Ras Michael honoured as Ethiopian royalty visits Harlem

Rastafarian singer and evangelist Ras Michael was a special guest of Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie, grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I and President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, as he worshipped on Sunday at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.

For Ras Michael, the occasion was a deeply spiritual meeting of faith, history and generations. The personal invitation by Prince Ermias to join his delegation placed one of Jamaica’s respected Rastafari elders alongside a direct descendant of the Ethiopian emperor whose life and legacy have had an extraordinary influence on the Rastafari movement.

Ras Michael has spent decades carrying the Nyabinghi tradition internationally while serving as an evangelist of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

“It was a beautiful and spiritual occasion,” Ras Michael said, noting that the service coincided with the sacred Ethiopian celebration of Meskel.

“To be acknowledged for my contributions as a Rastafarian Evangelist of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and to be recognised by the Ethiopian Crown, HIH Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie and his delegation...I am humbled.”

The setting carried enormous historical significance.

The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem traces its origins to 1808, when Ethiopian maritime merchants and African Americans who rejected segregated worship helped establish a congregation bearing the historic name of Ethiopia — Abyssinia. Emperor Haile Selassie I visited the church during his 1954 state visit to the United States and presented Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr with an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo processional cross, establishing a tangible connection between Ethiopia and the Harlem institution.

Ras Michael said witnessing the relationship being reaffirmed more than seven decades later was “profoundly meaningful”.

“It was a pleasure to meet Adam Clayton Powell III and to see His Majesty’s legacy continue at the Abyssinian Baptist Church,” he said. “I am truly grateful for this blessing.”

Perhaps no one experienced the occasion more personally than Ras Michael’s daughter, Empress Niomie.

The reception her father received from the Ethiopian delegation and others inside the church brought years of his spiritual journey into perspective.

“It warmed my heart,” she told The Gleaner.

Niomie recalled that her father’s commitment to Rastafari and his spiritual mission took him away from home a lot.

“Everything that he had done musically and on his spiritual journey has been from his heart.” she said. “He had his calling, and he rose to the occasion to start this incredible journey from he was a youngster.”

She remembered stories from her father about a time when Rastafarians “were not respected and accepted in society because of their forward-thinking beliefs”.

Sunday presented a dramatically different picture. Niomie said she was pleasantly surprised by the warmth accorded to her dad, particularly by representatives of the Crown Council.

“It warms my heart to see how much love and respect they have for Pops,” she said. “He’s one of those surviving Rastafarian elders and they gave him his ‘flowers’.”

Veteran New York radio personality Ras Clem Hume of Groovin Radio, who attended the service in Harlem, described the occasion as “an historic, full-circle moment”.

“This was a royal visit,” Hume said. “It was really a royal visit.”

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