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Rastas have always been marginalized by d colonial enemies & high society ppls in Jamaica even today to a certain degree. They were called dutty foot boy, mad men, savage, black heart men who steals children, Selassie worshippers, wild man, uncivilized & all types of things because they were not understood but most of all because they were a big threat to the colonial shitstem. The colonial enemies some how managed to get many of us to help demonize our own brothers also. The real Rastas, Bongo Natty, Congo Natty & many others, those of whom live in d hills, deep in the jungle far from so called civilization. They live off the land, lived in unity & oness with Mama Earth but were seen as savages & rebels. They weren’t much different from Leonard Howell( the first Rasta who formed the movement) Marcus Garvey, Malcom X & many others of our freedom fighters who tried to gain liberation for Afrikan ppl by any means necessary. Just like all our freedom fighters many of their methods of gaining our liberation may not have been conventional or accepted by us today, but they used what they had at their disposal at the time. Many of our freedom fighters struggled with religions wether it was Islam or Christianity, both had a great influence and impact on them. Rastas adopted certain aspects of christianity but desired to have a black God & at the time in Jamaica they were under heavy oppression by the colonials & Leonard Howell who was a follower of Marcus Garvey was always vocal & speaking out against the enemy. He said why r we giving praises to king george of england when we have a Black King of Ethiopia. This is y Rastafari Makonnen was hailed by them. The Rastafari movement in jamaica at the time of it’s inception was created to be a black power moment with a spiritual nucleus( according to Mutabaruka). They saw this King from Afrika & identified with him & rejected king george of england. Talk like this during those times were not tolerated. Despite the negatives of Emporer Haile Selassie & the different views many scholars have of him, he served as a turning point to Afrika for many Rastas in Jamaica. To the true Rastas they see him as just a symbol of Afrikan liberation rather than trying to dress him like a jesus. Deep thought Rastas like Mutabaruka go way deep right back to Nile valley civilizations but many ppl don’t know this because majority of Rastas now a days have been categorized & stereotyped to have a judio/christian mindset of which some of them do but not all. This broad blankets a wide amount of Rastas, making them be misunderstood.
