Rastas give thanks for I’Akobi
by MARIA BRADSHAW
MEMBERS of the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation Inc. (CRO) offered a libation at Land Lock, St Lucy, yesterday, giving up prayers for their deceased brethren I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney.
About 50 Rastafarians, including Maloney’s mother Marguerita and brother Mandela, gathered on the cliff where the 23-year-old former Barbados Exhibitioner was said to have jumped 80 feet down to his death.
There they prayed, chanted and sang for close to an hour. They also held hands in a circle shouting “Haile Selassie I” and”Jah Rastafari” as individual members offered prayers for Maloney’s family and for justice to prevail. They also walked three laps around in a circle, singing and chanting all the while.
Afterwards, they threw stones in the sea down below - a symbol of their disbelief of the theory surrounding the young Rastafarian’s death on June 17.
Brethren Ras Koomba also threw 17 red cloths into the ocean, representing Maloney’s birthday and death bothof which occurred on the 17th day of the respective months.
Brethren Napthali Best told the DAILY NATION members found it difficult to accept that Maloney was pacing the rocky cliff when the police confronted him and that he jumped to his death.
“We are more inclined to believe that everything happened over at Cove Bay where his body was found because that area is more conducive for relaxation and meditation.
“We find it hard to accept that he (Maloney) came here to read the newspaper and meditate out here where there is no shade and which is extremely rocky,” he stated.
But it was not all a day of reflection for the Rastafarian community from Barbados and other Caribbean islands who are here to attendthe CRO’s 12th Summit And Cultural And Trade Expo.
Their scenic heritage tour also included Foster’s Funland in St Peter, Hillaby in St Andrew and Bathsheba in St Joseph.
Tags: Caribbean Rastafari Organisation, Koomba, Landlock, libation, Mandela Maloney, Marguerita Maloney, Napthali, threw stones in the sea