Tuesday, October 05, 2010
9:05 AM
King Rasta Fari was crowned Emperor Hail Selassie I on November 2nd 1930 as a King of kings Lord of lords of Ethiopia. But to many sons and daughters of Africa/Ethiopia in the west, King Rasta fari was the King and Emperor of all Black people in the African Diaspora. Ethiopia represented the last country in Africa that was not colonized, and Emperor Hail Selassie I was the embodiment of Ethiopia, past and present, in all his Gory!
Emperor Hail Selassie was a symbol of independence, and Ethiopia represented the last bastion and custodian of our African heritage, and pride as a free people. Hence, Hail Selassie I was looked upon as the Redeemer of the entire Black race. Marcus Garvey, as the most popular African leader, had asked the pertinent and burning 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 King Rasta fari.
Garvey, as a political and social activist and co-founder of the UNIA, was not a pillar in the foundation of the Rastafarian movement, but one ca say that some of his actions and speeches at times sought to derail the movement. In 1933, according to Z. Munroe Scarlett, Garvey bluntly refused to allow Leonard Howell "to sell the Emperor's pictures in Edelweiss Park (the headquarters of the UNIA)." (Dread History, p.25)
The main prophet of the Rastafarian faith should be Leonard P. Howell. Nonetheless, one can definitely say that Hibbert, Hinds and Howell were the primary early teachers of the Rastafarian foundation /pillar, which says that King Hail Selassie I is the Divine Creator!
It was Brother Howell, the Gong, who helped to cultivate, shape and fashion the Rastafarian family. The Gong, as he was popularly called on ' the Pinnacle" camp, saw the importance of the African engaging in social collective living, and thus created the Pinnacle Hill Community.
Pinnacle was formerly a large plantation estate which Howell and some of his associates purchased and restored in the form of a beautiful African village setting. The community's operation was based on the principles of economics independence and communalism.
On "The Pinnacle" there were many Rastafarians, brethren and sisters children and families, along with individual ones. The structure was set up whereby there were many artisan and skilled people dwelling together as a community.
The Pinnacle community was set up sometime in the late 1930's or early 1940's, soon after Howell was released from Bellevue Mental Hospital. However, by the middle of the 1940's, toward the end of World War 11, Pinnacle was becoming a proven success story.
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