fatcat-littlecoyote:

whitepeoplecollectionagency:

I saw the question you got regarding the use of the pan-African colors (mistakenly referred to as “Jamaican/Rasta” colors (it’s fine, lots of people don’t know, I’m not mad), and as a Jamaican, I just felt like people need to know. Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari Movement, which is a RELIGION. They use the colors green, gold, and red to symbolize the loyalty they feel towards Ethiopia, which has those colors (green/gold/red is also present in a lot of African flags, so the combination is sometimes considered to be representative of Africa as a whole). Rastafari essentially states that King Haile Selassie I was the Second Coming and that Ethiopia will become Paradise. Rastafari is also very Afrocentric and states that western society, which is white-dominated, is evil and by extension, so are white people.

Now that we’ve had that little primer, let’s talk about marijuana. Rastafarians believe that smoking marijuana is a deeply spiritual act that cleanses the mind, heals the soul, and brings them closer to God; they don’t do it for fun. If you want to smoke, fine. However, it is not a joke and it’s very offensive for people to take the image of someone who sang devotedly about his religion and turn him into a joke that basically goes “i smoke weed lol”, especially white people, whom he believed had mistreated African people for hundreds of years and turned a blind eye to their problems that came from that mistreatment. (It actually feels weird putting “believed” because it’s a historical fact.)

So let’s go over this again: Rastafari is an actual RELIGION that is more than about smoking weed all day, and to them, smoking weed is part of a very special ritual. Taking the image of a devout religious person and using him as a disposable token for your funtime activities is wrong and disrepectful. Rastafari frowns upon white people, especially disrespectful ones that like to steal sacred parts of cultures they know almost nothing about. You can have your weed, but you need to put down the all the pictures of Mr. Marley.

I don’t think I’ve ever owned anything with Bob Marley on it. Regardless, I’m gonna go sit over there.