UNIA MISSION TO JAMAICA
A Report to the Parent Body Prior to Expulsions
by Steven Golding

I have been working with the Marcus Garvey Division #454 located in Kingston, JA since my return to the island to pursue personal business interests in June of 2003. I have been a dues paying card-carrying member of the A.L. Crawford Memorial Division #404 in New York since 1999. At convention in August of 2003 I was asked to present concerns and issues on behalf of the Jamaica Division to the convention, having attended their meetings and gatherings for the two months prior to the convention. I attended the convention as a duly elected delegate for the A.L. Crawford Memorial Division #404.

As stated in the Constitution General Laws Article II Section 5: “Divisions…may request of the nearest divisions that has a deputy to have that deputy represent its interests at convention.”

I presented concerns and issues regarding the restoration of Liberty Hall in Kingston and reported on the perception of the UNIA & ACL by non-member officials involved in this project. I further reported the re-discovery by the local division of a second Liberty Hall located in the Parish of Manchester which was visited by the local officers as well as myself and Bro. Mwariama Kamau of the Woodson-Banneker-Jackson.Bey Division #330. In stressing that the division was asking for the support of the international body in maintaining its interest in these Liberties Halls, it was recommended by the convention and accepted by the chair and then President General, Marcus Garvey Jr. that Bro. Kamau and myself be commissioned as special representatives to the Parent Body to undertake a fact-finding mission regarding the issue of Marcus Garvey splinter groups and the cohesion of the UNIA in Jamaica.

I returned to Jamaica again in October of 2003 and worked closely with the division in conducting their meetings and planning and executing events designed to build the local division and association at large. In November I attended the first the Meeting of the Minds in Baltimore MD to which the New York Division had lent great support. By December I was again back in Jamaica for personal business and once again heeded the call of Garvey and stood with the local division in support of its members and activities. I worked with them through black history month and helped them to establish new membership at the MICO Teacher’s College. This grew into the MICO College Marcus Garvey Culture Club and function as a college chapter of the local division.

In February of 2004 I returned to New York as we hosted the 2nd installation of the Meeting of the Minds. At this time also, following local elections of division #404 I was elected to serve as a Trustee of the division, in recognition of the solid work I had been doing over the past years. Though I was traveling back and forth to Jamaica, I constantly reported back to the division through President Tutu as well as continued my efforts to mobilize and recruit new members to the division.

Between April and August of 2004 I was in Jamaica and collected information on the various Garvey oriented groups throughout the island as well as splinters of the UNIA who had become disassociated and disconnected from the great association. In April the President of Division #454 attended a launch for a proposed Montego Bay Branch of the UNIA-ACL. The guest speaker was our very own Dr. Tony Martin. The branch was to be headed by one Miss Linda Morowei who I had observed declining to take an application for the great association on two previous occasions (in August & October 2003). When pointing this out to the local President and asking if she had now decided to join the organization, I was informed that though she had staged a launch in consultation with him, she had neither turned in an application for membership for herself or any of the other proposed members from the launch. The President himself began to voice suspicion regarding her intention to function as a wholesome part of the association of which Division #454 was the only chartered division in the country.

With the support of the division, I organized and personally financed a dinner and cake cutting ceremony in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the UNIA-ACL on July 21st, 2004. Dinner was by invitation only and the division invited the various splinter groups of the UNIA and Garvey Movement at large. I delivered the keynote address on Unity and Faith urging all the groups to become members of the UNIA-ACL through the local division, learn the constitution of the great association, and become a part of the imperial whole, by following three tenets, (1) pay their dues; (2) attend meetings, and (3) invite new members to join. The response was overwhelming. Over night the division doubled its membership and was able to form the embryo of 5 other branches in other parts of the island.

Invited and present at this meeting was also Miss Linda Morowei who after being reminded that she had launched a branch without first becoming a member of the association, proved uncooperative and again declined to fill out a membership application though she was at the time advertising herself as the UNIA-ACL, soliciting money and interest from the public at large. She was the only invited individual that evening who did not sign the UNIA membership roster. Furthermore one of her proposed members who arrived with her gladly filled out his application and expressed his earnest desire to work with the UNIA officially and according to the constitution.

In August of 2004, I reported to the Convention of the swearing in of officers for 5 branches and 2 chapters of Division #454. I also reported on a request by the local division that a letter be sent from the Parent Body to Miss Morowei in defense of our constitution as regards the use of the motto and ritual of the great association as outlined in the important legislation of the 1938 Convention:

“anything that may be considered a real and pertinent part of the activities of the Association and that any infringement, misrepresentation or unjust use of any and all of the said articles be considered a direct and intentional desire to deceive and to misrepresent the Aims and Objects of the UNIA and where such may occur that the Division or the Parent Body shall immediately take steps to protect all the interest of the Association that may appear under the use of such article or articles and the usurpation of their positive right, and this shall be interpreted to mean action only against those who are not charted or authorized or in any way connected with the UNIA.”

Miss Morowei, having refused to become an active member of the association, continued to advertise in public as the UNIA-ACL of Montego Bay with no regard for the UNIA and as a possible threat to their efforts at solidifying cohesion between splinter groups under the Universal confraternity.

In October of 2004, I returned to Jamaica and helped the division prepare for and stage its first All-Island Executive Conference on November 27th 2004. This meeting was held to further create cohesion among the newly formed branches as well as to review the constitution and the obligations of the division to the Parent Body. It was reported at this meeting by the branch organizer in Montego Bay, Mr. Clifford Barnett that Miss Morowei was still conducting business and advertising herself as the UNIA-ACL. Concerns were raised regarding whether the letter was sent by the Parent Body as requested and approved by the convention. At this point I prepared such a letter and forwarded to the 1st Assistant President General, who is the President of my division in New York, for his approval and for it to be sent out as requested by the division in Jamaica. He then followed the proper channels and contacted the President General.

I was later informed that the President General had instructed the 1st APG not to send the letter as he had contacted the Jamaica Division and the letter was no longer necessary. However, upon reporting this to the local division, I was further informed that no contact had been made between the PG and the local division and that no reason had been given for not sending the letter as requested of the convention. I was concerned regarding the lack of support that the division was receiving from the Parent Body in defending the noble rights of the great association in their corner of the world. As it turned out however, the letter was sent in error by the secretary of the New York division as she made her regular weekly mailings. It is for this letter which I have been held in question and now apparently expelled from the association which I love dearly. Even if it were I who had miraculously sent the letter from New York while simultaneously being in Jamaica at the same time; and even if it were my signature on that letter, which it is not, instead of the First Assistant President General; I still can not understand the reasons for my expulsion! I am acused of disrespecting the office of the President General but even if this were the case, the constitution states:

"Any active member of the association with motives to create disharmony among the officers and members, and disturbing the peaceful and harmonious working of the Association shall for the first offense, BE SUSPENDED FOR THREE MONTHS, and upon the second conviction for likewise offense be expelled from the Association."

Fellow members of this great association and Executives of the Parent Body, I assure you now before God and all mankind, that at no time since joining the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League have I devoted one thought, word or action to anything that would tend to retard the growth of this great confraternity or the dream and aspirations of our founder the Right Excellent Marcus Garvey. It has been my honor to serve and work with the two historic divisions of which our founder was President. I have pledged my life in defense of the red, black and green and for the founding of a racial hierarchy and establishment of an Empire whose only natural, spiritual and political limits shall be God and Africa, at home and abroad.

Granted, I must take this time to voice my concern and fears that the Parent Body has become the bridge from which a few seek to dominate the many and crush the hopes of an unfortunate people. I am of the personal opinion that my actions and motives have been brought into question due to my failure to bite my tongue and go along with the wishes of these few who seek to make the UNIA a vehicle of their own agenda. I stand in defense of the constitution that has come handed down from our fathers and mothers. I defend the right of all members to do their utmost in discharging their duty to uplift the race according to the constitution. I shall forever remain loyal to those elected to be the custodians of our sacred legacy; those who honor our laws and safeguard the vision of our Founders.

Fraternally,

Steven Golding

NEW JAMAICAN Vol.1