Jamaican Filmmaker Completes his Trilogy with “African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey”

 

In 1796, after the Second Maroon War against the British, 600 Maroons were deported from Jamaica to Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Augustus (later known as the Duke of Kent) interviewed some of the male Maroons as they sailed to Canada and he employed some of them as workers on the Halifax Citadel’s third fortification and Government House.

Inspired by the Maroons, 120 years later, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance (1918 – 1930s), Marcus Garvey, united Black people throughout the diaspora under one umbrella: Black Canadians, West Indians, African-Americans, and Africans. Spearheading the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Pan-Africanist Garvey, dedicated his life to the project of redeeming Africa. By 1922, from Sidney, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia, there were 32 UNIA chapters in Canada.

Roy T. Anderson, an award-winning Jamaican-born filmmaker is about to bring Marcus Garvey’s story to the screen. In African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey, ground-breaking film chronicling his journey, his modern disciples including Rastafari give their perspectives concerning this iconic yet controversial leader.

Filmed in Jamaica, Ghana, Canada, USA, UK, and Central America, this docu-film blends live action sequences and stunning still photographs with no-holds barred interviews and conversations with world-renowned leaders, scholars, and personalities. Multiple Emmy-award winning actor Keith David (Greenleaf, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Crash) lent his voice as the narrator of this 85-minute feature-length documentary-film.

Also sharing the influence of Garvey’s philosophy on their work are internationally acclaimed reggae artists Sean Paul and David Hinds, lead singer for Steel Pulse; award-winning American actors Louis Gossett, Jr. and Danny Glover, Charles Rangel, a retired United States Congressman, and White supremacist Jared Taylor.

One Minute Book Review: Rastafari in The 21st Century

 

Name of the book: Rastafari in The 21st Century: What Life Has Taught I&I Volume One: Tribute To The Rastafari Elders

Authors: Priest Douglas Smith and I. Jabulani Tafari (I&I)

Publisher: Copyright © 2021 Douglas Smith & I. Jabulani Tafari

What's the book about?

Volume One of "Rastafari In The 21st Century: What Life Has Taught I&I" contains the previously unwritten history of the First Generation of Rastafari Elders. Today, many of that First Generation of Rastafari Elders are transitioning on to become Ancestors, and as they do so, their colorful and important life stories are already starting to fade from the collective memory of the people of Jamaica and the world. This thought-provoking volume was written by authors Priest Douglas Smith and Ras I. Jabulani Tafari as a literary tribute, lest the world forget to highlight and honor those Rastafari Elders who sacrificed everything and endured so much with so little in order to establish a new Cultural Tradition and Way of Life.

The graphic and colorful biographies of the individual Rastafari Patriarchs and Matriarchs included in this well-illustrated literary Tribute to the Elders provide a panoramic, comprehensive, and illuminating insight into the cultural mindset and political worldview of the original Rastafari disciples. The unique and revealing biographies of the selected Rastafari Elders also provide mind-boggling and eye-opening accounts of the harrowing and dangerous life experiences of the once publicly despised, collectively ostracized, and socially rejected Rastafari activists.

Why am I reading this book?

Rastafari's African-centered way of life, their spiritual grounding in the history and culture of Jamaica and Africa, and their unrelenting calls for social justice, including the exoneration of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, have made them the conscience of Jamaica.

Quote from the Book:

"From its genesis in Jamaica, Rastafari has been both a Resistance Movement with an African (Black) Liberation Ideology, as well as a Spiritual (Religious) Movement with a Black Liberation Theology. The colorful individual biographies of the fifteen Rastafari Patriarchs and seven Matriarchs highlighted in this Tribute to the Elders have provided a comprehensive insight into the political worldview and cultural mindset of the foundation Rastafari pioneers."

 

Where to buy:

Digital

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rastafari-in-the-21st-century-what-life-has-taught-i-i-priest-douglas-smith/1139976680?ean=2940162289036

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Rastafari-21st-Century-Taught-Tribute-ebook/dp/B09FCNGY1B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Rastafari+in+the+21st+century&qid=1631650291&sr=8-1

 

Print

For the paperback version, the authors will mail them a copy directly if readers Zelle $33 to rootzfoundation@gmail.com and email their name, street address, and telephone to the same address.

 

About the Authors:

 

 (L.R. Priest Douglas Smith, I. Jabulani Tafari)

Courtesy Gail Zucker Photography

 

Priest Douglas Smith was born in and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. Currently, he is a leading Priest and a founding member of the Miami, Florida branch of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress. In addition, he is the President of the Rootz Foundation Inc., a Florida-based non-profit organization. Priest Douggie is also the author of the book The Philosophy & Opinions of the High Priest, a literary tribute to Bobo Ashanti founder King Emmanuel Charles Edwards.

I. Jabulani Tafari is a multimedia journalist, graphic artist, and managing editor of the Rootz Reggae & Kulcha Magazine. Tafari's cultural approach to multimedia communications has earned him many accolades and awards over the years. He received the Ranny Williams Prize for Cultural Interest in 1981, becoming the first Rastafarian Journalist ever to win a national award from the Press Association of Jamaica. In addition, Tafari was named 'Reggae Journalist of the Year' (1984) by Rockers Magazine for his outstanding use of the broadcast and print media to promote Reggae music during the early 1980s.