Jamaican Rastafarians to get reparations
Finally, the relentless campaign
to redress families of
Rastafarians injured by the heinous
police assault on their
Coral Garden community in
Montego Bay in 1963 will pay
off.
After 54 years of denial, contemplation,
exchanges in political
party leadership and governance
and a 2017 apology from
the current administration, a
decision between the government
and a group identified as
the Rastafari Coral Gardens
Benevolent Society reconciled
compensation to family survivors
and may improve relations
between the two entities.
In a statement issued by Olivia
Grange, Minister of Culture,
Gender, Entertainment and
Sport, “we have two main obligations;
to do what is right and
to do it in the right way.”
Admission of wrongful police
action and a willingness to compensate
survivors started what
seemed to be a reconcilable dialogue
to healing.
“Doing the right thing is
not always simple, popular or
expedient; reconciling with our
Rastafari brother and sisters is
Inside Life
By Vinette K. Pryce
none of those things. It is, however,
the right thing to do and
we must do it in the right way,”
Grange said.
The minister explained the
recent reparatory decision as
one initially proposed by Prime
Minister Andrew Holness who
Caribbean L 12 ife, Sept. 27 - Oct.3, 2019
was ‘not even born’ at the time
the travesty occurred 54 years
ago.
In addition to issuing a public
apology to the Rastafarian community
he made a commitment
of J$10 million to establish a
trust fund to benefit families of
the victims. That amount was
suggested by the Office of Public
Defender.
Since then an additional
J$2million was earmarked by
the Administrator General’s
Department as Trustees to
establish the fund.
“We needed a fair mechanism
to determine how and to whom
compensation should be paid
and turned again to the Office
of the Public Defender to continue
its work at locating survivors
and getting information on
their current socio-economic
and living conditions. In its earlier
report in 2015, the Office of
the Public Defender said it was
“unable to find a yardstick by
which to recommend individual
monetary compensation.”
“However, at our request to
continue its work, the Office of
the Public Defender underwent
a careful, detailed and lengthy
search and compilation of data
(since 2017) and finally submitted
a report to the Prime Minister
in April 2019.”
“While the Office of the
Public Defender was conducting
its comprehensive survey
of socio-economic and living
conditions of the survivors, my
Ministry had been working with
the Administrator General’s
Department and Jamaicans for
Justice, which represents the
Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent
Society, on establishing
the terms which will govern
the Trust Fund,” the minister
explained. “
“We anticipated the report of
the Office of the Public Defender
to finalize the trust and move
to begin making payments.”
Catch You On The Inside!
From left, Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, Ras Walter Brissett, incident survivor,
Ras Gregory Taylor and Ras Samuel Brown. Jamaica Ministery of Culture
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