C. Roy Reynolds

THE CLOSING years of the 1920s and into the beginning of the other decade were turbulent ones for Marcus Garvey. He had served time in an American prison on a dubious conviction and was now working towards a career in representational politics of his homeland, but he was soon to find that the Jamaican justice system was as relentless as its American counterpart.

But that manifestation was a few years in the future. Now it was the year 1927 and things were beginning to look more favourable for him though he had lost the battle in the courts to retain possession of his headquarters, Liberty Hall. Public-spirited individuals were getting up a petition to forward/to ask US President Calvin Coolidge to set aside his conviction in America.

Towards this end a meeting was held at the Ward Theatre the first Wednesday night in November. Sceptics saw the occasion as a mere opportunity for politicking, a municipal election being in the offing. But as The Gleaner later reported in itsNovember 4 issue there was no reference to politics during the proceedings, except for a tangential reference by Mr. H.A.L. Simpson, one of the main speakers, that he had promised to assist a candidate at a meeting being held that evening.

Among other principal participants, according to The Gleaner report, were Alderman, the Rev. McLaughlin, who chaired the meeting; Rev. S.M. Jones, Rev. C.A. Wilson, Mr. L. Barclay and officers of the UNIA, including Mr. Charles Johnson, Mr. O.L. Grant and Lady Henrietta Vinton Davis.

Petitioners

Rev. McLaughlin was reported as saying that it was really "a great move taking place in the city of Kingston towards a great end." Apparently though the star speaker was the redoubtable Mr. Simpson, and The Gleaner records that when he rose to speak he was given 'a thunderous ovation'. He said the effort on Garvey's behalf was not being pursued because he was known to the petitioners but on behalf "of a human being and one of the family."

Mr. Simpson went on to detail his personal contacts and recollections about Mr. Garvey. He was critical of the US Attorney General whom he suggested had withheld exculpatory evidence in Mr. Garvey's case and trial. He reviewed Garvey's efforts towards the upliftment of the black and coloured races and acknowledged that he had even helped him at times in his own work.

He recalled an encounter in which Garvey remarked "you may talk all you want about people being criminals but have you ever read about the Governor of Jamaica who was the worst pirate in the West Indian waters. A scoundrel of scoundrels who was at one time Governor of Jamaica. A man who could not live long enough to buy his soul out of hell for the crimes he had committed, and yet he was rewarded with a knighthood; (an apparent reference to Sir Henry Morgan who traded a pirate ship for a seat in Kings House.)

According to The Gleaner, this and similar sentiments were supported by the entire gathering.

Another meeting was held the next night at the corner of North and Oxford Streets at which the large gathering signed the petition. By the year 1929 the election was really on and Marcus Garvey had declared his candidacy. At a meeting at Cross Roads on Monday, September 9, 1929 he presented his '14 points' he intended as his political manifesto, which he intended to pursue in the Legislative Council if elected.

These included a greater measure of self-government; protection for labour; establishment of a minimum wage; protection for local industries; establishing of a university and polytechnic and even an opera house; a law for the imprisonment of persons who coerced people to vote in certain ways.

But it was his 10th point which would put him in peril and perhaps wrecked his ambitions of becoming a real and long-term participant in national politics. This called for 'a law to imprison judges who dealt unfairly.' According to The Gleaner report of Tuesday, September 10 he went on to elaborate on each point and it appears that it was his elaboration on the point about imprisoning judges which alarmed sections of the judicial system to the point where they took legal action against him which was to lead to his arrest and later imprisonment.

Not only was Garvey sent to jail but his solicitor Mr. Lewis Ashenheim faced the same prospect. In succeeding instalments we shall see how these trials proceeded.