Rastafari
From Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York City
Contents |
Rastafari in New York
“From Morris Heights in the Bronx to Jamaica and Hillside in Queens, and from 125th Street in Harlem and Washington Square Park in Manhattan to Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, the sights and ‘word sounds’ of Rastafari levity have become an indelible part of the fabric of life in New York City.” – Randal L. Hepner
A Rasta is easily recognized in any crowd by his long dreadlocks and characteristic colors - yellow, green, red, and black. From the first glance, he seems to be proud and confident in himself. That's because he is. Rastas are members of pan-African movement, they take pride in who they are and where they come from. They are also rebels who reject current world order based on capitalism.
Rastafari is the most successful social movement ever to emerge from the Caribbean. The United States and New York, in particular, were and remain among the most important scenes of Rastafari activity. Growth of the Rastafari movement emerged after the waves of Caribbean migration, particularly since 1960s and 1970s. There are many Jamaicans in parts of Brooklyn, like Flatbush or Crown Heights, often called “Little Jamaica”. In 1990 Flatbush was recognized as “New York’s most West Indian neighborhood” and a center of Caribbean tradition, culture, and activities, of which Rastafari is probably the most famous and appealing.
Perception of Rastafari United States
Spread of Rastafari took place in the US due to the changing pattern of Jamaican immigration in 1960s and 1970s and by the rise of reggae music on the international arena. The first account of Rastas in New York appeared in press in 1971.
Its initial reception among Americans was no friendlier than the reception of Jamaicans themselves. The media soon began portraying members and supporters of the movement as criminals, drug dealers, and illegal immigrants, who posed a threat to American society. For example, a series of shootings was attributed to “Rasta cultists”, who, according to NYPD, “shoot whoever they feel like”. Another police report stated that, “Many of the Rastas in this country tend to stray away from their religious tenets and engage in criminal activity, using their religious doctrines as a cover for their criminal activity.”
Throughout the 70s and 80s New York’s Rastafari community was commonly associated with drug trafficking, gunrunning, violence and killings. These combined media and law-enforcement assaults on Jamaicans and Rastafari were responsible for shaping a negative public view of the movement.
Rastafari communities in New York
The movement became quite poplar in major urban centers of the United States, like Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, and, of course, New York. Although the movement generally appeals to young Jamaicans all of the Anglophone Caribbean countries are represented, as well, as African Americans, Native Americans, and white Americans. Members of the movement come from different classes, but the overwhelming majority of Rastafarians belong to the lower middle and working classes and unemployed.
Many Rastas decide to become self-employed fueled by the desire to escape “wage enslavement” of the Babylon. A new group of entrepreneurs appeared to cater to the needs of Rasta communities. Just visit East Flatbush and you’ll find scores of reggae music stores, health food stores and ital restaurants, Rasta apparel, etc. I visited one such ital shop where the menu is completely vegetarian (but still very delicious) and a Rasta heritage store “Links”. Here you could find anything from Ehtiopian products and ritual herbs to T-shirts and CD’s. There is also a large wall with posters of Bob Marley. It looks amazing, and, according to the storeowner, many reggae artists have had their pictures taken next to it. Rasta street vendors, selling incense, oil, and ritual paraphernalia, are also easy to find in the streets of East Flatbush, or any other West Indian neighborhood, for that matter. They are easy to talk to and can tell a lot about the Rasta movement.
Lack of opportunities combined with ritual use ganja encourages some Rastas to engage in ganja trade. This does not mean that Rastafari are drug dealers. In fact, many dealers indicated that it is not their preferred occupation and it is short lasting. Marijuana dealing usually fills in the gap between employments. Most Rastafari are aware of their lower and oppressed status within the US social system. However, they rely on their communities in opposing “dread inna America”. Rastas believe that injustice cannot continue for much longer and the change will soon come.
Rastafari Religious Movement in New York
Unlike most other religions or belief systems, Rastafari movement has a highly decentralized multi-leader character. Rastas partially reproduce this quality in the United States. There is no leader or organization that can speak for the movement as a whole. Rastas have no set place of gathering or worship, like churches in Christianity. If there are enough Rastas in the community they get together in reggae clubs, dance halls, smoking yards, Rasta stores and ital restaurants. Collective reasoning is the central component of such gatherings and also the main religious experience for the Rastas unaffiliated with any formal organization. This is where members socialize, educate new followers, and engage in ritual consumption of ganja.
There is also a group of officially organized “mansions” that compete for the allegiance of larger sectors of members. Only in New York there is a large enough Rastafari community that is able to support a whole array of such options. Here one can find Twelve Tribes of Israel, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Nyabinghi Order of Divine Autocracy, the Ethiopian World Federation, the list goes on. All of these mansions have one thing in common – some form of congregational worship. This provides regular face-to-face religious assembly that is innovative compared to the movement’s anarchic roots. Although they include only a minority of Rastas, such organized churches play important role in communities and are actively involved with the movement. They provide both individual and family participation. In particular, churches allow for women participation, something that was rarely found in traditional and secular wings of the movement.
Rastafari Ideology
Rastafari movement encompasses a wide range of ideologies with church-affiliated Rastas on one end and unaffiliated members on the other. For some of them the practice of Rastafari is mostly cultural, while others strongly believe in its theological concepts. For example, religious Rastas believe Selassie to be “Jah”, the divine Creator and the black Messiah, while the “cultural” Rastas see him strictly as historical human figure, differentiated from Jah.
While there are many differences between different Rastafari groups in U.S. or even Jamaica, rejection of Babylon is one theme that remains to be a big part of beliefs of any Rasta. Babylon is the term signifying imperialist, capitalist, white political structure that suppresses all working people, but especially those of color. Since the United States has committed numerous crimes against races other than white, Rastas often consider the nation to be the embodiment of Babylon and reject many of its values. They find strength in themselves and among their brethren to live a life that goes against Babylon and its corrupted values. Rastas “chant down Babylon” and try to recreate Zionic conditions within their communities by rejecting a world based on materialism, competition and racial animosity. They believe in reciprocity, sharing and living in harmony with oneself and others – I-an-I. As one member of the Twelve Tribes said, ”The shitstem [system] tries to put you down… so, Rastas sprung up to resist, to resist downpression, to resist being controlled.”
Rastafari ideology includes some degree of apocalyptic destruction and judgment. They believe that someday the Babylon will fall and they as the chosen ones will create a new Zionlike world. One of the Rastamen I got to talk to in Flatbush told me that “the island [Manhattan] is Babylon”, and that it will soon be destroyed, just like the original “city”.
Repatriation to Africa is another key concept of Rastafari movement. Some Rastas, who worship Emperor Haile Selassie, believe that returning to Africa, Ethiopia to be precise, would be a complete cycle broken by slavery, even though the people taken into slavery were not from Ethiopia. Still, some people, like this Rasta woman disagree, “It's not about back to Africa. It's about protest and looking after the world and making it a better place for our children.”
Perhaps, the most profound concept of Rastafari is the belief in divinity existing in every person. The goal of every Rasta is to discover his “divine I” and become “God” through self-divinization. This is another reason they use I-an-I instead of just “I”, for it symbolizes harmony that exists between Rasta’s outer and inner self.
Work Cited
Murrel, Nathaniel, William Spencer, and Adrian McFarlane. Chanting Down Babylon. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1998.
Linden F. Lewis, "Living in the Heart of Babylon: Rastafari in the USA," Bulletin of Eastern Caribbean Affairs 15, i (March-April 1989): 20-30.
Foner, Nancy,ed. 2001. Islands in the City: West Indian Migration to New York. Berkeley: University of California Press.
"Rastafari." Swagga.Com. 4 May 2008 <http://www.swagga.com/rasta.htm>.
1. http://lpdw.free.fr/jamaique/rastafari.jpg
2. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/6654/images/him47.jpg
