The Sunday Mail
Haile Selassie
Ibo Foroma
THE month of June is indeed cold, with the 1976 Soweto Massacre in mind, the Rastafari Empire cannot forget the transformation of Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey on June 10 1940.
To decease is to transfer from this pathetic realm to the next, butterfly effect; which is why Rastas do not die.
The same as the modern computer, not one person moulded what is today Rastafari and its various ‘forms’.
Marcus inspired what is termed Garveyism and upholds a fundamental position in forwarding pan-Africanism, founding the U.N.I.A. and the A.C.L. abbreviations that every conscious African must know.
He was born Jamaican but manifested the bulk of his cornerstone works in the United States. His contribution to the glorious movement of Jah People is likened to that of John the Baptist and Jesus King of the Jews.
Here is how: “In reviewing ‘Dread History’, one cannot but assess that Garvey was an opponent of the early Rastafarian doctrine, though Garvey had said in previous years that: ‘We as negroes have found a new ideal, while our God has no colour yet it is human to see everything through one’s own spectacles.
And since the white people have seen their God through white spectacles, we have only now started out, late though it be, to see our God through our spectacles… We shall worship him through the spectacles of Ethiopia.” (The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey).
Garvey refused to allow Howell to speak on the U.N.I.A. platform in Jamaica about the Divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
In fact, it appears in Garvey’s writings that he was steeped in Christianity and felt threatened by the growth of Rastafari, which was spreading through the ghettoes, among some of his own U.N.I.A members, and especially among the down-pressed and downtrodden masses of working-class African ex-slaves”. (Dread History).
However, Howell himself witnessed the coronation of His Imperial Majesty and as he says in his book ‘The Promised Key’ :”The Duke (of Gloucester, special representative of his father, King George V) fell down bending knees before His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and spoke in a loud tone of voice and said, ‘Master, Master my father has sent me to represent him sir. He is unable to come and he said that he will serve you to the end Master.’”
The special coronation gift that the Duke presented to the Ethiopian Emperor right before his kneeling was also invested by Howell with attention to the fact that the Duke handed to His Imperial Majesty a scepter of solid gold twenty seven inches long of which had been taken from Ethiopia some thousand years ago by British Imperial thieves.
This magnificent piece of workmanship which was inscribed on one side “Ethiopia shall make her hands reach unto God” and the other side “King of Kings of Ethiopia”, when followed by the obeisance of the English royal envoy was taken by Howell to be and is fulfilment of biblical prophecy.
In particular Psalms 72:9-11 reads, “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.”
Genesis 49:10 – “The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and until him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Revelation 5:5 – “And one of the elders saith unto me, ‘Weep not for behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the seven seals thereof.”
Howell is not unique but played a pivotal role; before his return to the island from the U.S.A. in 1932, Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert was already preaching the Divinity of the Ethiopian Lion of Judah.
Again Archibald Dunkley, a great teacher of Ethiopianism was also spreading the same gospel like wild fire. He mainly taught that Negus (King) Tafari was the Black Christ in his Kingly Character.
However, it is Howell and his brethren Robert Hinds who were very influential in spreading and emphasizing the fact that Emperor Haile Selassie I is God or preferably Jah.
Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child is born, a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it, with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.”
And Psalm 68:4 reads,” Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.” — King James Version.
Other aspects of the Faith, Howell derived from Hinduism and East India. Brother Hill reveals the closeness of Howell to his East Indian Jamaican brethren known as “Laloo.”
The Guru Howell had a strong Hindu Persuasion. The spiritual name ascribed to Howell by himself was Gangunguru which in Hindu means “Great King” or “King of Kings”
Garvey as the most popular African leader had ceaselessly asked the pertinent questions about, “Where is the black man’s government? Where is his navy? Where is his army? Where is his president? Where is his King?”
Apparently, Garvey had his eyes set on being the de facto black president of the world.
However, Garvey’s ego was shattered since the coronation of Regent Plenipotentiary Tafari.
When interviewed by the author of ‘Dread History’, Paul Earlington says, “The honourable Marcus Garvey always told us that there was a man coming forward behind him whose shoe-heel he, the honourable Marcus Garvey, would not be able to unleash.”
