MommaSmurf said:

I have a white male friend who has dreads almost to his knees. He gets this constantly from white and black people.
He sometimes says shit back but he isnt a rasta, just likes dreads so he mostly just nods and smiles.
Sometimes he will say blessings mon or some shit
He is actually from Barbados and had a bit of an accent..idk thats my 2 cents. Sorry i can't help more

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Thanks man, this was like the only helpful comment I got in this thread.



From what I gather, it's customary to say "blessings," when you see another person with dreads, so I'm gonna go with that from now on.

I feel like so many people of so many races have dreadlocks now that it's not really just a Rastafarian thing, or just a "black people" thing.

I saw an Asian dude at the airport in Costa Rica that had his entire hair deadlocked into two enormous, greasy, paddles. He looked kind of like Jar Jar Binks. Weirdest shit I've ever seen in my life.

Asante said:

WeAreMushroom said:

I don't want to come off as racist or anything, so I'm hesitant to consider myself a "real" Rastafarian, or anything near that even.

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You're doing it right now, being racist.

You can be a real Rastafarian and not be black, question is -- ARE YOU?



Even if you're not, if you mean what you say there is nothing offensive about a cheerful and heartfelt "Jah Bless!" in answer to such a greeting. They validate you, you validate them.

It takes confidence but, if you mean it you only do good with it. If you got Jah in your heart let Him jump off your tongue towards them with cheer.


Well I certainly wasn't being intentionally racist, as I stated that I was trying to avoid that in the OP.

Jah Bless you and your Nkondi higher every day, Asante. Much love, brother.

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Bigfeely123 said:

qman said:

Whites = no dreads allowed.

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wow what a youknowwhat. dont wanna get banned...

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This video is crazy. She literally almost physically attacks this poor dude who's probably stoned out of his mind and can't even remember where Egypt is, just because it looks like he hasn't washed his head in a month.

Those aren't even dreads. So many white people walk around with messy unwashed piles of grease on their heads and call them dreads that it really gives a bad name to those of us who actually know what we're doing with our expensive-ass dreadlock products, tools, and long hours of maintenance.

It's not easy knotting up all this hair, and it certainly takes more than just not doing anything with your hair to make it dread.

Bigfeely123 said:

qman said:

Whites = no dreads allowed.

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wow what a youknowwhat. dont wanna get banned...

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for reaaal dude

who the fuck does she think she is

unbelievable

and that white dude who was getting harrased handled it very well

also kudos to the person who filmed this!

PatrickKn said:

In response to the OP, just be yourself. Speak how you would speak to anyone else in a greeting. There's no reason to fake being someone you're not in order to uphold some standard of etiquette that isn't really your culture to begin with.

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Yeah, with a decade of having dreadlocks, never saw reason to pretend to be Rastafarian as I am not.

It was always fun to engage other dread heads in conversation about our individual reasons for having dreadlocks though.  Nice, genuine, person-to-person connection between people who dealt with similar social judgements.

What I will say though, in my experience Rastafarians (at least those that had immigrated to Montréal from Jamaica) were very open and accepting of me for not sharing their faith. 
They were always interested to learn about Shiva, and were typically less judgemental about what most Christians lose their shit over as heresy.

Out of the judgement OP is going to face for being a white guy with dreadlocks, faking a Rasta greeting around people who already presume him to be a Rasta is relatively low on the list.  If he feels most comfortable giving blessings, then that is really about as good as anything else.

Asante said:

WeAreMushroom said:

I don't want to come off as racist or anything, so I'm hesitant to consider myself a "real" Rastafarian, or anything near that even.

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You're doing it right now, being racist.

You can be a real Rastafarian and not be black, question is -- ARE YOU?



Even if you're not, if you mean what you say there is nothing offensive about a cheerful and heartfelt "Jah Bless!" in answer to such a greeting. They validate you, you validate them.

It takes confidence but, if you mean it you only do good with it. If you got Jah in your heart let Him jump off your tongue towards them with cheer.

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The best way to handle that guys situation in the video is to say

"Really?! I had no idea! I remember hearing something about Rasta from a friend who listened to this music but I have never looked into it. Now that I know this ill change my hair style right away when I get home or to the hotel room..."

Problem solved 



"Rastafari is an Abrahamic belief which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, following the coronation of Haile Selassie I as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Its adherents worship him in much the same way as Jesus in his Second Advent, or as God the Father."

"Rastafari holds many Christian beliefs like the existence of a triune God ("Jah"), who had sent his divine incarnate son to Earth in the form of Jesus (Yeshua) and made himself manifest as the divine person of Haile Selassie I. Rastafari accept much of the Bible, although they believe that its message and interpretation have been corrupted."


From my understanding Rastafarians are not Christians. It is not a Christian denomination (unless I missed it on the page but I welcome any one to quote me, this is a interesting subject).

But are they considered partaking Christian primitivism? Would that make them Christians? Similar to Jehovah witnesses.

Witnesses consider them selves Christians according to this :

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/are-jehovahs-witnesses-christians/

I did not see Rasta's on this page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorationism


However I have read some Rasta's consider them selves non corrupted Christians.

Should we dig into what mormans believe.. i dont even know if that is a Christian denomination.. did not search.

I guess this is all technicality's to define.

Personally I think that you Have Christianity and then you have denominations that follow under it.

All of that stuff aside tho..

Websters dictionary defines Christian as this :

a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ

So they seem like from what I have read that they do not believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ since a verse like this (very popular one) says

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
john 3:16 NIV

Maybe some one can pull up bible verses that talk about Haile Selassie I... I don't remember seeing him in there...

But hey people can call them selves what ever they want. Not a biggie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorationism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari
http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/18853/do-rastafarians-believe-in-jesus-as-the-way-to-god
https://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/christian
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Christian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations
http://listverse.com/2014/01/06/10-things-to-know-about-rastafari-beliefs/

Ezuma said:

I don't get why people think rastas are so cool... it's just a dopey version of Christianity with a really peculiar obsession for one black dude who didn't even do anything that cool imo

but whatever floats your boat I guess

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They have a cool language

And the pseudo-rastas in the PNW are genuinely really nice people that seem unattached to the weird religious aspects and just carry on the sort of aesthetic and cannabis obsessed culture

Dark_Star said:

Nah, you're the ignorant one here. You  called me out on pointing out the negatives of genuine Rasta culture....when the reality is that I'm correct. Which, incidentally, you would know had you taken 5-10 minutes to actually look into the matter rather than getting butthurt because you know some dudes with dreads. And now you even admit that you don't even know any real Rastas. I swear the average IQ had plummeted as of late. Thanks for proving my point about white potheads that listen to Bob Marley.

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WeAreMushroom said:

I've had dreadlocks for about a year now, and they're pretty long and obvious. When I'm out in public, other individuals with dreadlocks will wave at me and say things like, "Irie Rasta!" "Braddah am rastafari, bless!" "Blessings rasta, go in am bim bum Zion!"

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Asante said:

Pub etiquette is apparently to insist that all Rastas are hateful anti white racists and therefore, despicable people.

I only met ONE truly racist Rastafarian, the rest I met were totally mellow, friendly welcoming people, and such are the experiences of several people in this thread.

Ofcourse they are not the "real" ones, oh no

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