Remembering Dr. Walter Rodney

 Richard S. Dunn – October 18, 2021

On October 15, 1968 University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer and scholar Dr. Walter Rodney, was declared persona non grata by the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) government headed by the late then Prime Minister Hugh Shearer. Dr. Rodney had accepted a professorship at the UWI earlier that year and by then was already an experienced lecturer, prolific writer, and author. He had traveled to Canada to attend a Black Writer’s conference; on his return to Jamaica, he was prevented from disembarking and confined to the aircraft.

Dr. Walter Rodney was not the traditional academic, filled with arrogance and insulated himself from the ordinary people. Dr. Rodney came from the working-class and maintained his contact and interaction with the working-class; he spoke to groups all over the Country, formally and informally. I vividly remember myself and two friends traveling after work from downtown Kingston to the Mona Campus to hear his riveting and intellectually stimulating discussions, on social history and global issues. He skillfully showed the interconnection between what was happening in Jamaica at the time, and the global struggle of oppressed peoples for national liberation. Rodney was a Pan-Africanist but was not stricken with the affliction of narrow Nationalism; he recognized the significance of the class struggle as an integral part, and the fulcrum of the struggle for Black liberation.

His impact was of such that when the news broke of his ban from Jamaica, students of the UWI immediately organized and lead a demonstration to the House of Parliament and the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By the time the demonstration got to the intended location it included people of all walks of life , despite being attacked by the Police with teargas and nightsticks. The demonstration developed further into an uprising of the urban poor and  marginalized citizens, who saw the attack on Rodney as another oppressive and reactionary action by the government, to stem the tide of growing discontent. The uprising has been opportunistically and erroneously labeled as the “Rodney riots” or the “Rodney affair.” The banning and subsequent uprising must be seen against the background of the deteriorating socio-economic conditions existing in Jamaica at the time and the global struggle for National Liberation, in the developing countries and the Black Power Movement, within the United States.

Local dissent was growing among the working class regarding their economic status and the unresponsiveness of the government to adequately address their basic social needs. Also, the working-class readily identified with the Civil Rights and Black Power struggles within the United States and the struggles of the working-class in Africa, Latin-America, and the rest of the Caribbean. They all had the same enemy, international capitalism.

As usual the government gave no explanation for the persona non grata designation, but it was in keeping with the government’s reactionary and anti-working-class ideology. Books on Black history and culture were banned; Rastafarians harassed and arbitrarily arrested; heavy handed policing; dissention vilified and demonized; activists were surveilled and harassed by the police; the Daily Gleaner which was the mouthpiece of the local oligarchy, published venomous articles against activists and the growing Black Power consciousness developing in the country. Further, there was  increased taxation on the working-class; open preferential treatment given to light-skinned versus dark-skinned Jamaicans, and the widening of the gap between the middle class and the working class. At the time of the demonstration, the government gave the Jamaica Omnibus Services Ltd (JOS), owners and operators of the municipal transportation service (UK based Company), approval to raise the bus fares, throughout the city. It was only a matter of time before these unfavorable, volatile social conditions erupted; the government’s banning of Rodney was the “spark” that ignited those incendiary conditions. It was an attack on Black consciousness, Black liberation and cultural pride.

Now 53 years later, it is time for the governments of especially Jamaica and Guyana to extend what Rodney’s widow Dr. Patricia Rodney appropriately calls “reparative justice.” The offence was committed in Jamaica therefore the onus is on the Jamaican Government to remove the ban; offer a formal public apology and compensate the family for the material loss suffered, the social dislocation and the physical and psychological trauma experienced by Patricia Rodney. Patricia Rodney was pregnant at the time of the incident. It is unacceptable that since 1968, neither the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) nor the Peoples National Party (PNP) Administrations saw it as the moral and humanitarian thing to do; the present Administration can be on the right side of history by correcting this injustice.

It is encouraging however, that the Guyanese government has acted in good faith by taking principled actions in correcting their misdeeds. The Commission of Inquiry investigating the murder of Walter Rodney, declared in 2014 that his death was an assassination. In April of this year the Guyana Court of Appeal have set aside the conviction of Donald Rodney, Walter’s brother, which linked him to the assassination of his brother Walter. Further, Walter Rodney’s Death Certificate will be amended to read “professor” instead of “unemployed” and the cause of death revised to show “assassination.”

The University of The West Indies (UWI) Mona campus must return to the family all personal items belonging to Walter Rodney including scholarly papers and notes. Rodney’s wife was unable to return to the campus to collect any item belonging to her husband; this is justice long delayed, overdue and deserved, Dr. Walter Rodney made an indelible impression on Black intellectual and political thought, and contributed to social upliftment internationally. It was reported that 35,000 people of all walks of like joined his funeral procession; he was and remains a monument and a testament to the best of what it means to be African.

 Send emails to Richard Dunn at: contact@makingitplain.net