NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2022 10 PAUL H. WILLIAM Gleaner Writer IN THE southern St James village of Kensington, part of an inscription on a roadside monument reads: “A FREEDOMTORCH WAS LIT HERE. On Tuesday night, December 27, 1831 the trash house on Kensington Estate was set on fire signalling the start of the last slave rebellion in Jamaica.” That uprising is now known as the Christmas Rebellion or the Baptist Rebellion, and should have catapulted Kensington into a special place in Jamaica’s history and heritage. In the area, there are remnants of the buildings that were razed. Some are visible, while others are shrouded by vegetation and earth. Shards of the trash house is said to be at a place called Tulloch Road. The monument is situated at the entrance to a property that was directly linked to Kensington Estate. Two two-storey buildings, one at the top of an incline and another at the foot, are visible from the road. Images depicting symbols, scenes and personalities of the 1831 bangarang are painted on the walls of the latter. When The Gleaner arrived, there was no one around. Then, a man appeared from around a corner of the road. He was walking briskly from the village square. Questions were asked of him, and names were called. A request was made for him to go fetch somebody. He returned presently to say someone was coming. He himself did not tarry. Soon, a slimman and a dog appeared from up the incline. He started to talk about his issues right away; this was a moment he was waiting for, it seemed. Then another came from around the opposite corner of the road. He greeted us all and waved. In his attempt to continue on his way, we stopped him; we wanted his voice. We did not stop until we got him to sit and join the discussion that was about to ensue. It turned out that the man with the dog, Zenon Kellier, is the brother of Derrick Kellier, the former seven-time member of parliament for the area. He said he owns the property on which we were, and that right behind us were slavery-day building remnants. The other is Allan Coote, who said he had helped to build the monument at Zenon’s gate. While they were both not happy with the state of affairs at Kensington/Point it was Kellier who was on fire. Born in nearby Springfield, the mechanical engineer/farmer said he was not into politics. He was riled up about the neglect of such a historic place, where people passing through the dark nights cannot see the monument because there are no street lights. When he was asked about what has been going on in Kensington since 1831, 1838, 1962, and 60 years after, he was emphatic when he shouted, “Believe you me, nutten no happen up yah, apart from that monument yuh see Mike Henry come put deh so. Dem forget about us, period! Fi wi ancestors dead… .We fire the first shot fi free up the slave movement, and not even water we have up here for 25 years now!”To get domestic water, he has to truck and pump river water into his home. “But your brother was MP for most of that time,”was the rejoinder. “Das why dem vote him out, a fi feem turf, him nah big up him turf, like him suppose to.” Yet, he was not letting the current member of parliament, Homer Davis, of the hook either. He is going around with a petition seeking 5,000 petitioners to unseat the first-time Southern St James representative should he, too, fail to bring potable water into one of the watersheds of Jamaica’s history. Up to January this year, Davis, with portfolio responsibilities for rural development, including rural water and electrification, was minister of state in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. “If him no give wi the water that him promise we, wi gaa vote him out just like dem do Kellier,” Kellier said militantly. “I am the new Sam Sharpe in town, and a come to fight this revolution for the water in Kensington … and if Homer Davis give us the water wi a vote fi Homer Davis as long as wi live.” Coote said he agreed with all that Kellier said, and they also were not sold the idea that Jamaica is an independent nation. “Wi no independent, wi still depending on people,”Coote looked straight into camera and said, “We are not independent, and I continue to say that.”Kellier chimed in with, “A bare foreign food a come, and dem kill out all a wi farm.” Lamenting the lack of knowledge that some residents and visitors have about the significance of Kensington, Kellier intends to use the building at the front of his property as a place to highlight the history of the region, and as an “international rest stop”. Xenon Kellier is hopping mad that there has been no piped water at Kensington, St James for 25 years, and the place where the 1831 Christmas Rebellion started is long forgotten. CONTRIBUTED The monument erected in memory of the 1831 Christmas Rebellion at Kensington in St James. CONTRIBUTED Xenon Kellier intends to use this building at Kensington, St James as in international heritage and rest stop. PHOTO BY PAUL H. WILLIAMS jamaica AT jamaica at JAMAICA AT 60: M NTEGO BAY Kensington long forgotten after the fire
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