Leonard Howell was born in Jamaica in 1898, but left as a teenager to find work in the Americas. In 1929, He ran a “teahouse” where cannabis was smoked.
He was deported from the US in 1932 and started preaching throughout Jamaica about Ras Tafari as messiah returned to earth. He was soon arrested then released in 1936. The following year, he married 26-year-old dressmaker Teneth Bent (both pictured left).
Alexander Bustamante, a union organizer in 1939 wrote to the Governor: “Serious trouble is brewing …owing to a mischievousness of a man named Howell, leader of this terrible thing called ‘Rastafari’. It seems to me the only proper place for this man is in the asylum. He is the greatest danger today, and I believe the police can confirm.”
In 1940, Leonard Howell set up “Pinnacle” on an old 500-acre estate, accessible by foot and hidden from the rest of the world, accommodating 1,600 self-sufficient residents.
In 1941, Howell was arrested for cultivating marijuana alongside yams. Seventy residents were arrested and 28 jailed under the new law; Howell was sentenced to two more years in jail. Released in 1943, he formed a corps of guardsman, some of whom grew their hair long and known as “Ethiopian warriors” or “locksmen”.
Leonard Howell reformed Pinnacle in 1943. Bustamante invaded Pinnacle in 1954. The government invaded in 1958, burning all dwellings. The Police deliberately destroyed Leonard Howell’s 30 years of diaries, writings, photographs, memoirs, and letters from around the world.
A weh mi a tell people, Bustamante a carry belly fi di Rastaman from in the 1930s. Him neva like Garvey, so the people dem start embrace Garvey and Howell, Bustamante had no tolerance fi dem. Bustamante is no national hero of mine; he is a wicked murderer and loan shark.
I am compelled to think that he is a dunce too. When Jamaica’s independence delegation lefter for London–Lancaster House to be exact–Bustamante stayed behind and sent Edwin Allen to represent him. The eloquent Norman Manley sealed the deal and after independence was granted, Bustamante when there for optics purposes.
The next thing weh a puzzle me, why did William Alexander Clarke changed his sir name to that of a man who “befriended” him? Why would I change my name to my friend’s name? Very fishy Bustamante; please fess up people…
@Lali, you know the history of Jamaican politics for real, and rightly so, Busta was a dunce, Edwin Allen was the behind the scenes pri minister of Jamaica for many years for JLP during Bustamante reign, but not a lot of people know this, so for you to call it out like that, hmmmm! I am going to hold mi peace right now . Mine u nuh , cause it is only the elite know them type of things here. Lol as matter of fact Edwin was acting pri minister for 10 years also.
We started off with a dunce Prime Minister in 1962 and 53 years later, we still have a dunce Prime Minister. Poor Jamaica!
Jamaicans should start a petition to remove Bustamante from hero status now.