I never had any inkling or foreknowledge that one day I will be involved in a Christian Movement whose mission and objective is the domestication of the ideas and values of the Rastafarian faith, reggae and protest to fit into the fundamental teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for reading this post; don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
The basic challenge of the African in our contemporary world is that of cultural imperialism, that outpouring of cultural forces both from the West and the East, that has come to shape and define the value setting and mindset of the African.
I have taught American History both North American and South American History and that of the West and East Indices at the University for nearly twenty years. As a matter of fact I have authored books which I will like to share with you as time goes by. I also pray that this little write up finds us in good spirits and mind.
Rastafarianism is an African philosophical thought deeply rooted in the political traditions of the ruling Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia traced back to the times of Queen Sheba visit to King Solomon in the old testament. The ruling title, “Ras” meaning ruler, predates the conversation of the Ethiopian eunuch by the Evangelist Phillip with the establishment of the Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church. The Ethiopian sacred scrolls, the Bible, with more books than that of the Christian Bible, is older than the Christian Bible going back to the times of the Judaic scrolls.
Rastafarianism historically finds roots in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with ancient traditions and values that dates back to the age of King Solomon.
Through the diplomacy of Queen Sheba, the nation of Israel reproduced herself in Ethiopia through the Solomonic Dynasty ruled by Ras , the last of the living Ras, in modern history being Emperor Haile Selassie. The word Tafari stands for peace and justice, when fused with the word Ras, it means, the ruler of peace and justice, the conquering lion of the tribe of Judah.
This idea has both historical, cultural and philosophical implications and expression rooted in the religiosity of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ has changed the narrative of human oppression, injustice, poverty and inequality.
Reggae as a musical genre was first coined by Toots Hibbert, a classical Jamaican musical icon who blended and fussed modern American funk, European rock and roll as well as jazz music to create a sensational flowing steady Ska into the reggae genre.
Historically, the Arawak Indians of the West Indices played a traddional genre that provided the roots inspiration for the evolution of reggae music.
The question therefore is: At what point in history did reggae music and Rastafarianism get converted and domesticated as platforms for revolutionary and social protest in the West? The evolution of reggae and Rastafarianism had taken place over a vast historic space but never threatened or posed a dialectical danger to Western imperialism until at the point where these movements were given social and revolutionary interpretations as vehicles of protest.
Protest in America dates back to the era of Black African Chattel Slavery in the New World Society. Chattel Slavery gave legal backing to the institutionalisation of dehumanisation of the black African who was conceptualised as a sub human creation.
The Catholic Church and Western Christianity in general provided the theological foundations that justified the enslavement of black Africans as the offsprings of Ham, the son of Noah, who was destined to be the hewer of wood and fetchers of water for his younger brothers Shem and Japheth. The Bible, exploited for mercantile purposes, served as the foundation for the justification of Chattel Slavery that decimated over twenty million Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the major pillars of the Rastafarian Movement in the West Indices was Mortimer Planno, a rich and successful Jamaican business man who used his networking and connection with Emperor Hallie Salissie of Ethiopia to inspire the ideas and values of the Rastafarian faith.
Before Mortimer Planno, in the post emancipation era, African Americans such as Marcus Garvey and William du Bois, inspired the social protest and black African nationalism through movements such as the Back to Africa Movement and Pan Africanism.
These movements mobilised Africans on the global stage to fight for decolonisation and racial equality in Africa and America. Marcus Garvey social protest took on a more militant approach that much later provided the foundations for main stream Rastafarianism fundamentalism. Williams du Bois provided the framework for a more peaceful and non violent protest, something that inspired the civil rights protest of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the Post Emancipation era in America, two forms of protest emerged, one that was radical and militant with roots in the Rastafarian faith of the Ethiopian Church, the other, a peaceful nonviolent protest that was spearheaded by African Americans such as Dr Martin Luther King.
Emperor Haile Selassie inspired a great deal of hope, identity and cult revolution among the Rastafarian community of Jamaica and the Caribbean. Enthusiastic and social activist quoted scriptures to prove that Emperor Haile Selassie was the long awaited Messiah that was destined for the emancipation of black Africans in the Diaspora. Scriptures that alluded:
“Ethiopia shall soon stretch out his hand, out of Ethiopia shall a ruler arise to deliver my people”.
My opinion here is that, the gospel of Jesus Christ represents a total new narrative that seeks the emancipation of man in the finished works of Christ on the Cross.
These scriptures were interpreted to conceptualise Emperor Haile Selassie as the Messiah and saviour of black African people in the diaspora scourged by centuries of slavery, racial exploitation and brutality.
The Jamaican Rastafarian Movement began a social protest rooted in the African experience that exploited reggae music as a vehicle and platform for social revolution and protest.
The Jamaican reggae with Rastafarian Movement adopted critical innovations and creativity that has come to shape and define the modern fundamentalist Rastafarian and Reggae Movement of the twentieth century.
The Jamaican Rastafarian and Raggae evolution is an anti western movement in all ramifications similar to the contemporary Boko Haram Movement of the Islamic State. As a matter of fact, Fundamentalist Rastafarianism and Reggae Movement adopts the weapon and tool of radicalisation with total overdependence on marijuana and ganja, as well as violence and intimidation, as necessary weapons that radicalised the sect.
Jimmy Cliff, one of the greatest innovators of reggae music just like Toot Hibbert, illustrated the conflict of fundamentalist Rastafarianism in an epic film that depicted Rastafarianism and reggae as a cult of violent gangster movement that is out in tandem with the civilised norms of western society.
My opinion here is that, the gospel of Jesus Christ represents a total new narrative that seeks the emancipation of man in the finished works of Christ on the Cross.
The crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ has changed the narrative of human oppression, injustice, poverty and inequality.
The Declaration of Jesus Christ in Luke 4: 1 to 8 is a declaration of liberty and freedom for all mankind. This is far more than a social protest and revolution like the French and American Revolutions or the Civil Rights Movements that has come and gone without a mass revolution of wealth and equality for all class, creed and race.
The declarations of the Gospel is open to all people of all ages, class and creed. The potency of the Gospel is still powerful today. We testify of these truths.
I appreciate the privilege of being part of Kristofarian Movement that seeks to harvest and domesticate the ideas of the Rastafarian Movement and Reggae Consciousness as a vehicle for soul winning and the preaching of the gospel.
I think this is a unique innovation that seeks to collapse cultural and racial barriers using a cross cultural approach in the process of the evangelisation of the world.
This approach is unique and innovative. God bless you all.
Prof. Uji, Wilfred writes from the Department of History and International Studies, Federal University of Lafia, Lafia
Follow the AkweyaTV channel on WhatsApp: http://bit.ly/3I7mQVx
Or scan the QR code:
