HBD BOB MARLEY By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

At 11 o’clock in the morning of
February 10, 1966, just four days
after his 21st birthday, Bob Marley
walked into the office of the Justice
of Peace in Trench Town. He was
wearing a black suit and the fancy
shoes that music producer, Coxsone,
bought for him. His bride was
wearing a borrowed mother-of-pearl
tiara and a white wedding dress
made by her aunt. Few hours after
the marriage, Bob and the Wailing
Wailers opened for the Jackson Five
at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Two days later, he left Jamaica for
Delaware.
His mother, Cedilla Malcolm Marley,
immigrated to America three years
earlier. She had filed papers for him
to join her. When his papers came
through, he said he would not leave
unless Rita would eventually follow
him. He married Rita because he
was afraid that she would find
another boyfriend when he was
gone.
In Delaware, Bob worked at Chrysler
factory. He also worked at Hotel
DuPont in Wilmington. He did not
like what he was doing. He did not
like life in America.
Eight months after, he wrote Rita
and said, “I’m coming home, I’m
sick of this place. Today, while I was
vacuuming, the vacuum bag burst
and all that dust went up in my
face. If I stay here, this is gonna kill
me. It will give me all kinds of
sickness! I’m a singer, I’m not this,
I’m coming home.”
Bob returned to Trench Town and
continued to work on his music.
Things were tough. He had no
money and was sharing a room at
Rita’s Aunt’s place with two kids.
During this period, Bob and Rita
began to practice Rastafarianism.
They refused to eat from the same
pot as Aunty in whose house they
lived.
That irritated Aunty.
Rita’s brother, Wesley, who was a
police officer, was also furious about
her belief in Rastafarianism. One
day he came home and beat up Rita
saying, “Do you think it is right after
all the money Aunty and I spent on
you, that you end up like this? What
are you getting out of it? You think
because you’re married you’re big?
You’re still under our protection,
and you have no right to be a Rasta!
That’s being worthless.”
As a result of these developments,
Bob and Rita decided to return to
Nine Miles, a village in St. Ann,
Bob’s birthplace. St. Ann had no
electricity and no running water.
Bob’s family house had no kitchen
and no toilet. It was in a farm area
on a hill.
On hearing that Bob was returning
to St. Ann, his mother wrote from
Delaware asking him to come back
to America for St. Ann would be his
end. She urged Bob to be a
gentleman, wear neckties and work
nine to five. “You are going back to
careless life,” his mother wrote, “life
that doesn’t show money making.
You and Rita have no ambition.”
Bob and Rita lived in St Ann,
working on the farm. During that
period, Bob also wrote some of his
most memorable songs.
In January 1967, Bob was
introduced to Johnny Nash who
signed the Wailers to JAD records.
That was how Bob Marley and the
Wailers took off.
In 2000, Time magazine voted him
the greatest musician of the 20th
century, greater than Elvis, Michael
Jackson and the Beatles put
together. His song, One Love, was
voted the best song of the century
and his album, Exodus, the best
album of the century. At his
induction into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, U2’s Bono dubbed
Bob “Dr. Martin Luther King in
dreads.”
Though he died in 1981 from
cancer, his album, Legend, has
remained on the Billboard 100 chart
ever since. Across the globe,
anywhere oppression of the weak is
taking place, courage and solace
seem to emanate from his songs.
I was thirteen when I discovered
him. It was at a high school send off
party where the DJ played Bob
Marley Buffalo Soldier. In the song
he talked about being taken from
Africa and being brought to
America. It was the first time I was
aware that some people were taken
from Africa and brought to America.
No schooling up to that point had
thought me that.
At sixteen, now in College, I heard
Redemption Song. I wanted to grow
my hair like his.
At twenty six, I had immigrated like
Bob to America.
At thirty six, I read No Woman No
Cry by Rita Marley and came to the
staggering conclusion that Bob
became what he is today because
he said no to America. Because Bob
said no to America, he escaped
what had become a wasted journey
for so many.
Bob Marley would have been sixty-
eight today. Maybe if he had not
said no, he would have been one of
those middle aged Americans whose
jobs at Chrysler had gone to Mexico.
How has your journey been?
(A version of this piece was first
published by Kwenu.com on Feb, 7,
2007)