Rastafari Movement in The United States - Background

Background

Marcus Garvey, a native Jamaican, speaking on the topic of the creation of an African state for displaced Africans, told his followers to “look to the East Africa, for the crowning of the Black King." This was also to influence the minds of the masses of black people from continuing to worship King George of England. Marcus Mosiah Garvey was referring to Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, the only remaining African Monarch of Biblical ancestry. However, some found a more literal interpretation. Among some of these were working class Jamaicans, who saw Garvey as a prophet, and more specifically the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Consequentially, when Ras Tafari of Ethiopia was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930, many saw the prophecy fulfilled, and proclaimed King Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia Jah, or God.

The movement has had strong cultural, social, and political effects on both Ethiopia and Jamaica, but to date, little scholarly research has been done on the effects of the movement on the United States of America. But this is not to say that such influences and affections do not exist in America, which many Rastafarians see as the epitome of Babylon, and the hearth of all evil in the world. This does not stop Rastafarians from immigrating to America, as a considerable influx of Jamaican Rastafarians made the United States their new home during the 1960s and 1970s. The Rastafarian movement played a vital role in the shaping of local United States society and culture, as was seen in the socio-cultural accomplishments of Marcus Garvey, the effects of localized Rastafarian community building on the greater metropolitan area, and through the medium of Rastafarian riddims, or reggae music. Adding to the idea that the United States is "Babylon" some american Rastas don't believe that the United States is Babylon due to the Revolutionary War against Britain.