Page 13 - The Maroon- Patricia Reid

2. Ratify Our Sovereignty, Maroon Leader Urges State

Published: Thursday | January 9, 2020 | 12:00 AM Albert Ferguson/ Gleaner Writer –

WESTERN BUREAU:

Maroon Colonel Rodolph Pink of the Scott’s Hall Maroon Town in St Mary wants the State to

ratify the sovereignty their ancestors fought for and won from the British 282 years ago as part of

the Maroon Peace Treaty with the British government.

Pink said that despite being armed with the peace treaty between the Maroons and the British,

Maroons still do not have autonomy over their lands and villages in the way they should, as

outlined in the treaty.

“We say we are sovereign, but the treaty has not been ratified by Jamaica until now,” Pink said

Monday at the 282th-anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty in Accompong, St Elizabeth.

In 1738, the Maroons signed the peace treaty with the British after more than 80 years of

successful resistance against the colonisers. The English concluded two peace treaties with the

Maroons in Jamaica, guaranteeing freedom and lands to the Maroons in perpetuity.

The treaties, like many other aspects of indigenous and traditional culture and peoples, are seen

by many as relics of the past – good for folklore and tourism, but not legally enforceable.