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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

I&I Turn Not from it to the Right Hand or to the Left

“But I neither go right nor left. I go straight ahead. I neither can unite P.N.P. nor J.L.P. The two organizations set up to fight against one another. This is why it is called politics. But we don’t business with politics. We the black people have a root. We are not talking about JLP or PNP. We are talking about our real heritage. We are talking about Rasta.”
Interview with Basil Wilson, 1978
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

I&I Prophet

Let I&I celebrate on 6th day of February the great prophet of our time, King of Regal music, still the greatest Rasta musician of all times, first foundational prophetical reference for I&I in music:
1) Historical archetype of all the spiritual and prophetical rasta singers.
2) Coming from the coldest ghetto of hardships into the highest glory and power.
3) Perfectly orthodox and clear in His teaching and with no unnecessary words of intellectual vanity.
4) Perfect example of musician within the proper space and limits of his role.
5) Perfectly humble, who has never conceived any self-glorification or self attribution of titles or names.
6) Active social servant of his people welfare, and shot by the wicked with bullets because of that.
7) Unsurpassable example of popular success and musical quality, expressed by the richest and technically greatest musical band ever, and within the short span of time of 37 years. We have never seen him falling down in quality or inspiration.
8 ) Focused on real Ethiopia and Shashamane community, that he has visited during Menghistu oppression with high personal risk.
9) Servant of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, baptized just before his death on 4th November, and then passing to the divine judgment without sins, like a child.
10) Receiving the glorious Ge’ez name of Berhane Selassie ብርሃነ ፡ሥላሴ ። (Light of the Trinity), as seal of his revealing role, not by debatable personal choice but through the official authority of the Most High.
11) Receiving the solomonic ring of His Majesty, by hands of the Royal Family.
12) Loved and Revered in Ethiopia more than any other, with an Ethiopian monument to testify that.
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

The 12 Tribes are the Original Astrological Signs

O’BRIEN: “Do you believe in astrology, Bob?”

MARLEY: “No Rasta! I believe in the 12 tribes of Israel, which them change and call astrology. Astrology is up there. And then say God is up there. Seen? But where them get astrology from, and the ideas of astrology is from the 12 tribes of Israel, which every man have by tendency. Not by Roman god, but by the sons of Jacob. So man find him root. Cause plenty people say I’m Aquarius—a Roman god—but you check Jacob’s 12 sons and you find the tendencies.”

Bob Marley, Interview with Glenn O’Brien, 1978

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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

Emancipate Your Self

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
none but ourselves can free our mind”
Berhane Selassie, “Redemption Song”
“We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, for though others may free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind.”
Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

Rasta Burden is the Heaviest

Every man thinketh
his burden is the heaviest (heaviest).
Every man thinketh
his burden is the heaviest (heaviest).
Ya still mean it: Who feels it knows it, Lord;
Berhane Selassie, “Running Away”.
“Each generation thinks that the situation it faces is the most serious one, the most difficult among those which were faced by generations of the past. However this may be true today, I believe, when we say the task of this generation is burdensome, we mean it.”
Qedamawi Haile Selassie, Selected Speeches p. 153
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

Blackheart not Blockheart

“I see a white system, a system I call Rome that we must overcome. I stand for the black, spelled b-l-a-c-k, not b-l-o-c-k, which means to block, but black, which is right. Anyone who accepts Selassie I in his heart is black. I don’t see white skin or black skin.”
Berhane Selassie
Interview with Lee O’Neill, Boston 1980
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

Rasta from Creation

“So we ah just Rasta from creation, you know? It’s not an easy thing to explain. We’ve got educated standards and we still have people who can’t do it. But me ah common sense man, that mean when we explain things we explain it very, very simple way that me explain to a baby. The baby’ll understand too, you know? So we ah say now, like the Bible. The Bible say, God say he shall return as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, The Conqueror, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and him shall come in a new name. And his new name shall be dreadful among the heathen.
Interview with Dylan Taite, New Zealand 1979
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

Christ comes from Judah

“Well, you know, we teach those things-things like, try to tell the people that we must look forward to Africa because we’re going to have problems in the west. Because of the Bible, you know, we read the Bible, it teaches us that when we see certain things happening, know that these things will happen, and prepare for that. Like how we identified Christ, in his advent as Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie the First. Because the Bible points us that before the closing of the two thousand years, Christ must reveal again, return to earth, as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, and him shall be earthright ruler. Because Judah is the lawgiver, that’s what the Bible says. Him shall thy brethren praise. You set yourself apart from Judah and the lawgiver between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall gather the people we. So Judah now come to gather the people, the descendents of that tribe, the ruler, the Messiah must come. “
Bob Marley, Interview with Anita Waters, September 18, 1980
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Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley)

A Physical Exodus to Zion

Mumia : “Brother, what’s the significance of the song, Exodus?”
Marley : “Exodus means coming together…the movement of Afrika, of Black people. Exodus from Babylon, we’re in Babylon, and then a physical exodus to Home. But what we really a say is dat, we waan Black people to unite, with one another, Seen? Now, the only way we can unite is to deal wit truth…the truth is that King Solomon and King David is the root and if we gonna deal with roots, we hafta deal from King Solomon and King David time, Lion of Tribe of Judah, ya know? So, this is what I and I say: time for unity! Cause we’s a people, we have something…and we have to deal with it, seen?”
Bob Marley, Interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal, Philadelphia 1979