Rastas ‘very concerned’
It has been seven weeks since Abuna Ammanuel Ascento Foxe, a Rastafarian activist, died in the US. Since then, members of the community and the Church of Haile Selassie have been advocating for him to be buried in the National Heroes Park.
Foxe died on April 20 and the Imperial Ethiopian World Federation (IEWF) has reached out to Culture Minister Olivia Grange to make it happen.
Junior Anderson, first vicepresident of the IEWF, told THE STAR that they are extremely concerned by how much time has passed without Foxe being laid to rest.
“Babsy Grange hasn’t reached out as yet, enuh … . Her secretary said she gave her the letter we sent three weeks now, and we no get no reply. We called today (Wednesday) again, and the secretary said nothing as yet ... . She hasn’t received a letter from Babsy for us yet,” he said.
On June 2, the culture minister told THE STAR that she received a letter from the church and was preparing to respond to them.
“This is the third week since we
Christopher Graham, priest of the Church of Haile Selassie, said they were expecting a reply sooner.
“We are actually very concerned. We are concerned to the point where we are planning on going above Babsy. We are planning on going higher in the chain of command and go to the prime minister directly,” he said.
Graham says they are prepared to give the culture ministry a little more time to respond to their request.
“Since they asked for some more time … because they keep telling us to call back, we were just waiting. However, there will be a point where we reach our cut-off point and we have to try something else. We are going to have a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) and we are going to decided that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anderson believes this may be an opportunity for more people to travel to Jamaica to be a part of Foxe’s burial. Foxe had led countless campaigns for the rights of Rastafarians, and many people want to be in attendance.
“It has been about six weeks now or more, so we have gotten concerned. But at the same time, the airlines are open, so people can come from places like England and America … so all we need now is a date. If we get the go-ahead, we can set a date. That’s the only thing we are waiting on,” he said.
He says there are currently no plans in place to have Foxe buried outside of the National Heroes Park.
“We would have to find an alternative. It’s not that we don’t have one yet, but we didn’t have it in mind. We never want to rule out Heroes Park, so we wouldn’t want to plan anything outside that,” he said.