Devon Dick MAROON, BEV Carey, in The Maroon Story questions whether Paul Bogle should be a national Hero. She records that the policemen who went to arrest Bogle were Maroons. She also made some poignant points about the contribution of the Caribbean to Europe when she states, "Slavery has enriched and made possible the great industrial towns of Great Britain, Portugal, Holland, Spain. However, in the countries which sourced the wealth, a legacy of poverty and illiteracy remains." And sadly, she observes, "British students of this century have not been told of the contribution of the forced labour of millions of slaves to the British economy."
NOT RESPECTED
In a biting commentary on Paul Bogle being a national Hero, Carey states, "The Jamaican people need to consider the events that brought about the elevation to such a high honour" (p. 608). and gives justification for the need for the review by admitting that "Maroon leaders state that their ancestors did not respect Paul Bogle. They believed that he went to Kingston where he collected George William Gordon's pamphlet and distributed them prematurely through his church; that he might have misinterpreted the direction that Gordon intended to go. By taking action, before a proper plan was developed, he cost that good man (Gordon) his life, but also the lives of several hundred people... Therefore, Bogle was held up to ridicule by the Maroons (p. 610).
This is the first time I have read a scholar blaming Bogle for the death of hundreds of people and for Gordon losing his life. She appears unsympathetic to Bogle when she outlines the encounter with Bogle and the Maroons. She states, "There is no possible way that this visit to Hayfield could have been interpreted by Bogle to signify that the Maroons had promised to support his cause... The most that can be said is that he engaged in an exercise of wishful thinking..." Worse, she appears to
justify the actions of Governor Eyre on p. 575 when she claims that, "A member of the crowd made a loud verbal protest in the court, and was ordered brought before the court. However, he was rescued by Bogle's
supporters from Stony Gut and, in the scuffle, policemen were wounded. It was a situation which government could not tolerate."
This is not the first time that persons have questioned the credentials of Paul Bogle and perhaps it will not be the last. In 1965, the then president of the United Theological College of the West Indies questioned whether Paul Bogle could be acclaimed as a Christian martyr. In the nineteenth century, a reverend gentleman, named Hogg, also made some outlandish accusations about Bogle, which are not fit to be
re-stated. However, about four years ago, I remember being interviewed by a British Caucasian man who was doing a documentary for BBC on 'the fall of the British Empire'. He claimed that it was the protest led by Bogle and the subsequent turn of events that led to the ending of the British Empire. It was a joy to hear someone else saying that, because that was one of the major points of my Master's dissertation.
The events of 1865 spilt the British society in two with John Stuart Mill and others on one side and Charles Dickens et al on the other. The issue dominated the British papers for months and debated in the British parliament for three years. The story would not die.
A REMARKABLE MAN
Paul Bogle was a remarkable man. He and a few others journeyed on foot through rough terrain for 40 miles to warn the
governor that if people did not get gainful employment there would be social unrest. He was wise, insightful and compassionate. He led two marches on the Morant Bay Courthouse to agitate against the injustices of the colonial justice system. The first one went without incident but the second turned bloody after the custos' men fired on the crowd and Bogle and his followers reacted in self defence. Clinton Hutton in his Ph.D. dissertation, outlined the elaborate justice system, subsequently installed by Bogle for the peasants, for the purpose of dispute resolution.
Paul Bogle is my hero and he is a great National Hero.
The Rev. Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation-building'.
