ALTHOUGH his father had several brushes with Jamaican authorities, Bill Howell believes Leonard Howell would have worn the Order of Distinction (OD) the Government conferred on him with pride.

The elder Howell, considered by many Rastafarians the founder of their movement, died in 1981 at age 84. During the 1930s he was imprisoned for sedition and sent to the asylum for what were perceived to be radical beliefs.

On October 17, National Heroes’ Day, his lanky son accepted the OD from Governor General Sir Patrick Allen during the Ceremony of Investiture and Presentation of National Honours and Awards.

The award, conferred posthumously, was for the elder Howell’s role in pioneering the development of Rastafari philosophy.

“He definitely deserves it — and I think he would be pleased,” said Bill Howell, one of his father’s 10 surviving children. He noted that Marcus Garvey — the Pan African legend and Jamaica’s first national hero — is more associated with Rasta than Leonard Howell, which he blames on a lack of education.

“From I was a kid growing up in Jamaica, he [Howell] didn’t get his due. I grew up hearing Marcus Garvey start Rasta, and in actual fact Marcus Garvey was not a Rasta — he was a religious man, not a Rasta,” said Bill Howell.

He recalled his father being “deeply upset” when Jamaica’s Government did not invite him to any of its functions for Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I during his State visit to the country in April 1966.

Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie, the Emperor’s grandson who is in Jamaica on an official visit, greeted Howell after the ceremony.

Typical of early Rastafarians, Leonard Howell did not wear locks. Shortly after returning to Jamaica in the early 1930s, after living in the United States for 16 years, he became an advocate of Selassie I’s divinity and was known to sell photos of the African monarch throughout Kingston.

Howell operated Rasta communes in St Thomas before moving to Tredegar Park in St Catherine, circa 1940, where he ran Pinnacle, a thriving, 200-hectare farming and crafts commune. It was often raided by the police who believed Howell and his followers were involved in illegal ganja export.

While Garvey’s stature has grown universally since his death in 1940, Howell and other black-conscious firebrands like Alexander Bedward and Reverend Claudius Henry have faded into obscurity.

Bill Howell blames that on a lack of education, something he hopes will change soon.

“This is a good way to start,” he said.