Not all hope is lost. I am not the first to declare that reggae music etc as a vehicle of Black cultural expression need to be reviewed. Nyahbinghi Patriarch the late Ras Boarneges has spoken about this, as have some of the other leaders.

When I came to know of Rastafari- it was through Revealation of His Imperial Majesty and Bible study- I naturally sought the company of other Rastafarians. The first was a concert to mark His Imperial Majesty's birthday. The debauchery that went on there shocked me, it made me see why most Zimbabwean parents would react to a child announcing that he/she was now Rastafarian the same way as they would to one "coming out".

Since then, all I have seen in the Rastafarian community is more reggae music, more sexual abuse of the few girls that venture to join the movement, more school-drop outs, more gangsterism, more of everything that we really don't need as Rastafarians. I've seen more "conscious" people who really don't know anything, except the best rizzla substitute and the latest patois catchphrase.

For the Rastafari message to spread would entail the creation of authentic Rastafarian media. By Rastafarian media, I don't mean some nice catchy label with a Star-of-David or menorah or ankh logo but is still distributed by Time/Warner/AOL.

The truth is, we have the power, as the record buying public. If a minority- the gays and lesbians of Euro-America could give reggae singers their marching orders, how hard is it for us to turn around and say, "Look, pal, you got great songs, but we think you are the wrong person to be singing them as you really don't care about Black people so how about you just shut your mouth now?"

I read somewhere that MTV did not like to feature Black artistes, and only started doing so when Michael Jackson and Prince came on the scene. Jacko's certainly mindful of the racism in the music business. That's why he tried to make himself look more acceptable to the system. He sang once "Jew me, sue me". Yet, when he had the money to do so, what changes did he make to ensure that Black artistes would have a real voice in the industry? What did he actually do for Africa?

It's all song and dance for Black people. Is this what the prophet Yeshayahu meant by "careless Ethiopians?"