We cannot seek to remove the Garveyite concepts from Rastafari. The Rastafari movement sprang forth from the Pan-African (Garveyite) movement. A lot of our foundations as Rastafari were provided by Garvey and the early Rasta elders. Garvey did not teach racist principles, neither did Selassie. Can we not see that regardless of a man's complexion, any drop of blackness makes us children of Africa? Bob Marley was mixed, but do we deny his blackness? Look at Damian Marley, do we deny his blackness? It's time to stop fighting among ourselves over foolishness. In early times the issue was how close to whiteness we were mixed. Now in the time of our black pride we are arguing how close to blackness, and whether someone is black enough. As for whites who hail Ras Tafari, I welcome you with open arms. But with this welcome comes a warning. We black people have been through a lot of downpression from whites, so you have to strive even more to earn our trust. You cannot come into the movement telling us what we should not be doing. Even though sometimes some of us may be wrong in our views, we grow more towards truth through the grace of Jah. If you can help us on this path, then thanks, but do not try to force us to see things the white way, we have done that for too long, and this movement is about moving away from that. This cannot be a racist movement, we must move forward with One Love (for all people). DEATH TO BLACK AND WHITE DOWNPRESSORS.
Love And Peace,
Jah Melku
