Dominica After The Dread Act
Because of the severity of the Dread Act, many Dreads/Rastafarians were forced to split into two groups. According to Catherine Wessinger, the two groups were called ‘Nonm Te’ and ‘Nonm GCE’ -man of the earth and man of the GCE- (107). The ‘Nonm Te’ was the group of dreads who had more agricultural knowledge and were more physically inclined to get them off the ground (Wessinger 108). The Nonm GCE on the other hand, referred to those who had a secondary school qualification –the GCE , were said to be the ‘reasoners’ and smoked marijuana all day. Catherine Wessinger explains that the Dread Act brought some Rasta deeper into the forest (Nonm Te), while others went back into Roseau (Nonm GCE-the upper class Rastas) because they were more tolerated.
The Nonm GCE were said to be protected from the Dread Act because of their social standing, while the Nonm Te were not. According to Wessinger, the Nonm GCE were able to speak to newspapers, and give their views because of their social contracts (108).
By then, the Dread issue was somewhat a minor concern and in late August 1975, a Commission of Enquiry had been appointed to investigate the dreads. The Dreads were given an amnesty of 38 days where they were called on to return to society and to start programs for jobs. Most people shared that this was a act of benevolence by the government, while others (possibly including the members of the MND) expressed that it was condescending. It was to end on August 31st, but was extended to September 30th to allow the Commission to work under conditions favourable to meeting as many youth as possible (Honychurch 250).
After the commission of enquiry was carried out it was reported that the main recommendation was that the Dread Act should be revised to become a “terrorist act” concentrating on actual acts of terrorism, rather than physical appearance. [The author believes that the commission of enquiry was carried out with mainly Rastafarians (and not dreads), who only wanted to live peacefully in ‘zion’ while practicing Rastafarian culture which included the wearing of dreadlocks.] The government however considered the report as weak, and the recommendation was only carried out in 1981 in the midst of another crisis. (see below for articles of related events)
"At the end of the 1970's and in 1980, a small group of Dreads in the south of the island associated with Leroy Ettiene also became active. A villager wa skilled at Giraudel on the way to his garden and several months later another suffered the same fate at La Plaine. In March 1980, retired school teacher Maurice Laurent was murdered at his garden at Grandbay."(Honychurch 250)
Eventally the killers were found guilty but Leroy Ettiene continued to evade the law and even when he was remanded to await trial, Hurricane David struck and burst the prison open, freeing many prisoners including Leroy Ettiene and Desmond Trotter.
After the many events of 1981, the population was now differentiating between the Dreads and the Rastafarians.