Jamaica offers apology and reparations to Rastafarians

In an unprecedented show of remorse and humility, the government of Jamaica took responsibility for a single incident that blamed the island’s total Rastafarian population for the death of eight individuals in a farming community 10 miles east of the second city of Montego Bay 54 years ago.

Stigmatized and persecuted since 1963, “the Rastafarian community has harbored feelings of bitterness and resentment over the years.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness — with endorsement from Peter Phillips, Opposition People’s National Party leader — acknowledged the wrongful actions his government perpetrated in 1963 following the deaths of several persons in a farming community known as Coral Gardens.