To Get Beyond The Race Issue

by Rootsie
June 26, 2003

The only way possible to get beyond the race issue is THROUGH it! It is not a diversion from the livity, but lies at the heart. I am a white one who came here and was challenged, and grew, and am most grateful for this. Listening to the lived reality of our Afrikan idrens is a must for whites who sight Rasta. The only way to have reconciliation is through truth-telling on all sides of the race issue.

The 'spiritual' threads on this board seem often to reflect the most intolerant kind of religious fundamentalism, which I think happens because the Bible is such a difficult text to receive the truth from, although it is possible. Looking to the African roots keeps us honest.

Those who feel uncomfortable coming here perhaps should look a little further and examine that discomfort: white privilege is a many-tentacled beast, and one of them is the assumption that we should be received with open arms wherever we go, unchallenged. Dipping in and out of whatever spiritual tradition suits our fancy. Well those who sight Rastafari must develop the integrity to stand in the face of an ugly historical picture without shrinking back. Especially without shrinking back into platitudes of 'peace and unity' and 'One Love', without doing the work in the proper order to manifest One Love, to make New Heaven and New Earth a reality and not some childish fantasy based on feel-goodism.

www.rootsie.com


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