White Rastafarians?
By Nick Poole
When you think about the word “Rastafarian”, you probably imagine a Jamaican man with dark skin and dreadlocks… as a matter of fact, you probably think about Bob Marley. This wouldn’t be an inappropriate association, after-all, Bob Marley is probably the most internationally recognized practitioner of Rastafari. However, not all rastas these days are from Jamaica, and there is even a small but growing population of Caucasian practitioners. No, I’m not talking about teenaged skateboarders who smoke marijuana and listen to reggae music, I’m talking about real, deeply religious, white rastas. Now, depending on how much you know about Rastafari, you’re either wondering, “How does a White person join the Rasta faith?” or you’re wondering, “What’s the big deal?”. I think it may be wise to first address the latter.
Let’s start with a little history of the religion. Rastafari is a relatively new religion, which finds it’s beginnings in the early 1930s, surrounding the coronation of Haile Selassie I as the Emperor of Ethiopia. The word “Rastafari” actually comes from his pre-coronation name: Tafari Makonnen (“Ras” is an Ethiopian title, literally translated to “head”, but more precisely equated to “Duke”). Rastafari began when it was suggested that the coronation of Haile Selassie I as the Emperor of the only fully independent African State fulfilled Biblical prophecy. People of the Rastafari Faith believe that Haile Selassie I is God incarnate, and refer to him as HIM or His Imperial Majesty. The faith is deeply Afro centric, and maintains that Ethiopia is “Zion”. For a short period of time near it’s origin, the faith was not only afro centric, but Black supremacist. This notion of racism towards whites didn’t last very long, as Haile Selassie himself publicly condemned racism. Rastafari is also well known for the practice of smoking Ganja as the sacrament. Which drives many people to wonder, are white rastas real people of faith, or are they just in it for the marijuana?
Well, there’s no question that many people are attracted to the prospect of a religion where marijuana use is not only accepted but widely encouraged. However, A person can’t just dreadlock their hair, smoke ganja, and call themselves a Rasta. Rastafari is a real faith which is earning respect in the theological world as a religion that pulls a lot of weight. It was a beacon of Hope to the poor population of Jamaica in the 1930s and has continued to minister to the under-privileged today. It teaches solid values such as Positivity, Faith, Meditation, and “overstanding”, the Rasta word for understanding which was changed to have a more positive connotation. It warns against the potential danger of corrupt “Babylon” society, and has been instrumental in driving political change. It’s been just as influential in Jamaica as Christianity, and thanks to the Rasta influenced Reggae music of Bob Marley and other popular artists, it’s increasing in global influence.
Rastafari sounds like a fine faith, why is it so strange that a white person would want to be part of it? Bottom line is that it’s not. It may seem strange from the outside, seeing as the majority of Rastas are black. Many people would also argue that because it is an afro centric religion, white people have no place in it. Well, according to that logic, all Christians should be middle-eastern. The truth of the matter is that, in theory, even a White man could preach Afro centrism. While most white men weren’t physically “taken” from Africa, and forced into slavery, modern science fairly universally supports that all life started in Africa. Given the power of that statement, it isn’t hard to see how Africa found it’s place as the center of Rasta faith.
The question is though, In a faith which preaches the rejection of corrupt white culture, how are white patrons received? There seems to be conflict in the Rasta community. Many rastas are skeptical when they meet or hear of a white person who claims to be Rasta. They assume, naturally, that they came to Rasta through listening to reggae music, or worse, as a way of justifying their misuse of the sacrament. There also seems to be a fundamental distrust of white people, and historically for good reason. A true Rasta would say that all man is equal, and every body, white and black, came from Africa, so it is only natural that All people, regardless of race or color, turn to Rastafari for the “highest truth and overstanding”. However, the common sentiment among rastas is that whites cannot understand the “black struggle”, As they were never taken from their homeland and enslaved. But surely, anyone who really cares about the human race on the whole can appreciate the need to stop violent acts like this. After all, Rastafari itself teaches that all people are one with God, Or “Jah” as they say (Derived from jahweh of the old testament).
In modern Rastafari, especially more contemporary sects such as the Twelve Tribes, White rastas are welcomed. Anyone who believes that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way society treats the “down-pressed” and in the way man views and interacts with one another is encouraged to join the faith. Real rastas are peaceful people who overstand the need for equality in the world, and so they extend that principle even to the faith itself, All men are equal in Rastafari. Some Jamaican rastas are even excited to meet white rastas, as they bring a new point of view to the reasoning sessions, and also because they stand as a symbol of whites acknowledging the wrongs of their ancestors and rejecting “Babylon”.
All in all, white Rastafarians are out there, and they’re no less devoted to Rasta than the first Rastas of Jamaica. So next time you ask a white man his religion, and he tells you he is Rasta, don’t laugh, It may not be a joke.
http://www.jamaica-travel-vacation.com/white-rastafarians.html
your wrong on the most important level. love is stronger than hate. JAH.
We do not partake in any white men holdings such as offices and factories and we do not work for the white man. Equality and Justice stands for one and all. All who love Satan kingdom must fall saith the Most High God Jahovia Jah Rastafari.
We are Royal Black Ethiopian Sovereign Nation Wealth Kingdom from Creation Birth. We do not partake with Commonwealth which is Colonialism and Imperialism.
UNITY OF LOVE IN BLACK SUPREMACY IN RIGHTEOUSNESS OF SALVATION TO ACHIEVE OUR AIM AND DESTINY. ONE HAND HELP THE OTHER. THE STRONG HELP THE WEAK AND THE WEAK HELP THE STRONG AND BUILD OUR ROYAL BLACK ETHIOPIAN SOVEREIGN NATION WEALTH KINGDOM. WORLD WITHOUT END SELAH:
Give thanks the most i love for all human animal n z plants we r created equal HIM said love you enamy ,hate is not a thing u are born with but u develop it through your freind and family . my friend i will tell u one thing even sellassie went to Italy to talk to the Vatican after the support the war with Ethiopia knowingly he never show hate toward Italian people after they poison his people and murder them by million ,he even try to stop the revenge toward the Italian fascist . I want to u to look at thing beyond the color of there skin
You white people on here make me want to vomit,talking about how you feel CLOSE to the rasta movements and how you really sympothize with black people and how you love Africa so much,you should have some PRIDE in you’re own heritage,and stop trying to leech into some thing that has absolutey nothing to do with you or you’re ancestors.be proud of you’re heritage .we are better more advanced that these primitive peoples.we are the people of light created for a world of darkness.dont fall prey to all of the political correct bullshit they have been feeding us since we were born.dont be a TRAITOR to YOU””’RE own people……………..
Blessed brother, babilon create racialism for this exact perpose to cause division amongst Jah’s children,
Trying to interpret history on the basis of skin colour is not only ignorant but savage. It shows you have barely evolved past a monkey.
Who are those pale-white nations and people? Where is their place of origination? Have they always been pale-white? Why did they turn pale-white? What was their colour before they turned pale-white? What is their blood type? What is their genome?
Did you have a surname prior to the 11 century AD? How then can you trace your ancestors and be sure of them?
Is your name Aryan from Europe? Do you know it was a name originally used by the Afro-Persians and means Noble?
Oh, what a pitiful, and ignorant soul you are, you wanna be racist!
First of all,1 this ENTIRE WEBSITE IS INTERPRETING HISTORY BASED ON THE COLOR OF SKIN.2,does any body have a surname prior to 11 century a.d.?NO they dont.3No Aryan blood has always been a white anglo saxon term,the history on this website is distorted and has distorted you’re thinking.4 And RACIST ,YES,so is this website,so is the world racism is a fact of life ,get over it and choose you’re team.
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Why would you edit out the past I put on here “moderator”………………..
Because it is irrelevant and unrelated to the thread topic. It is a cut and paste spam, not an honest intellectual effort to add your own comment.
You are moronic. Aren’t you that spaz that wrote some article on the celts being black? You don’t have any authority on ‘intellect’ you you genuinely believe the pseudo scientific nonsense you spew.
Why can’t anyone on this website write sentences properly?
Why is everyone on here so self-entitled that they actually believe they have a heredital burden?
Furthermore Selassie considered himself a Caucasian, not black African. Are rastas too embarrassed to acknowledge this?
Lmao!! Give me the source that claims he said this. I will be waiting.
I think it is childish and pathetic to criticize the way in which people express themselves, especially, when the meaning behind the message has not been lost. Then again, this way of attacking others using any means necessary is an innate ability innate to Albinos. I have been to some of the racist forums online and I have seen some pretty shabby misuse of the English language but why would I criticize them when the message they are conveying is clear and that is, “I hate all niggers.”
Muhammed, there is no such word as heredital. Your web browser would have alerted you to the fact that the word does not exist but based on your Albino sense of entitlement, you went ahead and used it anyway. If you are going to criticize the sentence structure of others, at least make sure you are forming proper sentences.
Ethiopians are not Albinos, thus, there is no way Emperor Selassie would have described himself as being Caucasian. Have you ever actually met an Ethiopian? Unlike the passive and aggressive genocidal acts that saw to it that the ancient Egyptians no longer exist in lower Egypt, Ethiopians are still very much black. By the way, no one wants to acknowledge the fact that upper Egypt is still very much black, it is lower Egypt that has been wiped out through the genocidal acts of murder by Albinos and interbreeding with various tribes of Albinos.
Albino historians such as Herodotus used the word Ethiopian to describe all black people he encountered. In Greed, Aethiopia meant burnt face. Albinos who are not satisfied with there mere 500 years of history is trying to steal the identity of the ancient Ethiopians and other black civilization that made a considerable mark in history. Albinos are pathetic. .
Additionally, I have had two Ethiopian coworkers in the past and not one of them looked like a Caucasian. And not one looked East Indian like some people are erroneously claiming. There are many Ethiopians living in West Toronto and not one of them look Caucasian to me. When I lived in Toronto, I use to eat at Ethiopian House where all the waiters and waitresses were Ethiopians and they were all, get this, black. They were so proud of their Africa heritage that they displayed paintings of the different tribes in Ethiopia who were, get this, BLACK people.
By the way, an Ethiopian co-workers told me one of the women in her village gave birth to two children who looked like Europeans and those children refused to part take in the traditional diet consumed by the rest of the people in the village. My co-worker said the family had to feed the children according to “the diet of the white people.” Now, you tell me, if the Ethiopians were already Caucasians, why would parents of these children make this distinction? If my co-worker was Caucasian, why would she tell me stories of the racism she and her children have faced in Canada? There was an Albino racist on a popular talk show who claimed he would through dollar bills at the television screen whenever he saw those commercials asking for donations to feed Ethiopia. Someone should have told him those were Caucasians like himself and that much of the monies donated would be used to line the pockets of the pathetic Albinos who were using the problems faced by the people of that Ethiopian village as an industry to make money. My co-worker also told me that it was only one village in Ethiopia that was having that problem and not all of Ethiopia like how the white people made it look. Everyday this woman would tell me that she is an African and she is proud to be an African.
And of those starving Ethiopian children whom Albinos used to make money for themselves, not one were Caucasians because Ethiopians are not Caucasians. Albinos do not air their dirty laundry. Even human suffering is considered to be an industry in the perverse minds of Albinos. There are many starving in Eastern Europe but since they are considered to be Caucasians and Albinos want to create the illusion of a superior race, those people would not be displayed on television for the world to see.
Since the Albino Arabs haven’t murdered or interbred with the North Africans fast enough to erase the original black brown presence in that region, Albinos are rewriting history and using the presence of Albino squatters to bolster their claim of being natural to North Africa. Where in Africa can Albinos survive without the use of mechanical means such as suntan lotions, or head to toe coverings? Much of the Albinos present in North Africa are mulattos who interbred with the native black/brown inhabitants to increase their chance of survival in that region. Only an idiot would expect North Africa to look the same as it did in ancient times after being invaded by Albinos and after bringing Albinos to the region as slaves.
marc washiingtons work must be seen cause its visual ,the most visual evidence available to the public,,as a code breaker tthe puzzle that created with the lies must be put back together ,,albions for example wont say that they came first if they are rasta farian, noo one tells them they cant be rasta thoughthey come from the bleaac people that tell us we cant be white cause we black ,,ur words privide proof ,,i refer u to you tube queen yaffa bey piercing the fog for etymology of the black replacing the bleac clear bleach face mis called white wight people from whiggamoor , look at the coodes ,, sons an daughtes of cleopatra ,, but hollywood puts elizabth tylor instead of dorothy dandridge an thats itt for history , cleopatra was not aryan yet eurropeannns come from this they say ,queen scota an king melisius stsrted ireland she to was from egypt ,,this is just the east im doin cause they aryan race was the grafted race suddenly appearing on earth 6000 7400 years ago as u said ,,now the lbions stopped believing cause when they found out that the other races as u say predated them it was impossible for th bible to be correct whe it said in the beginning ,,unlesss it was in the beginnning of what i the beginning at the eend of what whhat ended for tht aryn age to begin ,,this evidence is before u only denial an the seeven deeadly sins will keep u from knowing especially if u cnnot activate ur pineal gland ,,it is said by scientists from even europe that only 20% of albions can actiivate their pineall gland ,, but if u can then u can absorb the sun into ur body for energy as we used to do before we fell eating food an had to develope digestive systems.phil valentine somatic death why god dies -10 hours but you can get pt1-32 on u tube ,,,u can check whhat im saying also cause by now ive had to show an prove using the european sons own coddes ,, now i say again dontt ignore the posts here about tthe muurs even though the readers still argue white an black ,,in the west we were here firt aan fooled an killed out of our lan by being forced to call miscall the european sons white
the term is wrong look up blacks law dictionary volume 4 free white sovereign ,does not mean caucasion race or aryan race ,,,tht tells the law oof constitution so the 13 14 amendment arent real white people ,its straw man color of law ,so if the foundation of wht white is in america is false so is whats black an the word race ,its beneath a human but mankind had to create raaces as u say noooo you conquered those u came from cause 1600 shakespere bible says u cme first an u took white out the people a used th penis god to justify ,,,,this was not just albions but muurs they came from cause i cant go back 10,ooo years 8000 an blame albion just since 1800 they have destroyed the planet fighting an killing us an eacch other in the name of jesus , havig right is might ,,religion was used to push the white status grated in 1863 ,thats is how long white has been in america its to be proven tht ur not white cause ur skin color an it gets confused thst u com from black cause u dont know whst it is u were born fron dark matter in side ur muthers womb ur ppenis god didnt cread thst thats us in u u want ur science back u got it ,,,if i turned albion woman inside out she couldnt reproduce cause she got no melanin unless itt dark imside like lights out dark this is my skin an ur skin is ecessive recesss blood one inch under ski so it cant darken skin like blood so close . the ego of the wwhite supremacist has eased god out of him by recreating the creator an telling the wombman she cam later frm his rib , baphomets rib sturn els rib sets rib ,i aam born under set in kemetic astrology so i am set the one u all the devil an she did nt come from any of our ribs after that lie got through then came the little white one bout white men .check del marva peninsula ,, nanticoke miurs assateague muurs ,