Orville W. Taylor

About 2000 years ago, a brutal murder was committed. Thousands of Jewish and Roman citizens lynched a man, whose only crime was taking on an unjust administration, speaking the truth and kicking over a few tables in a temple. A humble man who had few worldly possessions, he was far more charismatic than the current anointed one.

Unlike modern-day clergymen and women, he had no personal transport and on his last trip into Jerusalem, he did not drive a Prado, Pajero or X5, and without a horse of his own, he rode somebody else's ass. He wasn't even armed - MP5, M16s, or otherwise.

True, he travelled with a posse and had at least one female ring leader, but he was not a violent man. Yet, he was hung upon a tree like a common criminal, pierced with a spear, given vinegar instead of water, and crowned with a ring of 'macca'. Although the mob knew that he was innocent, they elected to spare the life of a hardened rusty-back criminal, Barabbas.

Anachronistic academic

The story is told every year and he is portrayed by a Caucasian actor who looks like a hippie from the 1960s or an anachronistic academic from the 1970s. Of course, I am more tempted to think that he looked somewhat like Haile Selassie 1, but much taller and stronger.

With wimpy actors, the scenes look even more dreadful and Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ moves the most icy-blooded man to tears as the actor playing Jesus languished on the cross.

When I remember that this is the 'sufferation' that one man went through, it becomes very difficult to consume the ubiquitous bun and cheese. Worse are the Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits.

As indicated in this column three years ago, the rabbit was the sacred animal of the second-century Saxons in England. These pagans used to worship a fertility goddess called Eastre (Ostare), who glorified the flesh and sex. To link wanton sexuality with a cruel act of violence is a sort of raping of the Christian tradition for which Jesus gave his life. The only logic for such an association is that much of the domestic violence in Jamaica is due to another type of 'bun'.

Bad as it is that the four-times-a-year hypocrites flood the churches and eat bun to their damnation, there is another tragedy that was far worse than Jesus' crucifixion, and we need to not ever forget it.

Tuesday will be the 201st anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. There is some dispute regarding the total number of displaced Africans. However, the estimates run from a low of 10 million to a high of 100 million victims.

England, our motherland, might have been responsible for more than 10 million herself, because there was under-invoicing and non-recording of many of their contraband.

Furthermore, despite the abolition of the trade in 1807, the inter-colony and intra-territory trade continued and it would be another 31 years before Africans were finally physically liberated. The mental bonds continue as we kowtowed and lay ourselves prostrate in welcoming the Prince of Wales two weeks ago.

Slavery's horror makes the crucifixion look likes child's play. Millions of Africans were simply thrown overboard during storms or to escape discovery of the illegal cargo after 1807. At least, our Lord and saviour had the ability to walk on water. So, that would not have been a problem for him.

For disobedience, enslaved Africans were routinely quartered, or as we say in Jamaica, 'limbed', for running away. Some cruel overseers were reputed to peel the skins off the slaves and salt the raw flesh. Whipping them for as long a period as Australia and others beat the West Indies was the norm.

If one were to check the historical data, there would be literally millions of displaced Africans who died deaths far more painful and inhumane than Jesus. Yet, the whole world remembers this single death even though they now show him as a white western European, which he could not have been.

Ironically, it was Jesus Christ's religion, Christianity, which became the launching pad for the slave trade. More ironic, it was an African that gave Christendom to the 'Holy Roman Empire.' After Emperor Constantine received a vision of a cross and a voice that said to him, "In this sign, conquer," he was converted by the second black pope, Miltiades, in 313 A.D., and issued the famous Edict of Milan, that made Christianity the official religion of the Romans and by extension England, after it emerged from the Dark Ages when it worshiped animals and inanimate objects.

'Discoverers'

As Christianity spread across Europe and became entrenched, popes blessed the 'discoverers' who travelled with gun in one hand and cross and Bible in the other. This is not unlike many of our gunboys, who regularly tote pocket New Testaments when going on 'works'.

Still, as Prince Charles came and went, I wanted to remind him that he came in Lent and brought a bit of money. Good, but we need real compensation for the horror and tragedy.

After all, at the peak of the industrial revolution between 1760 and 1830, there was a period when little Jamaica, due to the labour of Africans, contributed around 20 per cent of England's gross domestic product.

It is an insult to all the Africans who died for the prince not to 'run some serious dollars'. Not only did they die as England sped to glory, but more tragically, they died without even getting to know the man whose death and resurrection we commemorate today.

Happy Easter, but slavery still 'bun' mi.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the UWI, Mona.