I recently attended a Rastafari gathering which had various speakers. The first woman to speak was a black woman who adhered to the 12 tribes doctrine and felt it a point to emphasize an interpretation of the Selassie I speech ". . . until a color of a man's skin is no more significant . . . " which made it seem as if it was about this all inclusive color-blindness that many white people read into that speech. I was thinking how this was confusing the issue, and what made it even more so was the fact that this was coming from a Black woman, and some in the audience were white adherents to Rastafari. I could only think that this was giving some very strong green lights to the color-blind idea of Rastafari some of the white Rastafari most likely held to. It is possible as well that this woman who spoke was allowing her speech to cater to us white people in the audience.

I have a feeling that this kind of lack of a definitive emphasis on an interpretation that contributes to the Rastafari movement becoming self-defeating.