The Coral Gardens Massacre of Rastafarians in Jamaica

Never forget the Coral Gardens Massacre. Where Rasta's were persecuted, hunted and killed for simply being Rasta. The then Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bustamante, ordered police to bring in all Rasta's dead or alive. This is a terrible part of Jamaican history that still has not been acknowledged. The Rastafarian movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for equal rights and justice of Black people for many years, but we still seem to be discredited. Long before social media and the trend of being woke there was Rasta fighting for our rights.

“Bad Friday”: 59 years ago today on 12 Apr 1963, following a violent confrontation at a gas station in Coral Gardens, Montego Bay, which resulted in the deaths of three Rastafari, two policemen, and three civilians, Jamaican police and soldiers detained Rastafari throughout the island, torturing many. In April 2017, the government issued a formal apology for the incident, taking responsibility "without equivocation" and stating “it should never have happened".