youth..
did you actually READ that properly? did you read where i told you I MYSELF AM WHITE? THAT I HAVE DREAD? where did you get that i said white people cant have dread? cant you read?
so what if some black people have even dread? some dont.. its called variety. you aint black, sweet.. deal with that fact. youre never going to have dread like a black man unless you have false ones weaved to your european scalp... but hey.. at least that way they'll be instant and you can flash them down the street looking "irie" or like a hip hop artist to your school buddies... till they fall out taking the rest of your hair with them.
did i say that mine were not clean and nice? no.. i said they werent even. i said they were different lengths and thicknesses.. they are still beautiful. and spotless. go back and read it. ask my husband,(or anyone here who knows me) if my dread are clean and nice.. he'll tell you they are a lot nicer than his, and he is black and has had his dread for 30 years. so much so, that he prefers me not to cover them, because he is so proud of his wifes dread. you are being pedantic and taking what i said out of context, as children so often do.
you dont NEED to speak patois. i dont speak patois...non of my white bredren and sistren do... and dont try and blow that one up by saying i used the word bredren or sistren.. they are titles in MY faith to explain a male or female counterpart.... i dont walk down the street calling out "wha gwarn blood".. its just ridiculous. black people will think youre an idiot... ask them. they'll soon tell ya!
i'm white. i was born in England. i love how i was made.. i love how i was taught to speak. are you black? were you born there?.. were your immediate family (that means your mum and dad) born there? then why would you speak it, if it were not necessary to make yourself understood in another country? are you not proud of the way Jah made you? do you assume to know better than His judgement on where you were born, or the language He saw fit to have you speak? can you not be proud of your own culture, and still love the principles of RasTafari? thats the ESSENCE of RasTafari.. knowing who you are, and where you come from. YOUR roots.. not someone elses.
i have f*****d nothing up for you..grow up. thats just childish. i am not attempting to restrict your learning..quite the opposite, had you bothered to read what i posted with a reasonable head on. i am only telling you how most of us who have lived this faith for as many years ,as some of us here have, (including myself, who has practiced Ras for 26 years now, since i was 15.. and 10 years longer than youve been on this planet) are insulted when people attach themselves without showing the proper respect. most people here though are too polite to tell you, and will just ignore the thread, because they cant be dealing with it.. we have to see and hear so much of it these days...all the ganja smoking bobmarley-ites who think rastafari is all about weed and reggae (which of course is one aspect.. but we deal with truth too, and the truth is that life isnt all flowers and group hugs), that colour has no basis on who you are or what privileges you have, and its all lovely and harmonious, that we spend our days in the sun smoking and being all wise and peaceful.. and dont understand the realities of everyday life, and the struggle of the black man, preferring to just skip over that one and saying, "oh yes, but it's not like that anymore.. rasta is for everyone".. which it is, if you can deal with the reality that it came about to empower the black man and his right to be treated as an equal in this world. just count yourself lucky that Elijah didnt reply.. compared to him I'm a walk in the park! (no disrespect to you, brother Elijah, just pointing out that you say it as you see it, same as i'm doing here).. i'm just telling the truth.
all i am saying is, by all means, learn, look to yourself, study, pray.. ask Jah for guidance before calling yourself Ras. if you wanna pout, wet your diappie and throw your rattle out of your stroller, cos you don't like it, thats your business..it just proves my point. and makes me laugh. i'm not going to lose any sleep over it... I've bigger fish to fry...like raising a family of sons, some of whom are older than you, who have been raised in Rastafari all their lives..and who wouldnt DARE to speak to an Empress like that. thats the difference between a Prince and a pretender to the throne. respect for your elders.
oh.. and i'm not going to swear back at you either, being a Lady and a Rastawoman, and raised better than that. there are many alternative words you could have used to express your annoyance. wash your potty mouth out.. you ought to be ashamed.
end of the day, truth hurts. i must have pricked your conscience in order for you to react this way... you know in your heart you're not in it for the right reasons.
i didnt say dont do it.. i said be honest in your reasoning. seek, learn, take your time, pay your dues... like the rest of us have to. you cant just wake up and decide to adopt something because it looks cool from the outside.
have you any clue as to what Ras go through every day? do you know how many people have been murdered for Rastafari? how we are shunned.. how many of us are falsely committed to psychiatric hospitals as having mental illness for our ideals every year? how hard it is to find a job, even in this day? how you cant walk down the road, even as a woman, without suspicious eyes following you? how we cant perform our sacraments or grow our medicine without risk of imprisonment? how our children are taken from us by the "authorities" for our beliefs? you have no idea. you just see the outside appearance. for sure.. admire it. theres plenty to be proud of.. thats why i defend my faith so vocally. but also see that you must EARN the title of Ras.
this might seem really harsh to you now, but in the end, if this is really the path you want to tread, youre going to thank me for it,because the trod of the rastaman is a hard one, and youre going to hear much worse than this. all ive done is prepare you for whats to come. and when youre all grown and a wise old grey haired dreadlocks with your little natty grandchildren round you, you'll know that when that stroppy cow tore a strip off you when you were a kid, she knew what she was talking about, and you'll be able to smile about it.
