As a minority, we are well aware of hate directed toward us. Many of us grew up experiencing it from our schools, classmates, faith communities, and even our families. We recognize it every time it rears it ugly little head.
We are aware of queer-directed hatred from individuals like the Supposedly Reverend Fred Phelps and his odious GodHatesFags.com website. We know neo-Nazi skinheads loathe us and have a philosophy of hate towards us just as they have a philosophy of hate towards Jews, people of colour, Catholics, and Aboriginals. We know that certain conservative "Christian" groups have an agenda that is really nothing more than thinly disguised hatred of who we are and what, they believe, we do with each other. We know there are various unaffiliated wing nuts out there that simply hate and direct that hate at anybody and anything that is not like them.
In recent years steps have been taken to better ensure that such hatred cannot, legally, be perpetuated against us. We have had hate crime protection for a while and, more recently, had ‘sexual orientation’ included in Sections 318 & 319 of the Criminal Code, prohibiting hate propaganda and the incitement of hatred against us.
Recently, though, a new medium of homo-hate has manifested itself. No, it’s not the bizarre conspiracy theories of Phelps or the Neo-Nazi skinheads. It’s not poorly written and badly spelled tracts being put under car windshields. It’s not even white supremacist hate music or some of the edgier hip-hop. It’s the music of Jamaica -- dancehall reggae.
Reggae, the peace, love, and ganja music of Bob Marley and Rastafarians, has apparently undergone a bit of a tweaking. Artists like Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, T.O.K., Sizzla, and Capleton are not just singing about love in the sunny climes of Kingston and extolling the philosophies of Rasta, but about how they hate fags, who they call "battybwoys" and "chi-chi men", and calling on their legions of fans to burn, beat, and kill gays.
In a recent interview with Richard Burnett, who produces an on-line newsmagazine called Hour and does a column entitled Three Dollar Bill, ultra-orthodox Boboshanti Rastafarian, Sizzla, was quoted as saying:
"We won’t tolerate homosexuals, we won’t tolerate lesbians. Lesbians and faggots, how did they came? They came through man and woman, mother and father, the Guardians of Life. [We] won’t stop [singing anti-gay lyrics] because the people won’t stop, because it [anti-gay sentiment] is a tradition. We must keep the covenant of the Most High and give thanks and praise."
And, apparently, keep on advocating the murder of homosexuals.
In another interview he stated:
"Once we stoop to sodomites and homosexuals...it is wrong! Wherever I go it is the same thing – burn sodomite, burn battyman. Burn all things that are wrong. Burn it...We must get rid of Sodom and Gomorrah right now..."
His lyrics in "Pump Up" are pretty clear:
"...kill dem, battybwoys haffi dead, guns shots pon dem. Who wants to see dem dead put up his hand..."
Nice.
Sizzla, and his fellow Boboshanti Rastafarian, Capelton, argue such lyrics are representative of their Jamaican and Rastafarian culture. Many of their songs have "burn lyrics", calling for the literal torching of all the symbols of Babylon.
Another dancehall reggae artist, Buju Banton, released Boom Bye Bye in 1992 in which he called for the gunning down of "battybwoys" with Uzis. Buju Banton is also wanted in connection to an attack on four gay Jamaican men in their home. An independent witness identified Baton as a member of the gang who broke in, attacked the men, and in the process broke one man’s arm.
T.O.K., in their song Chi Chi Man, sing "Blaze di fire mek we bun dem!" After singing this at Montreal’s International Reggae Festival this past summer, the organizers, Zone1 Entertainment, cancelled future contracts.
Beenie Man, who did a duet with Janet Jackson and Lil Kim on his 2002 album Tropical Storm, sings in his song Damn, "I’m dreamin’ of a new Jamaica/Come to execute all de gays."
It would seem clear that GLBT rights organizations would stand up and demand such hate be stopped. And many have, from Outrage! in the UK to EGALE in Canada. Yet there are also voices being raised from within the community in defence of Sizzla and his fellow artists.
Others, while deploring the lyrics, are advocating for a more measured response, believing that there is a danger any reaction or response from groups such as Egale, for instance, will be seen within the queers of colour communities as the reaction of a predominately white organization against a black Jamaican reggae artist.
Those advocating a more measured response are also calling for some sort of consultation with black community leaders and input from black gay men and lesbians and other queers of colour. Fair enough, although such consultations and bridge building take years.
Among those who are defending Sizzla, Butu Banton, Capelton, et al the general thrust seems to be that it is white gay men, operating from a position of relative privilege, who are the most vocal opponents of the music and its lyrics. The argument continues that such opposition is rooted in the very colonialism Sizzla and the others are reacting against. In the view of these artists, homosexuality is a carry over from the days of slavery and British imperialism; that is why they wish to destroy homosexuality and homosexuals.
I don’t know if the reaction to the lyrics is racially-based. I have thought long and hard about this, trying to be sure I was not engaging in post-colonial oppression and operating from the privilege of being a white, North American, gay man.
I have come to the conclusion that no – I am reacting to a conscious advocating of hate directed towards me and my gay brothers and lesbian sisters. These artists call for us to be beaten, burned alive, shot in the head, and killed. How is that different than similar lyrics in white supremacist music? It isn’t.
It is hate. It is hate propaganda. It is calling for genocide against the gay community. And that is a Criminal Code offence in Canada.
Sizzla was to perform in Montreal on August 27. Egale called for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Judy Sgro, to disallow Sizzla (born Miguel Collins) from entering Canada. However, since he had no criminal record in either Canada or Jamaica the Minister’s Office was not able to prevent his entry.
Various groups called for a boycott of Zone1 Entertainment, Sizzla, concert promoters and also the organizers of Montreal’s International Reggae Festival. In an attempt to head off such a devastating public relations – not to say financial – blow, Sizzla agreed to sign a waiver with the Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica and Zone1 Entertainment in which he agreed to not engage in or advocate hatred based on sexual orientation.
Despite signing the waiver and promising he would not perform his anti-gay songs at his Montreal concert, Sizzla made a point of performing them – much to the crowd’s delight.
Ironically, Sizzla was also a guest speaker at the "Youth Against Violence" rally held in Toronto on August 25 in the racially mixed Jane and Finch neighbourhood, which has seen a recent increase in violent incidents.
Is it racist to stand up and demand an end to homophobic, and genocidal, lyrics?
Is it post-colonialism to criticize the culture of anti-gay hatred that permeates Jamaica, a culture that results in not just harassment of gay men and lesbians, but in them being beaten, burned, and butchered to death? Black gay men and lesbians, by the way, not just ‘privileged’ white gay Jamaicans.
Should arguments that imply those opposing such hate are arguing from an ethnocentric perspective, and trying to impose white, middleclass, North American values on developing nations, silence such opposition?
It is a difficult area, fraught with social and political minefields. Absolutely, groups like Egale should build coalitions with anti-racism groups and queers of colour – and is doing so.
Because the majority of individuals involved with such groups tend to be white and middleclass (but not all), I do not believe this should mean that they cannot speak out against hate directed towards our communities, simply because the artist promoting hate is a black man.
Hate doesn’t know colour; it just hates that which it does not understand.
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Contributor Stephen Lock |
Topic Politics |
