Ras,
I do not agree with your point of view. You are giving me the impression that everything is "irie" within the movement. For my 36 years within the Movement I have seen little progress.
I am sure you have been around longer that I have.

Take the current situation with Ras Historian, that could be any of us a few years from now. We do not have a system that supports our creed. We cannot feed the hungry, clothe the naked, nurish the sick, protect the elders or care for our infants. I see little progress.
Ras Historian should be on the Binghi farm or the Bobo farm or the twelve tribe farm working since he is now homeless. As a youth I used to visit the Ras on Laws street regularly after school. It was there I met Kenneth Combs, Iya Stone, Sis Farika. I have lots of sentiment towards that Ras and if I had the funds I would house the Ras and give him work to do.

Understand me Ras I am not talking about individual Rases who I am sure some of us are doing great works. It is the Movement that I am concerned with. I see no leadership. I do not see a collective effort for example in farming which is the basis of human existance.

Let me ask you Ras, can we as a movement feed ourselves? Show me the evidence. What about Scotts Pass Binghi Grounds, 10 acres of land with a river running nearby. What have we planted there? this is a decent plot of land where at least 7 acres should have been in cultivation.

Before the last serious hurricane to hit JA another portion of land in Westmoreland was available to the Binghi House. After the hurricane the land was left to fallow to this day. What kind of example are we leaving for the youths?
Let's take a serious look at Shashamane. 500 hectares (1,235 acres approx.) donated by HIM to the diaspora. Another portion given to western churches. How much land does these churches now have and how much do we have in Shasha? If we were fully utilizing the land in Shasha I am sure we would have much more by now.

A bro. of ours told me of a visit HIM made to Shasha. HIM did not even exit the vehicle. He asked the breathren, where are my people? In other words where is the development? The Ras could not satisfactorily answer the question. Lulu the Majesty's pet turned his face towards Addis and HIM left.

Yes the drums are important but praises without works is worse than vanity. I say we have not yet grasped our scope of work and for us to do that we need to focus on the work, put down the drums for a while, get the work right and I guarantee the praises will be sweeter later.
I am not sure we fully understand the power of drums and the fire as was reported to me recently, an Ethiopian Twa (pigmy) asked us why when we play the drums with the fire and the ancestors come we fail to recognize them. My answer to that is because we are not singing our songs. We are singing the song of the sanky, the old slave masters hyms and styling it for our purposes. Good intention but wrong direction, hence we cannot recognize our own ancestors when they turn up at our celebrations. This is serious.

Because it is traditional to bury the dead in our backyard does not make it right. Maybe we can't afford anything else right now but I repeat it is unhealthy, unsafe and not in the best interest of our future welfare. The dead and the living should sleep separately. I see the advantage of cremation freeing up the land but in the meantime this practice of backyard burial should stop wherever possible. Even the Gov. of JA is putting a stop to this practice as it contaminates the ground water much like the soak-away pits and the latrine pits.

If we continue to fool ourselves into thinking that everything is "irie man" then this Rastafari Movement will not last another 80 years. He who knows not and knows not that he knows not he is a fool shun him/her. I however have confidence in the younger generation as I see them doing things that we as elders did not attempt. They will correct our mistakes. They will take up the issue of industrializing the cannabis plant instead of the current one dimensional approach of blowing only smoke.

Lookin forward to your response Ras. There is a lot for us to discuss and the reasoning is respectful, I like that.
Why is it that not much is said on this board when it comes to our development but when the topic of religion comes about the response is so great, are we religious zelots?