Ras Bongo Tawney, a Jamaican Rastafarian who made his first trip to Ethiopia for the birthday observances provides the film's most absorbing and profoundly inspirational moments. Born and raised in Kingston but now a resident of Portland Cottage, Clarendon, Bongo Tawney has spent more than 53 years of his life as a Rasta. As such, he has endured the continual harassment meted out by the Jamaican government and police towards Rastas, which commenced with the inception of the faith in 1930 and only began to subside with Bob Marley's international ascent, more than 40 years later.
"In the early days there were a lot of people who couldn't stand the tribulation," Bongo Tawney explained. "They trim off (cut their dreadlocks) and police trim some of them and they don't even put it on again through fear. But there were some they couldn't change like I, man."
On a Saturday morning in late July, Tawney took time out from a 12-day Nyabinghi (a ritual meeting held for significant occurrences on the Rastafarian calendar where Rastas pray, read the bible, feast on ital food and smoke ganja) celebrating His Majesty's birthday to discuss his life experiences at his brethren's home in Clarendon.
"In the '50s, '60s and '70s we go through about 30 of the hardest years in this faith," Tawney recalled. "One night I was resting in a house I build and the next morning the police burn it down and I had to build it again. I had to run out of the city and go way up in the Wareika Hills (overlooking eastern Kingston) and one morning we wake up and 500 police come in the hills and take away all the Rastas, woman and man. I used to live in Back O Wall and they come and break down and burn down everything; if they saw a dog they would burn it and kill it. (Following a directive issued by the Jamaican government, in 1959 the Rasta community called Back O Wall was destroyed by police and most of its residents were either beaten, thrown in jail or had their locks forcibly shorn.) The government said get rid of this faith by any means necessary; don't rent dem a house, don't give dem a vehicle to drive, don't give dem no work. We went through a really terrible time to preserve this faith today."
Ras Tawney's spiritual odyssey began with a revelation more than 53 years ago. In that vision he saw himself and another Rasta man in a large temple with giant columns. The other Rasta was anointing a baby with oil and when the oil ran out, he asked Tawney to bring him more. Tawney retrieved the oil, put it on a tray and placed it on a little table with a green top. Tawney stood back and realized his foot had stepped on someone. He turned around and saw it was His Majesty standing with his arms folded. From that day forward Ras Tawney has remained a devout Rasta and his vision was fully realized when he went to Ethiopia and visited His Majesty's residence Jubilee Palace.
"When I reached there, I see the same green top table that I envisioned 53 years ago," Tawney said. "I see it in the palace the same way. I was so surprised that I reveal it to several ones and ones in there. So it come like it is in that place that my whole vibes of this faith created through His Majesty."
During his Ethiopian sojourn, Tawney also visited Shasamane, a small town about 150 miles south of Addis Ababa. Shasamane gained international attention in the African Diaspora when His Majesty granted 500 acres of its fertile land as a gift to the Black people of the West in 1948. Today Shashamane represents the largest settlement of Jamaicans and other Caribbean expatriates, predominantly Rastafarians, within Africa.
But it is Tawney's visit to Addis Ababa's magnificent Cathedral of St. George where Halie Selassie was crowned Emperor on Nov. 2, 1930 that provides one of "Africa Unite"'s most poignant moments. "When I went there, I saw the abuna (father or priest in Ge'ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) and him look 'pon I and said, 'Now you is going to go places where no ordinary Ethiopian has ever been.' I was taken into the holies of holy in that cathedral. I was shown a throne of His Majesty and from His Majesty last sit upon it no one has ever sit on it. I was also shown a replica of the Arc of the Covenant in the holies of holies and when I come back out, they took out the altar and say see the altar made up out of ebony. See altar foot (it is a) lion paw hail up Haile Selassie. That get me more interested when I hear my Father name start to call. As you can see in the film, they allow the film crew to come in and show that section of the church. You have brethren all up there 15, 20 years that never have the opportunity I have. If you notice in the church you will see I man pass some tears because it meant so much to I."
Since 1988 Tawney has traveled to many countries as an ambassador, speaking about Nyabinghi, the oldest branch of Rastafari whose name is taken from a religious-political group that resisted colonial domination in Uganda in the last decade of the 19th century. Tawney has lectured at several major universities in the US including Howard, John Hopkins and Southeastern University. He has also spoken at Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institute, at New York City's Museum of Natural History and at various seminars throughout the Caribbean and South America. Through all of his varied travels, it was Tawney's journey to Ethiopia that has had the greatest personal significance and brought him the deepest spiritual fulfillment.
Now that his youngest daughter has finished her education in Jamaica, he plans to repatriate there as soon as he is able. "In the time I spent (in Ethiopia) I see so many mystifying things. I man go in His Majesty's palace and that palace reveal a 53 year vision to I so it was all a great joy that I really reach heaven," he says. "Some people say that heaven is in the sky but from where we are i, Jamaica, if I point toward Ethiopia (which is 8000 feet above sea level), I would have to point up in the air the same way."