Mortimo Planno ( second left in tam) during a trip to Sierra Leone in 1961. - CONTRIBUTED
THERE WAS a time in Jamaica when the Rastaman was a pariah.
Discrimination against the 'Blackheart Man' or 'beard man' as they were called, so moved author Roger Mais that he made a Rastaman the hero of his book, Brother
Man.
If Mais' eye-opening book helped bring the injustice against Rastas to light, Mortimo Planno was the movement's champion who was not afraid to lock horns with the establishment.
Planno, who many consider the father of the modern Rasta movement, died March 5 at the age of 76 at the University Hospital of the West Indies.
HOMAGES
At the thanksgiving service for his life three weeks later, various Rastafarian houses turned out at the Holy Trinity Ethiopian Orthodox Church to pay homage to 'Kumi'. So, too, did admirers from the United States, Canada and Africa.
The eclectic gathering, says lawyer and Rastafarian Miguel Lorne, reflected Planno's widespread influence: " 'Kumi' brought an intellectual structure to Rasta. Above all, he articulated the movement better than anybody else."
Planno was born in Cuba, but moved with his family to Jamaica at the age of three. They settled in west Kingston where scholars say Rasta had its genesis. Later, Planno would teach the tenets of the religion in Trench Town where among his enthusiastic 'students' was Bob Marley for whom he wrote the song, Selassie Is The Chapel.
He also had an impact on non-Rastas such as University of the West Indies Professor Barry Chevannes who says he first met Planno in 1967 when he was a Jesuit student.
"He was definitely the intellectual of the movement ... up to 30 years ago
Planno was its most influential person," said Chevannes. "He was eclipsed by others but he was always an extremely imposing figure."
So imposing that he was appointed by the Jamaican Government to represent the Rastafarian faith on a fact-finding mission to Africa in 1961.
On that trip, the delegation met with Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie 1, who some Rastas claim is God.
MAINSTREAM ACCEPTANCE
When Selassie visited Jamaica five years later, he personally called for Planno to ascend the stairs of his airplane with him at the Palisadoes Airport.
The sight of the diminutive Selassie beside the dreadlocked Planno is one of the most symbolic in Jamaica's history.
Planno lived through some of the most painful chapters experienced by Rasta in Jamaica, including the police raid on Leonard Howell's Pinnacle commune in 1954 and the tragic Coral Gardens incident of April 1963 in St. James when several Rastafarians were killed by the police.
But, importantly, he also lived long enough to see mainstream acceptance of its principles.
- H. C.
