Maroon historian cautions LA Lewis about ‘obeah threats’

Maroon historian Alex Moore-Minott has urged LA Lewis to desist from using the Maroon spiritual traditions as 'scare tactics' to threaten to harm the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn, following his recent utterances on video about her handling of Vybz Kartel's murder case.

Moore-Minott told THE WEEKEND STAR that Lewis' threats to use obeah to physically harm or demote the DPP caused great "alarm and concern" among himself and members of the 'Spiritual House', as this is not the way they would like their belief portrayed to the world.

"I know that LA Lewis comes out a traditional, spiritual lineage which may have some connections 'bloodwise' to the Maroon community, and I'm not saying LA Lewis is not a knowledgeable practitioner of the spiritual class. But his portrayal of it as something that he's going to use to bring down the Government or to hurt members of the Government, cause them to lose their jobs or affect the country in any way, is not the way we would like to see our spirituality portrayed," Moore-Minott said.

"That feeds into a belief that it can only be used for harm, when in truth and in fact, our spiritual tradition is used for healing; it brings us closer to nature and the Almighty creator and informed us that our existence and our world is spiritual. And we'd like people to understand that it is a religious doctrine; and it's not hocus pocus and it's not witchcraft," he added.

Moore-Minott, who hails from Moore Town in Portland, said that he is currently campaigning for the repeal of the Obeah Act and fears that Lewis' statements might work against their efforts.

"The Obeah Act doesn't just stigmatise a negative practice, but it's very general in its application. We would like to see the day that Jamaica, that is considered to be a cultural superpower, its traditional, original spiritual practices can be recognised for what they are and not for what the British colonisers construed it as, in an attempt to destroy it," he said.

With Lewis' recent announcement of acquiring his Maroon identification through their ID system, Moore-Minott also questioned his eligibility, stating that members of the communities "would know better than to openly put such sacred part of their practices on public display".

"I am not saying that Mr Lewis is not a Maroon, but I don't know of any Maroon community that he has come out publicly as being attached to or that has claimed him," he said.

Moore-Minott encouraged Lewis to use his platform to reveal his true identity and help the Maroons fight for the repeal of the Obeah Act.