacophony of modern life, where the rhythms of survival often drown out the whispers of heritage, the act of crafting a home that reverberates with the echoes of Africa is not merely an aesthetic endeavor. It is an act of resistance, a quiet rebellion against the erasure of our stories, our struggles, and our triumphs. For the Black Jamaican parents and Rasta parents navigating the labyrinth of contemporary existence, the home becomes more than a shelter—it transforms into a sanctuary of memory, a living testament to the resilience of a people who have endured, adapted, and thrived against the weight of history.

To infuse the spirit of Africa into the fabric of our daily lives is to reclaim what has been stolen, distorted, or buried. It is to say to our children, in every corner of our homes, *this is who you are, this is where you come from, and this is why it matters.* It is to create a space where history is not a distant relic but a vibrant, breathing presence. Here, then, are some ways to weave the threads of African heritage into the tapestry of your home, transforming it into a space that is both deeply personal and profoundly political.

---

My Experiences Growing Up in African Aesthetic

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots." 

– Marcus Garvey

I was born in 1981 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, into a world where the echoes of Africa were never distant, where my childhood was shaped by the rhythms, the philosophy, and the aesthetics of a continent I had never seen but always felt. My grandmother, a proud woman deeply rooted in the teachings of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA, carried the fire of Pan-Africanism in her bones. My parents, too, carried that torch, ensuring that I never grew up believing the lie that Christopher Columbus had “discovered” Jamaica. History, for us, was not something to be dictated by colonial narratives—it was something we reclaimed. They named me Yannick, after the great Yannick Noah, his spirit of defiance and triumph a fitting aspiration. My middle name, Nesta—perhaps Nestor, depending on which parent you asked—was a reflection of their indecision between a Bob Marley tribute or a nod to the Greek sage of wisdom. But what was clear, beyond any name, was the foundation they laid for me: a childhood steeped in African identity, even while standing on Jamaican soil. Reggae was the heartbeat of our home, but alongside Bob, Peter, and Bunny, there were the haunting harmonies of Miriam Makeba, the triumphant horns of Hugh Masekela, and the layered rhythms of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Graceland by Paul Simon played often, its African sonic aesthetic blending seamlessly with the reggae basslines that framed my childhood. And then there was The Police—a band that, though not African, carried echoes of that same percussive heartbeat in songs like Walking on the Moon. Music wasn’t just entertainment; it was an education, a bridge to a world that was stolen from us yet never truly lost. On television, I watched Roots and Shaka Zulu, their dramatized retellings of our history igniting a fire in me—an anger, yes, but also a deep pride. The Cosby Show gave me a different kind of Black excellence, a vision of success and family life that felt both aspirational and affirming. But it was the small things, the everyday aesthetics, that shaped my consciousness most: the wooden figurines with nappy hair that stood proudly on our shelves, hair kinkier than mine, challenging the beauty standards imposed by colonialism. I longed to be closer to that aesthetic, to see in myself the reflection of those figurines, of those ancestors. In 1980s Jamaica, embracing an African identity was both nostalgic and radically forward-thinking. The country itself was in flux—politically, culturally—straddling the lingering shadows of colonial influence and the fiery resistance of the post-independence generation. While many still clung to European ideals, my family stood firm in the belief that looking back to Africa was the only way to move forward. It wasn’t just a romantic notion; it was a way of life. One that shaped me, one that still lives in me.

---

The Radical Power of Everyday Objects: Tea Towels as Cultural Artifacts

In a world that often reduces African identity to a monolith, the act of reclaiming the mundane—of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary—becomes a radical gesture. Consider the humble tea towel, an object so often relegated to the drudgery of domestic labor. In the hands of a Pan-African parent, it becomes a canvas for cultural expression, a silent yet potent declaration of identity.

Seek out tea towels adorned with Adinkra symbols, those intricate Ghanaian emblems that carry within them the wisdom of generations. Each symbol—be it *Sankofa*, urging us to return and retrieve what has been lost, or *Gye Nyame*, proclaiming the supremacy of the divine—becomes a lesson, a mantra, a reminder of the values that have sustained us. Or perhaps opt for the bold, geometric patterns of Ndebele art, a visual language that speaks of resistance and resilience. These towels, draped over oven handles, hung in bathrooms, or framed as art, are not mere decorations. They are fragments of a larger story, one that refuses to be silenced.

---

Walls That Speak: The Politics of Wall Art

The walls of a home are never neutral. They are the silent witnesses to our lives, the blank slates upon which we inscribe our identities. For Black parents, these walls can become a powerful medium for storytelling, a way to assert our presence in a world that often renders us invisible.

Choose wall art that speaks to the complexity and richness of African heritage. Bold, abstract designs that echo the rhythms of the continent; portraits of figures like Marcus Garvey, Wangari Maathai, or Chinua Achebe, whose lives and works remind us of the power of resistance and imagination. Seek out the works of local Black artists, whose creations are not only beautiful but also imbued with the urgency of lived experience. By supporting these artists, you are not just decorating your home—you are participating in a larger ecosystem of cultural preservation and economic empowerment.

Consider, too, the use of African masks, those enigmatic objects that carry within them the spirits of ancestors and the wisdom of traditions. But be mindful: these are not mere ornaments. Each mask has a story, a meaning, a context. Take the time to learn these stories, to share them with your children, to make them part of the living narrative of your home.

---

Textiles as Text: Weaving Culture into Comfort

Fabric is more than material; it is memory, it is meaning, it is metaphor. The vibrant colors and intricate patterns of African textiles are not just visually striking—they are carriers of history, each thread a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of a people.

Kente cloth, with its kaleidoscope of colors and patterns, is more than a fabric—it is a language. Each design carries a message, a proverb, a piece of wisdom. Use it to adorn your sofas, your beds, your chairs, turning everyday objects into vessels of cultural significance. Mud cloth, with its earthy tones and geometric designs, offers a different kind of beauty—one that is grounded, organic, and deeply connected to the land from which it comes.

But remember: these textiles are not just decorations. They are artifacts, each one a piece of a larger story. When you bring them into your home, you are not just adding color or texture—you are adding depth, meaning, and history.

---

Sculptures as Statements: The Power of Three-Dimensional Art

In a world that often reduces African art to the exotic or the primitive, the act of incorporating African sculptures into your home becomes a radical act of reclamation. These are not mere objects; they are embodiments of history, culture, and identity.

Bronze figurines that depict historical figures or everyday scenes; wooden carvings that capture the essence of African spirituality; calabash bowls that speak of the ingenuity of traditional craftsmanship—each of these objects carries within it a story, a meaning, a connection to the past. Place them on your shelves, your mantels, your tables, and let them serve as reminders of the richness and complexity of African heritage.

But be mindful of their placement. These are not just decorations; they are focal points, conversation starters, pieces of art that demand to be seen, to be understood, to be appreciated. Take the time to learn their stories, to share them with your children, to make them part of the living narrative of your home.

---

A Home as a Living Archive

Designing a home that honors African heritage is not about following a set of rules or adhering to a particular aesthetic. It is about creating a space that reflects your identity, your values, your history. It is about finding objects that resonate with you, that tell your story, that connect you to your roots.

Be bold. Be creative. Mix and match traditional and contemporary pieces. Use color, texture, and pattern to create a space that is uniquely yours. But above all, remember that this is not just about decoration. It is about reclamation, resistance, and resilience. It is about creating a home that is not just a shelter, but a sanctuary—a place where your children can learn, grow, and thrive, surrounded by the beauty and power of their heritage.

In the end, the home you create is not just a reflection of who you are—it is a statement of who you can be. It is a testament to the power of memory, the importance of history, and the enduring strength of a people who have always found ways to survive, to adapt, and to thrive. And in that, it is nothing short of revolutionary.

*Yannick Nesta Pessoa B.A. is Jamaica’s first blogger, a Social Advocate, Community Activist, Artist, and Philosopher. Follow me on Twitter & Instagram @yahnyk, on YouTube, and reply to yannickpessoa@gmail.com.*  

Now, go pour yourself a glass, fire up YouTube, search for African decor ideas and let the ideas flow. Happy Friday, and happy Black History Month. ❤️

The Criminalization of African Spirituality: Part 1

"Democracy means that people can say what they want to. All the people. It means that they can vote as they wish. All the people. It means that they can worship God in any way they feel right, and that includes Christians and Jews and voodoo doctors as well."

~Dalton Trumbo

 

For most of my life Obeah in Jamaica has been a taboo. Scoffed at by academics and intellectuals rooted deep in empiricism and cynicism. The Church associates Obeah with spiritual wickedness and evil, skeptics tend to think it is used to defraud vulnerable people like the snake oil man to swindle and bamboozle. In my family it was the butt of jokes and was the stuff of old time superstition.For me the stuff Obeah was like the mythos of slavery... a literature populated with Rolling Calves, Black Heart men, Ananse, masks, Pocomania, Kumina, Revival, Jonkunnu, Bats(what Jamaican call moths), owls, D. Lawrence, Bible and Key and Maccabees Bibles.

In a more academic light... Obeah is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices developed among West African slaves, specifically of Igbo origin. Obeah's history is similar to that of other Afro-American religions including Palo, Vodou, Santería, and Hoodoo. Obeah is practiced in Suriname, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Belize, The Bahamas, and other Caribbean nations. Enslaved Africans brought spiritual practices to the Caribbean that included folk healing and a belief in magic for good and for evil to opposition.

Vodun means spirit in the Fon and Ewe languages, pronounced [vodṹ] with a nasal high-tone u; also spelled Vodon, Vodoun, Vodou, Voudou, Voodoo, etc. is practiced by the Ewe people of eastern and southern Ghana, and southern and central Togo; and the Kabye people, Mina people, and Fon people of southern and central Togo, southern and central Benin. It is also practiced by some Gun (Gbe) people of Lagos and Ogun in southwest Nigeria.

It is distinct from the various African traditional religions in the interiors of these countries and is the main source of religions with similar names found among the African Diaspora in the western hemisphere such as Haitian Vodou; Puerto Rican Vodú; Cuban Vodú; Dominican Vudú; Brazilian Vodum; and Louisiana Voodoo. All of these closely related faiths are syncretized with Christianity to various degrees and with the traditional beliefs of the Kongo people and Indigenous American traditions.

Now the term 'Obeah' is first found in documents from the early 18th century, as in its connection to Nanny of the Maroons, but discussion of it becomes more frequent when it was made illegal in Jamaica after Tacky's War, in which an Obeah-man provided advice to the rebels. In 1787 a letter to an English newspaper referred to "Obiu-women" interpreting the wishes of the dead at the funeral of a murdered slave in Jamaica: a footnote explained the term as meaning "Wise-women".

A continuing source of white anxiety related to Obeah was the belief that practitioners were skilled in using poisons, as mentioned in Matthew Lewis's Journal of a West India Proprietor. The European world had equated Black and African Spirituality with their own history of wizards and witchcraft and necromancy. Thousands of people in the Caribbean have been subject to prosecution for their religious and spiritual healing practice, since the first law against Obeah was passed in Jamaica in 1760 then in the anti-Obeah law passed in Barbados in 1818 there was the specific forbidding of the possession of "any poison, or any noxious or destructive substance"during slavery, until the recent past.

A doctor who examined the medicine chest of an Obeah man arrested in Jamaica in 1866 identified white arsenic as one of the powders in it, but could not identify the others. The unnamed correspondent reporting this affirmed "The Jamaica herbal is an extensive one, and comprises some highly poisonous juices, of which the Obeah men have a perfect knowledge."


During the mid 19th century the appearance of a comet in the sky became the focal point of an outbreak of religious fanatical millennialism among the Myal men of Jamaica. Spiritualism was at that time sweeping the English-speaking nations as well, and it readily appealed to those in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, as spirit contact, especially with the dead, is an essential part of many African religions. During the conflict between Myal and Obeah, the Myal men positioned themselves as the "good" opponents to "evil" Obeah. They claimed that Obeah men stole people's shadows, and they set themselves up as the helpers of those who wished to have their shadows restored.

Myal men contacted spirits in order to expose the evil works they ascribed to the Obeah men, and led public parades which resulted in crowd-hysteria that engendered violent antagonism against Obeah men. The public "discovery" of buried Obeah charms, presumed to be of evil intent, led on more than one occasion to violence against the rival Obeah men. Laws were passed that limited both Obeah and Myal traditions but due to the outrages perpetrated by the mobs of Myalists, the British government of Jamaica sent many Myal men to prison, and this, along with the failure of their millennialist prophecies. 

Obeah laws, which still exist in many Caribbean countries, there have also been laws against specific religious groups, including the Spiritual Baptist faith, which was outlawed for a substantial part of the twentieth century in Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent, and Grenada. Other people faced prosecution for independent religious and healing work under laws against practicing medicine without a license, vagrancy, and ‘night noises’, among others.

• 1760: In response to a major slave rebellion, the colonial government outlaws Obeah for the first time in the Caribbean, with the Act to Remedy the Evils arising from Irregular Assemblies of Slaves, defining Obeah as: "The wicked Art of Negroes... pretending to have Communication with the Devil and other evil spirits"
• 1898: Under the Obeah Law practitioners face 12 months in jail and flogging. An Obeah practitioner is defined as: "Any person who, to effect any fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or for gain, or for the purpose of frightening any person, uses, or pretends to use any occult means, or pretends to possess any supernatural power or knowledge"
  
• 1908: Parliament passes the Medical Law, which was intended to regulate medical practice, but was also used frequently in cases to define difference between medicine and Obeah

Marcus the Prophet!

Courtesy of Axum Veggie Café...

53rd Commemoration of "Bad Friday": The Coral Gardens Atrocity of 1963

The Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society

Hosts

 

Our 53rd Commemoration of "Bad Friday"

The Coral Gardens Atrocity of 1963

25th of March 2016
Jarrett Park, Montego Bay, St. James.

GATES OPEN 10:00 am
~Health Fair
~Children's Funday
~Banquet for the Elders
~Testimonies of the Victims and Witnesses
~Certificate of Recognition to Matriarchs and Patriarchs
~Observation of the 50th Anniversary Visit of H.I.M. to Jamaica
~SYMPOSIUM ON PUBLIC DEFENDER'S REPORT
~Cultural Presetations

ADMISSION: $700
Food, Refreshment and Craft On Sale!
‪#‎badfriday‬ ‪#‎rastafari‬ ‪#‎coralgardens‬ ‪#‎mobay‬ ‪#‎montegobay‬ ‪#‎humanrights‬ #1963 ‪#‎jarrettpark‬

A Modern Girl with an Old Fashion Kind of Loving!

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
Proverbs 31:10-31King James Version (KJV)

 "no real man can live without her".
Garvey's writing, the Universal Negro Improvement Association stating about women

1930 she wear the crown of Empress

She is the highest, the best, the greatest goddess

~History Man: Empress Menen

The imagination of the world, not just that of Africa, has been haunted by the great women of the continent. African Goddesses and Queens have been a  prominent feature of European mythology and African reality. And it is from this rich ancestory and lineage which Our Empress descends. The vine that brought forth Goddesses like Andromeda, Isis, Maat, Inanna... Queens such as the Nyahbinghi, Nefertiti, Nefertari, the Candaces, Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba. She is wrought from an iconic class of women, women who have shaped the course of civilization, in a continent not fastened to the system of Patriarchy that now dominates western civilization and culture.

Africa as a continent is unique in its disposition to women. Our traditions of female identity and feminity are unique in its reverence for the female deity and feminity. His Imperial Majesty maintains this tradition of revernce for the feminine energy and female aura. This  is established and symbolized in his  November 2, 1930, dual coronation. His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie and Her Imperial Majesty Empress Menen were crowned at the Cathedral of St George in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Abbaba.

In times like these, whenever the struggle for Black self-determination is discussed or examined, the spotlight is usually on the brave and heroic men who gave their lives for the betterment of their people. However little attention is paid to the women who also played a vital role in this struggle. The Black woman's role in the struggle for freedom and equality cannot be overstated or re-iterated enough. Every great man in history has come into the world through the womb of a woman, and historically the Black woman has been a pillar of strength throughout Africa and the Diaspora. Without looking at the contributions made by Black women throughout the ages, the full story of the Black experience and struggle cannot be told. While there are countless Black women worthy of having their stories told, this article focuses on the life and works of the last Queen of Queens of Ethiopia, Empress Woizero Menen.

As we rescue ourselves, the parts of us as a people lost to history, so too myst we resurrect the Black Woman and Black Goddesses from antiquity. The rich, complex and challenging life of Empress Menen has remained obscure for decades. We must once again become reacquainted with the life of the Empress and her great contribution to her faith, her country and her family. We must understand her as Woman in revolutionary times, playing exceptional roles. Her virtue is not tied to immaculate conception, virgin births or sexuality, her greatness is defined in the facts and acts that embodied her in her part of history, a royal figure coronated with her King, a woman given exceptional esteem, in a western world dominated by the ancient system of Patriarchy. Where man's rule is absolute and can have cruel consequence for the life carrying gender, a system that created a society of gender inequality, unfair wages based on gender and race. Put on a pedestal before the world, she never succombed to pride or vanity but held her post as Queen with serene grace.

We need to rescue these ideas of femininity in an age where anything goes, where gender roles and lines are blurred, when American notions of white feminism have perverted the notion of womanhood, created disdain for the home and childrearing.... issuing out a machine factory of career women, who believe in cosmopolitan and air-conditioning, than sweat and the idea of any muscle intense activity... creating an era of eros... a woman is today defined in the black community by her vagina. It is time we as a the Rastafari community divorce completely from European victorian notions of sex and sexuality, we must do away with the Christian Patriachy that killed the mother in the hily trinity and made her a Holy Ghost, it is time we divorced the Judeo-Abrahamic system of patriarchy, of Eve is evil and the afterthought of creation... We must restore Isis to her rightful place, as the Savior of Osiris her husband, to make her the Mother of Horus again, to let the Black Woman know herself as the Black Madonna, mother to the Black Bambino, it is time the Black community and in particular this generation see themselves as Empress Menen, Queen Omega and the lineage of Black Goddesses she personifies. It is time the Black Woman of today re-personifies herself as Queen Omega and Isis.

Virtuous wife

We as a people struggle with the definition of a virtuous woman as simply one who has never had sex. In divine theatre Empress Menen shatters this image, as she had previous marriages and borne children before the royal union. According to both published and unpublished reports, the then Woizero Menen Asfaw was first given in marriage by her family to the prominent Wollo nobleman, Dejazmach Ali of Cherecha at a very young age, as was the prevailing custom. She bore him two children, a daughter, Woizero Belaynesh Ali, and a son, Jantirar Asfaw Ali. This first marriage ended in divorce, and her natal family then arranged for Woizero Menen to marry Dejazmach Amede Ali Aba-Deyas, another very prominent nobleman of Wollo. She bore her second husband two children as well, a daughter, Woizero Desta Amede, and a son, Jantirar Gebregziabiher Amede. Following the sudden death of her second husband, Woizero Menen's grandfather, Negus Mikael arranged her marriage to Ras Leulseged Atnaf Seged, a prominent Shewan nobleman, who was considerably older than Woizero Menen in late 1909 or early 1910. It is unclear whether Woizero Menen was married to the aged nobleman (and secured a divorce shortly afterwards to marry her royal groom) or whether there was only an engagement between them which was broken without ado. She would later meet Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen (later the Emperor Haile Selassie). Isn't it interesting and unusal that the King in his divine wisdom saw fit an unconventional woman, with a history and lineage steeped in as much mystery as the King himself?

Hence we have an imperative to break the mold the colonial masters ha put on our minds, no longer must we conform to the colonial and judaic notions of womanhood, we must access a womanhood and femininity more ancient than that of our colonisers!

Role of a woman

Woman is here to complement man, she is our equal, even if nature has made her different in function, there are more differences between apples and oranges than between man and woman. Within the Rastafari context we must strive to affirm the inclusion and equality of the woman in Rastafari's Royalty. We must pursue the lead set by our Black King, for Empress Menen Asfaw, the Mother of the Ethiopian Nation, was a far-sighted woman well ahead of her time.

The Empress, a mother of ten, she balanced a stable family life ruled by her benevolent King and husband, she became his most trusted advisor in national and international affairs, and built up the confidence of millions of women by educating them and giving them opportunities to shine.

She established childcare centers and handicraft schools, as well as a School for Girls, the first of its kind to offer education to young women of Ethiopia. She visited the Holy Land four times and built a church and monastery on the banks of the Jordan River. Our Queen was active in promoting women's issues in Ethiopia, was Patroness of the Ethiopian Red Cross, and the Ethiopian Women's Charitable Organization. She was also patroness of the Jerusalem Society that arranged for pilgrimages to the Holy Land. She founded the Empress Menen School for Girls in Addis Ababa, the first all-girls school which had both boarding and day students. Girls from all over the Empire were brought to the school to receive a modern education, encouraged by the Empress who visited it often and presided over its graduation ceremonies. The Empress gave generously, as well as sponsored programs for the poor, ill and disabled. She truly was a devoutly religious woman who did much to support the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. She built, renovated and endowed numerous churches in Ethiopia and in the Holy Land. Prominent among these are the St. Raguel Church in Addis Ababa's Merkato district, the Kidane Mehret (Our Lady Covenant of Mercy) Church on Mount Entoto, and the Holy Trinity Monastery on the banks of the River Jordan in the Holy Land. She gave generously from her personal funds towards the building of the new Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion at Axum, but did not live to see it completed and dedicated.

During the Italian Invasion of 1936-1941, she assumed the administrative responsibility of Ethiopia while the Emperor was on the battlefield. A woman of great faith, she was a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church and constructed and upgraded many churches throughout her country. When the Empress was exiled from Ethiopia during the Italian occupation, she made a pledge to the Virgin Mary at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, promising to give her crown to the church if Ethiopia were liberated from occupation. The Empress made numerous pilgrimages to Holy Sites in then British-ruled Palestine, in Syria and in Lebanon, during her exile to pray for her occupied homeland. Following the return of Emperor Haile Selassie I and his family to Ethiopia in 1941, a replica of the crown was made for future Empresses, but the original crown that Empress Menen was crowned with at her husband's side in 1930 was sent to the Church of the Nativity inBethlehem. Empress Menen, although often seen wearing a tiara at public events that called for it, would never again wear a full crown.

Empress Menen performed perfectly in the role of Empress-consort. In her public role she fused religious piety, concern for social causes, and support for development schemes with the majesty of her Imperial status. Outwardly she was the dutiful wife, visiting schools, churches, exhibitions and model farms, attending public and state events at her husband's side or by herself. She took no public stand on political or policy issues. Behind the scenes however, she was the Emperor's most trusted advisor, quietly offering advice on a whole range of issues. She avoided the publicly political role that her predecessor as Empress-consort, Empress Taytu Betul, had taken, which had caused deep resentment in government circles during the reign of Menelik II.

The citizens of her nation knew Empress Menen for her kindness and humanitarian outreach.During her life she also experienced a great deal of sorrow and hardship, enduring the loss of seven of her ten children, five years as a refugee of war in exile, plus the everyday struggle of on-going health problems.

Hail Empress Menen

Because of her role in the education of women, work with the poor, commitment to her spiritual beliefs, and her quiet strength in the face of tribulation, Empress Menen has secured a place for herself in Ethiopian and World history as a powerful Black woman. In these times, where it seems to many that the Black woman's worth lies solely in her appearance, it is nice to know that there are Black women who challenge such popular misconceptions. Although Empress Menen was a powerful force in the empowerment of women in Ethiopia and world wide, she did not fit the stereotype of the modern day feminist. She stood for education and women pursuing the highest degree of education possible, yet always put her family first. She showed great strength through humility and never sought out the limelight, but preferred to let her words speak for her. Yet when it mattered, she raised her voice to speak out against injustices facing her people. Empress Menen was truly deserving of the title Queen of Queens, and although she left flesh, in 1965, she will always be remembered in the hearts of Africans, both at home and abroad. Empress Menen, we salute your greatness, Queen Omega, Mother of Creation.

I close with Haile Selassie's address to the Ethiopian nation on February 15, 1962. In his documented speech, he makes two profound statements about his wife... The first of these utterances was when he said, “During the memorable days of our companionship, we never had differences that needed the intervention of others.” The next thing was that he gave thanks “to the Almighty” for being blessed with a “long and uninterrupted union, which is not very common in the world today.”

PRESS RELEASE: Thank You from The Rastafari Coral Gardens Committee

The Rastafari Coral Gardens Committee thanks Speakers, Sponsors, Artistes, Well-wishers and the Rastafari Community for participation in the 52nd Commemoration of the atrocity against Rastafari 1963 “Bad Friday” and the recognition of Empress Menen Earthstrong Success.

Empresses receiving the Menen Award

Over 25 Rastafari Elders, Matriarch and Patriarch were given an entire day of royal treatment on the cozy grounds of Montego Bay Cricket Club , Jarrett Park on April 3rd 2015 at the annual Coral Gardens “(Bad Friday)” Commemoration. The day commenced with the Elders, many of whom are victims of the atrocities of the Coral Gardens incident being given medical checkups by Dr. Jodine Jacto - Tafari and the medical team, doing blood sugar test, blood pressure test, nutritional and other medical advises. Later in the afternoon the seated elders were treated to a scrumptious banquet of wine, cake, sip and food by the culinary team, a running lap of honor that turned into many laps were done by Jackie Roots and her Children on the ground during the banquet.


The event then turned its attention towards the recognition of Empress Mennen 125th Birthday and awarded certificates of recognition to nine Rastafari Matriarchs for their continued struggle in the development of the Rastafari Community. Special attention given to posthumous awarded Ivorine Walsh (Mama Ita) a great warrior for the upliftment of women and mother of popular reggae Artiste Queen Ifrica.




Patrons were moved by the messages from out of the Speakers Corner of the event. Maureen Minto, Clinton Hutton, Bunny Wailer, Ras Iya-V, Michael Barnett, Maxine Stowe, inspired the audience with messages about our struggle as Rastafari and pan-Africanist in the 21st century, reaffirming that the struggle continue even as it is passed from generation to generation.



The cultural presentations were filled with energetic performances from poets, singers, drummers and the empresses Sis Isis , Sis Isha and Sis Jackie Roots marshalled the proceedings with Jah Mike Sound System to a prompt after 2:00am closure making way for the spiritual Nyahbhing Chanting till around 8:00am in the Saturday morning.

Information about the Committee’s full range of programs and services will soon be available on-line as we seek to broaden our outreach and education of the public of our missions, aims and progress in the struggle.

The Rastafari Coral Gardens Committee is a Rastafari / Pan African non-aligned organization centred around the Coral Gardens Incident, attending to the Rastafari Community, elders and survivors of the atrocity also the youths.

Beckles Address on Reparations

Beckles Address on Reparations (SOUNDCLOUD AUDIO)

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR HILARY BECKLES, CHAIRMAN OF THE CARICOM REPARATIONS COMMISSION, HOUSE OF COMMONS, PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN, COMMITTEE ROOM 14, THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2014, 9:00 P.M.

Madam Chair, the distinguished member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Diane Abbott, other distinguished members of the House of Lords, and House of Commons, Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corp, colleagues at the head table, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I speak this evening, in this honourable chamber of the House of Commons, as Chairman of the Caricom Commission on Reparations. My colleagues of the Commission are tasked with the preparation and presentation of the evidentiary basis for a contemporary truth: that the Government of Great Britain, and other European states that were the beneficiaries of enrichment from the enslavement of African peoples, the genocide of indigenous communities, and the deceptive breach of contract and trust in respect of Indians and other Asians brought to the plantations under indenture, have a case to answer in respect of reparatory justice.

The case of genocide is not only in respect of our decimated native community. It is also important to recognise the genocidal aspect of chattel slavery in the Caribbean.

British slave ships brought 5.5 million enslaved Africans into their Caribbean colonies over 180 years.

When slavery was abolished in 1838 they were just 800,000 persons remaining. That is, a retention/survival rate of 15%.

The regime of enslavement was crafted by policies and attitudes that were clearly genocidal.

Jamaica received 1.5 million Africans. Only 300,000 remained at Emancipation (20%).

Barbados received 600,000 Africans. Only 83,000 remained at Emancipation (14%).

This case is for the Caricom governments to present on behalf of its citizens. I am sure that in its presentation there will be due regard for the principles of diplomacy and development cooperation - for which they have long distinguished themselves. This process will bring honour and dignity to the people of the Caribbean as well as to the people of Great Britain and Europe.

Caricom governments, like the government of Great Britain, represent nations that are independent and equal. As such, they should proceed on the basis of their legitimate equality, without fear of retribution, in the best interest of humanity, and for a better future for us all.

I am honoured to be asked to speak in this historic parliament of the people of Great Britain. Like you I am aware that this Parliament prepared the official political basis of the crimes that defined the colonial past. It is here, in this House, that the evil system of slavery, and genocide, were established. This House passed laws, framed fiscal policies, and enforced the crimes that have produced harmful legacies and persistent suffering now in need of repair.

This House also made emancipation from slavery and independence from colonialism an empowering reality. It is in here, we now imagine, that laws for reparatory justice can be conceptualized and implemented. It is in here, we believe, that the terrible wrongs of the past can be corrected, and humanity finally and truthfully liberated from the shame and guilt that have followed these historical crimes.

We must believe in the corrective power of this Parliament to respond positively to this present challenge, and in the process free itself from the bondage of its own sins and crimes. Without this belief our journey here this evening would be lacking integrity, and without a doubt, would be a useless exercise.

But I speak in this honourable House this evening, not only as chairman of a rightfully constituted commission that is peopled by some of our finest Caribbean citizens, and who have been selected by our distinguished Presidents and Prime Ministers, but as a Caribbean person with an affinity for this country. I was raised and educated here. I came from the Caribbean to this country as a child; I grew to maturity here; and was educated here in a fine university that has distinguished itself in the Liberal-Progressive pedagogy of the nation.

Great Britain, therefore, is my second home and I care for it as I care for my first home, the Great Caribbean. I wish for Great Britain, as I do for the Great Caribbean, peace and prosperity. I wish that their shared past, painful though it has been, will be transformed into a moral force of mutual respect and development cooperation.

It is for these reasons that I have joined the Caribbean and global movement for reparatory justice. I believe we can settle this case within the context of diplomatic initiatives that are consistent with our status as equal nations.

The crimes committed against the indigenous, African, and Asian peoples of the Caribbean are well documented. We know of the 250 years of slave trading, chattel slavery, and the following 100 years of colonial oppression.

Slavery was ended in 1838, only to be replaced by a century of racial apartheid, including the denigration of Asian people. Indigenous genocide, African chattel slavery and genocide, and Asian contract slavery, were three acts of a single play – a single process by which the British state forcefully extracted wealth from the Caribbean resulting in its persistent, endemic poverty.

I wish to comment, as a result, on the 1833 Act of Emancipation, and how this august Parliament betrayed the enslaved people of the Caribbean by forcing them to pay more than 50% of the cost of their own emancipation. This is an aspect of the history long hidden from public view.

We know, for example, that this Parliament in 1833 determined that the 800,000 enslaved people in the Caribbean were worth, as chattel property, £47 million. This was their assessed market value.

We know that this Parliament determined that all slave owners should receive just and fair compensation for the official taking away of their property.

We know that this Parliament provided the sum of £20 million in grants to the slave owners as fair compensation for the loss of their human chattel.

And we know that this Parliament determined that the enslaved people would receive none of this compensation. The argument made in this House was that ‘property’ cannot receive property compensation. This Parliament, in its Emancipation Act, upheld the law that black people were not human, but property.

What this Parliament has hid from the world is that it also determined that the remaining £27 million would be paid by the enslaved people to their enslavers, by means of a 4 year period of free labour called the Apprenticeship.

This period of additional free labour by the emancipated represented the enforced extraction of £27 million by the state. It was a cruel and shameful method of legislating Emancipation by forcing the enslaved to pay more than 50% of the financial cost of their own freedom. The £20 million paid the enslavers by this Parliament was less than the £27 million paid by the enslaved to the enslavers as dictated by this House.

I wish now to engage the argument of the British Government that the slavery and other colonial crimes were ‘legal’, and that they took place ‘a long time ago’, and are beyond the border of adjudication.

Allow me, madam Chair, to breach protocol and to interject myself into the discourse, in order to demonstrate how very contemporary and current this exploitation of the Caribbean people is and has been.

Upstairs this chamber sits the Earl of Harewood. He is an honourable member of the House of Lords. But does Lord Harewood know that my grandfather after Independence in Barbados in 1966 laboured on his sugar plantation, as did his father and forefathers, going back to the days of slavery? Does the goodly Lord know that as a child I took lunch for my grandfather into the canefields of his sugar plantation? Lord Harewood, and my family, go back a long way, from slavery right into the present.

Take also the very aristocratic and very distinguished Cumberbatch family. It has now produced the brilliant young actor, Benedict Cumberbatch [who I would love to meet one day]. Benedict’s grandfather owned the estate on which my beloved great grandmother worked all her adult life. They enslaved my family on their Cleland plantation in the parish of St. Andrew. My great grandmother, who helped to raise me, and who we all called ‘mammy’, carried the name Adriana Cumberbatch. The actor and academic are joined therefore by a common past and present, and maybe, common blood!

My case is but one of ten thousand such cases. Everywhere across the Caribbean the presence of our enslavers can be identified in our daily domestic lives. This history is not remote. It is alive and pressing upon our daily affairs.

And what have our people and governments been doing with respect to this legacy since we have gained national independence? The truth is, the people of the Caribbean have been very courageous in their effort at self-development and self-help in respect of this terrible history and enduring legacy.

Our citizens have faced this past head on, and have established a vibrant culture of community self-help and sustainable regional development mobilization. We are not beggars! We are not subservient! We do not want charity and handouts! We want justice! Reparatory justice!

When all is said and done, our governments these past 50 years have been cleaning up the mess left behind by Britain’s colonial legacy. Our finest Presidents and Prime Ministers have been devising projects to clean up the awful mess inherited from slavery and colonisation. They must be commended for this effort, but the fact is, this legacy of rubble and ruin, persistent poverty, and racialised relations and reasoning, that continues to cripple our best efforts, has been daunting.

Britain, and its Parliament, cannot morally and legally turn their back upon this past, and walk away from the mess they have left behind. This Parliament has to return to the scene of its crimes, and participate as a legitimate parliament, as a legal parliament, in the healing and rehabilitation of the Caribbean.

We cannot, and should not, be asked to do this by ourselves. We have done our part. This Parliament must now return, and do its part, within the context of reparatory justice, and within the framework of development cooperation.

I wish to give two examples of how this reparatory justice can work:

(1)   Jamaica, Britain’s largest slave colony, was left with 80% black functional illiteracy at Independence in 1962. From this circumstance the great and courageous Jamaican nation has struggled with development and poverty alleviation. The deep crisis remains. This Parliament owes the people of Jamaica an educational and human resource investment initiative.


(2)   Barbados, Britain’s first slave society, is now called the amputation capital of the world. It is here that the stress profile of slavery and racial apartheid; dietary disaster and psychological trauma; and the addiction to the consumption of sugar and salt, have reached the highest peak. The country is now host to the world’s most virulent diabetes and hypertension epidemic. This Parliament owes the people of Barbados an education and health initiative.

It is the same for all our countries; the Bahamas, the Leewards, the Windwards, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, and beyond.

The Caricom Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice addresses these development issues that are central to the case Britain has to answer.

It is an invitation to Great Britain to demonstrate leadership within the legal, moral, and diplomatic culture of the world, within the Commonwealth, and within its relations the Caribbean.

There can be no escaping the importance of this exchange of views about the matter before this honourable chamber tonight.

It took all of the 19th century to uproot slavery from the Caribbean; from Haiti in 1804 to the Spanish sub-region in the 1880s. It took another 100 years to create citizenship, nationhood, and democracy across the Caribbean as a development framework. We have helped ourselves.

This 21st century will be the century of global reparatory justice. Citizens are now, for the first time since they were driven into retreat by colonialism, able to stand up for reparatory justice without fear. Their claim, their just claim for reparations, will not go away. Rather, like the waves upon our beautiful shores, they will keep coming until reparatory justice is attained.

Madam Chair, we call upon you, and all members of this House, to rise to this challenge and to assist Great Britain to be truly worthy of the title “Great”. I urge you to do the right thing, in the right way. There is no other right time, other than right now, in our time. There is so much to gain from your leadership. The Caribbean is counting on you.

In 1823, the honourable Thomas Buxton, M.P. for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, presented a bill to this House calling for an Emancipation Act with compensation for the enslaved people. His bill and vision were defeated. Instead, ten years later, an emancipation bill was passed, not with compensation for the enslaved, but with handsome and generous compensation for enslavers. Some 40% of the national expenditure of the country was handed over to slave-owners as reparations.

The enslaved people of the Caribbean got nothing. Indeed, they were then called upon by the said Emancipation Act to give £27 million in free labour to their enslavers. The injustice and the cruelty of that Emancipation Act, remain today like a fish bone stuck in our throats.

We urge you, madam Chair, and other members of this Parliament, to rise up and bring the Buxton vision to life. He was a noble warrior for reparatory justice; his spirit can return to this House, in both places, and the 21st Century will be ours to forge a new moral order for our collective wellbeing.

On behalf of the Caricom Reparations Commission, all my colleagues across the Caribbean who have worked with our governments in order to bring this case before you, I ask that you respond with humility and openness when your government receives an invitation to meet with our governments in summit in order to discuss this matter.

May the values and the spirit of development cooperation and mutual respect guide us all.

Thank you madam Chair.

Let Us Consider the Queen!

More on the Haile Selassie's alleged death!

Yogiraj on Meeting Haile Selassie

Yogiraj Recounts His 1982 Meeting With Haile Selassie, Conquering Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah!

Madiba: Aluta Continua

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” ― Nelson Mandela

The chronicle of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and the variety of ways in which his story crossed paths with Jamaica is important to the island's history and that of our diaspora. It must become part of the story of the emerging self-belief of people of African descent. It is also an account of a human being allowing his best and noblest self to prevail.

It is easy and very plausible to tell Mandela's story without also speaking to Jamaica's story. But as a Jamaican it would be remiss of me not to mention, how this little nation, smaller than the population of Soweto and separated by thousands of nautical miles from the shorings of South Africa, prognosticated for the isolation of South Africa in response to apartheid from as early as 1961, three years before Mandela was condemned to Robben Island.

One of Jamaica's prime ministers, Michael Manley, was in numerous ways the designer of the sporting and cultural boycott of South Africa, which, incidentally, was more cogent than economic sanctions to that degree that the psychology of being a white South African was concerned. It is little wonder that Jamaica was one of the first two countries visited by Madiba after his incarceration. He visited Jamaica and Cuba in July 1991, with our beloved Winnie Madikize Mandela at his side, and they received honour from the Jamaican people.

He was a visionary, he had a grand project. He was political. He had an avid sense of strategic timing. Yet he wasn't Machiavellian. He was loved because he was neither Mugabe nor Blair. His vision ran through his life. He was noble. And, like a virtuous father, to be kind, he sometimes could be cruel.

He was distinguished and most especially he had an vast love for his people and for the project of establishing a non-racial and non-sexist South Africa.

Mandela vigorously defended of his loyalties to Iran, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, all of whom supported him in his battles against South Africa's apartheid regime.

Mandela was on the U.S. terrorism watch list until 2008, when then-President George W. Bush signed a bill removing Mandela from it. (Obama is yet to oblige Marcus Mosiah Garvey similar courtesies.)

South Africa’s apartheid regime designated Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) as a terrorist organization for its battle against the nation’s legalized system of racial segregation that lasted from 1948 to 1994. (Marxist legal theory at work here: Karl Marx argued that the law is the mechanism by which one social class, usually referred to as the "ruling class", keeps all the other classes in a disadvantaged position).

Former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also described Mandela’s ANC as a “typical terrorist organization” in 1987, refusing to impose sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime. President Ronald Reagan did as well.

But Madiba was more than that, he was an African man of moral sense. He was a man of virtue. Moral excellence and moral sense that made him so acclaimed globally since he led a nation at a time when virtue and morality were universally absent amongst global leaders. He slammed Bush and Blair for the war on Iraq: 'What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight and who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.' For Blair he had these words: 'He is the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain.'

He rose above acrimony and bitterness. He was unselfish and could reach out to his enemies and cross many divides. He was eminent because he was the great unifier. In many ways he was the designer of the New South Africa.

Mandela was neither magnate nor angel. Mandela wasn't unaccompanied in the grand journey of African redemption in South Africa. One only has to read Bertolt Brecht’s great poem, Questions From a Worker Who Reads, to know: 'Who built Thebes of the 7 gates? / In the books you will read the names of kings. / Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?...'

The fight to emancipate South Africa was a collectivized crusade. Furthermore it was the force of the most oppressed, the workers in the factories, the destitute in the community, blue-collar women and youth that ultimately carried the apartheid government, if not totally to its knees, at the least to talk terms and discuss the conditions of the end of their racial scheme.

All struggle requires a vehicle, a social movement with leaders that can present political focus, tackle the arduous strategic and tactical routes. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela's ANC came to prevail. Even so, Mandela was the first to recognise the parts played by a broad array of social movements that formed the fight for national liberation and the mass democratic movement.

And while Mandela was the one to start dialogue with the apartheid government, he tied himself to the collective leadership of the ANC. He took the first steps, he led but he did so as part of a collective. He was an organisational man. He took pains to explain he was a product of the ANC. He was a man of the black, green and gold – but he could reach beyond organisational limits.

He had this quality of being able to keep people together. Even his critics – and he had them – submitted to him at the end of the day as a moral leader. Without him I can't envision how the transition would have gone.

Aye, zillions of words will be spoken and written on Madiba’s legacy, now, in the months to come, next year and thenceforth. And we will scramble to do this legacy justice. The hardest part will be to catch the essential Mandela, going beyond myth-making whilst precisely evaluating the inconsistent nature of that legacy.

Since the present can't be interpreted without understanding the past, and not everything that is haywire with current day South Africa can be put at the doorway of Zuma or Mbeki. The negotiated resolution that effected a democratic South Africa on the cornerstone of one person one vote will be reckoned as Mandela’s greatest accomplishment. It avoided the scorched earth route of bloodletting which we at present see in Syria. And even so it's those compromises that are nowadays falling apart at the seams. The unharmonious social inequality (very Marxist in nature) that has given rise to South Africa as a country of two nations: one white and relatively prosperous, the second black and poor (I believe arx would have termed these the: bourgeoisie and proletariat respectively).

Social divide the hallmark of society today!

Mandela’s legacy will likewise have to be weighed by the reality that South Africa is more disunited than ever as a result of inequality and social exclusion. The rich are richer and the poor poorer. The great unifier could undertake great emblematic acts of reconciliation to pacify the white nation but because, by definition, this involved sacrificing the redistribution of wealth, reconciliation with the whites was performed at the expense of the large majority of black people.

Mandela was great, but not so great that he could bridge the social divide built into the 21st century capitalist economy that has given us the era of the 1 percenters. It is the ill-fated timing of South Africa's transition, coming about as it did in the period in which global power got inextricably tied into the global corporation, empowered through the conventions of neoliberal globalisation. Reconciliation necessitated the forsaking of ANC policy as vocalised by Mandela on his discharge from jail, 'nationalisation of the mines, banks and monopoly industry is the policy of the ANC and the change or modification of our views in this regard is unimaginable.'

Nevertheless it's this forsaking of nationalisation, nationalisation representing the redistribution of wealth which was determined by the needs of reconciliation not just with the white establishment but with the international capitalist economy. His encounters with the international elite at Davos, the home of the World Economic Forum, convinced him that compromises needed to be made with the financiers. In the words of Ronnie Kasrils: 'That was the time from 1991–1996 that the battle for the soul of the ANC got underway and was lost to corporate power and influence. I will call it our Faustian moment when we became entrapped.'

It's exactly this capitalistic road that's verified such a calamity and which could ultimately demolish Mandela’s life’s work. To do justice to Mandela’s lifetime of commitment and sacrifice for equality betwixt black and white, the fight must continue.

It today has got to stress on subduing inequality and attaining social justice. In this fight the entire African Diaspora will require the greatness and sapience of umpteen Mandelas. Our brethren and sistren in South Africa require an organisation committed to marshalling all South African black and white for the freeing of the wealth of that state from the hands of a bantam elite. It will necessitate a movement akin to Mandela’s ANC, a social movement based on a collective leadership with the blended qualities of Steve Biko, Neville Alexander, Walter Sisulu, Albertina Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Fatima Meer, Chris Hani, Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Robert Sobukwe, IB Tabata and the many greats that led the battle for African liberation. But most importantly the African Diaspora and South Africa will need the multitude who take their fate into their own hands and become their own liberators.

Are these the things that Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela struggled to achieve?