A Zungu's Beef With Rasta

An understanding of what Rastafari is all about is in order before we get into the meat of today’s ramble. Rastafari, sometimes termed Rastafarianism, is an Abrahamic religion developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. Rastas refer to their beliefs, which are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible, as ‘Rastalogy’. Central is a monotheistic belief in a single God—referred to as Jah—who partially resides within each individual. Former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, is given central importance with many Rastas regarding him as an incarnation of Jah on Earth and as the Second Coming of Christ.

 

Was The Haile Selassie Really Jah Even Though He Had No Dreads?

In reality, many – especially those of my parents’ generation have a different perception of what Rasta’s are all about. In the 80s, I was in school with Shirley Ashbridge who as the surname suggests is white. Born to a farmer and a housewife of a mother, she came from a small town called Cold Kirby in North Yorkshire, in England. Cold Kirby back in the 80s was farmland territory and a village at that. It was such a small village that everybody knew each other and if any of them bought new shoes, the entire village would get to know about it. Another thing about Cold the village that forms the basis of this ramble, is there were no black people or Asians.

 

Talent In Dreads - Lauryn Hill

At Shirley’s invitation I went up there with Norris Wiltshire who was also in school with us. Though British, Norris came arrived in England from St Kitts when he was four years old. And over the years, he cultivated and grew his dreadlocks to a thick and impressive length.

 

Despite His Dreads, Yanick Noah Was A Top Ten Tennis Player

While the rest of England was sort of used to seeing dreadlocks, as far everybody in Cold Kirby was concerned, black people – especially anybody with dreadlocks was a gangster, a thug, a goon, was high on cocaine and were most likely going to rape the first white woman they came across.

The two things that Shirley didn’t tell her parents about is that Norris and I were black and that Norris had dreads because when we rolled up to their farm which also doubled up at a small inn, ‘time stopped’. Her mother had the most terrified look on her face while her that of her dad to the best of my recollection, read something along the lines of: “Take what you can but please don’t kill me and please don’t rape my wife.” 

 

Buju Banton - An Awesome Voice In Dreads

It didn’t take long for the village to find out that there were black people in town that they thronged the inn to see, to catch a glimpse of us. While there were no racial connotations to their curiosity, many of them had never seen a black person save for on television. And the majority that came to see, were men. No wives and certainly no teenage daughters – just in case they got ‘raped’.

The irony of a black weekend in Cold Kirby, is that whenever Dale went to the store, pub or restaurant with his dreads fraying all over the village, he pulled out cash to pay for whatever he had bought or eaten and not a machete. And when he smoked, it was not a ganja joint that he smoked, but Marlboro. And when he talked to the women, no he didn’t want to rape them but have a conversation with them. And that despite the dreadlocks, he was in university studying psychology, yet most of the village had never gone beyond O-Levels. 

Even White Women Wanted More From Bob Marley Than Just His Music IF You Get My Drift 

So to American Lady in the blue jeans, white blouse and UN baseball cap who was in KFC, Entebbe two weeks ago on Saturday and who threw a ‘Rasta’s are scum’ tantrum because three Rasta boys politely asked her to pick up her tray and go throw her rubbish into the rubbish chute, I feel so sorry for you. I really do.