People seem to think Rastafari thought began and ended with Marley; they seem to think that his sons are what Rasta should be, but just remember that no one is like their parents. People also use his message of one love as a reason to have interracial relationships. First off, Marley married Rita, not Cindy Breakspeare. Now this should be the first thing to critically analyze before we go and jump the broom. Second, Bob Marley was for African liberation, yes he did procreate with a white woman, but we must also remember that he was a human-being and that we cannot judge Rastafari relationships based on what one man did.One love is supposed to mean African liberation, so how can we have African liberation if our men are having babies with white women? The Black family is just a microcosm of the Black community, destroy the Black family, and you destroy the Black community. I am not saying that all whites are evil, and I would take the highest offense if someone called me a racist, but I am an African and I believe in the development of the African world, therefore I cannot allow myself to believe that sex and conception with white women builds a stronger foundation for the fight for African liberation, especially in Jamaica. Here is when we must diffrentiate between Rastas working for African Liberation, and Rastas working toward the ideal 'One Love'...WE CANNOT HAVE ONE LOVE IF WE HAVE NOT LEARNED TO LOVE EACH OTHER FIRST...
This leads me to my second point on African liberation, the Black woman. She is the first teacher of the Black child. She teaches the child how behave amongst the people, she teaches the child about love, dedication, and strong faith. She teaches the Black child about the importance of loving and cherishing the black woman. Just singing about loving Black women in our music is not enough. The idea of 'free love' is not something that I can totally respect, only because it promotes the idea that all Jamaican men are womanizers, which could be far from the truth. But since the Black woman is the first teacher of the child, the Black man is the second teacher of the child and has the duty of showing their children what a man should be. He must respect his children's mother, and respect his children. He is supposed to show his sons what a father and husband should be, and show his daughters how a man should treat her. Unfortunately we live in a male-dominated society, so all aspects of our development begin with men and end with the Black woman, so before we ask why our women bleach, why they relax their hair, and why they dress indecently, our men must take a look at what they are doing to the Black community.I love Jamaica. I love African men. I love Africa. But I hate the thought that what our ancestors died for was in vain. Did Garvey dedicate his life for what we see in Jamaica today? Did Marley die for what we see in Jamaica today? Did Paul Bogle give his life to a struggle that would end in Blacks giving their lives to White tourism? Did Lady Nanny help to free us, so that we could become slaves again? No, the Jamaican government and its uncle tom administration has made it deadly for Africans in Jamaica, but like our ancestors, we must stop fighting against each other and fight against the establishment that wants us to fight against each other. This struggle is bigger than interracial relationships, but it begins with questioning these relationships and how they benefit Africans.
This idea does not stop with Jamaicans, it is a universal African struggle that we must and will have to address because our babies are literally dying in the name of fuckery...
OmegaD.
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SOME MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
- I found this post on a Black woman dating a White Rasta interesting on rastafarispeaks.com
- This article states the change of Rastafari views on whites, but does not question why it is so: Race & Women In Rastafari [I would argue it has a lot to do with Jamaica's exploitative white tourism industry]... The Film Rent-A-Rasta explains a bit more on this topic...
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