The Leonard P. Howell Foundation
26 Banana Walk
Kingston 8,
Jamaica, W.I.
Tel: (876) 931-2222
Online: lphfoundation.org
email: info@lphfoundation.org
January 14, 2013
To: Dr. Jonathan Greenland
Director of Museums and Ethnography
Institute of Jamaica
Dr. Greenland I bring you greetings on your new appointment to the Institute of
Jamaica division of Museums and Ethnography.
My name is Monty Howell and I am the eldest son of Mwalimu Dr. Leonard Percival
“Gong” Howell, founding father and patriarch of the Rastafari Movement also know
as ” The Ethiopian Salvation Society”. I am also the chairperson of The Leonard
P. Howell Foundation that was founded in 2005 to protect the life and legacy of our
father. I lived at Pinnacle all my life with my brothers and sisters until the colonial
Jamaican government forcefully evicted us from our home in police raids
conducted in 1954 and 1956 respectively.
During those and many more raids, our homes were burned including most of my
fathers papers, our crops and belongings stolen and we were forcefully robbed of
our monies all of which is well documented. Most Rastafarians including my father
were brutally beaten and served long sentences in jail. These Rastafarians are the
enslaved Africans and their descendants from St. Thomas and Portland who were
left with no food to eat, no place to sleep, no land to live or plant on and no way to
earn a living, after the planters were paid to release them by the United Kingdom.
The wicked criminal plantocracy then drove the enslaved Africans off the
plantations and, where would they be but for my father’s generosity and livication
to self reliance that he engendered from St. Thomas and Portland to the Pinnacle
community.
The Leonard P. Howell Foundation is currently in a prolonged state of waiting on
the Board of Directors of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust to move forward with
the declaration of Pinnacle as a National Heritage Site and subsequent International
Heritage Site under U.N.E.S.C.O. Pinnacle was declared a National Heritage site by
Prime Minister Bruce Golding but for a frivolous objection by some parasitic
elements who know nothing about Pinnacle, Leonard P. Howell nor the Rastafari
Movement he founded. Hence, we are really surprised of the foot dragging of the
current Jamaican Government in releasing the heights of Rastafari at Pinnacle.
Pinnacle per Rastafari doctrine, “The Promised Key” , and my father Leonard P.
Howell is where the museum should be located and where all Rastafari artifacts
and history must be stored.
Regarding one article that appeared in the Daily Gleaner published Monday
January 14, 2013 the Institute of Jamaica calls for Rastafarian artifacts.
In the not to distant past Dr. James Homiack, curated a Smithsonian exhibition,
“Discovering Rastafari”, in Washington, DC without any input from any of the 11
children of Leonard P. Howell, the Leonard P. Howell Foundation nor the ancients
of the Rastafari Movement which is the Howellites (Pinnacle people). What
transpired then and would have happened a couple of years ago at the Institute of Jamaica but for my timely intervention, is counterfeit history and artifacts being masqueraded for the world to see as gospel truth.
The Leonard P. Howell Foundation is in sole possession of the legitimate artifacts of
The Rastafari Movement and is also the holders of the Intellectual Property Rights
for same, it is my humble opinion that you should have been briefed on this matter
by the person or persons you replaced since the Leonard P. Howell Foundation has
always maintained a good working relationship with The Institute of Jamaica.
In fact, the St. Catherine Parish Council just awarded my father a Jamaica 50th
award for Outstanding Contribution to Culture in Jamaica.
The Rastafari Movement is the African Liberation Movement, in the vein of our
ancestors to Marcus Garvey a good friend of my father to my father himself.
The Rastafari Movement is more than just a religion as many would have ones
believe. It is a way of life for some people. And while many may perceive
The Rastafari Movement to be at her weakest point and vulnerable to exploitation
and misrepresentation by crafty actors, they are mistaken for with struggle we get
stronger not weaker.
We have always expressed a wish to work with the Jamaican government in moving
things forward in Truth and Justice and I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx or info@lphfoundation.org.
I close with these words from an old African proverb,
” The Lions/Lionesses at Pinnacle will tell the story of the hunt and the tales will not
be told by the hunter”.
Thank You.
Yours Sincerely,
Monty Howell
Chairman Leonard P. Howell Foundation
Let me point out that the current Youth and Culture Minister in the PNP government led by Portia Miller Simpson, Lisa Hanna, lives with Richard Lake, and has for a long time. Richard is the brother of Michael Lake, and is a Director of Island Homes Real Estate, along with Lois Sherwood, the company that owns St. Jago Hills Developments Ltd. Why do you think Minister Hanna keeps talking about the Maroons when she gives public speeches about Jamaican Culture, and not a word about Rastafari? Why is the Culture Minister of Jamaica not pursuing the demand to make The Pinnacle a World and National Heritage site? BECAUSE IT IS MONEY OUT OF HER POCKET! Unbelievable as it may seem, that’s what is going on here. The Culture Minister will personally profit if her partner in life, Richard Lake, keeps selling off The Pinnacle at $2.5 million Jamaican per plot. I guess Richard Lake isn’t trying to sell anything in Accompong.