Ras Sam Brown (16 December 1925 – August 1998) was a Jamaican
Rastafari
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...
elder.
About
He was well known in
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
for his politics after he participated in the elections of 1961 with his
Suffering People's Party
Ras Sam Brown (16 December 1925 – August 1998) was a Jamaican Rastafari elder.
About
He was well known in Kingston for his politics after he participated in the elections of 1961 with his Suffering People's Party. He received fewer than ...
. He received fewer than 100
vote
Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...
s. However, by being the first Rasta to ever stand for politics, his influence has been greater than this statistic suggests. At the time there was a generalised feeling in the Rastafarian faith that they do not vote.
Leonard E. Barrett includes an interview with Brown in his 1977 book ''The Rastafarians'' whom he describes as "one of the most complex personalities within the Rastafarian movement". Barrett also provides extracts from Brown's election campaign literature.
[Barrett, ''The Rastafarians'', Kingston & London: Sangsters/Heinemann, 1977.] Barrett refers to Brown's political party as the Black Man's Party rather than The Suffering People' Party, though he also quotes the party's position that all were free to join regardless of colour. Also included in his book is a photograph captioned "rare photograph of a Rastafarian political party symbol", depicting a group of Rastafarians (one of whom may be Brown) standing by a placard advertising Brown's campaign.
In 1996, Brown became a
roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...
singer and poet with an album called ''History, Past and Present''. He died while attending an international trade fair in
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
in 1998.
Works
He took advantage of his influence within the movement to give 21 principles to Rastafari which can be summarized in 10, as he himself said in Treatise on the Rastafarian Movement, Caribbean Studies 1966, Vol. 6,1:40 :
"The Rastafarian is he who bow the knee to God (Rastafari) alone. We are those who obey strict moral and divine laws, based on the Mosaic tenet:
(1) We strongly object to sharp implements used in the desecration of the figure of Man, e. g., trimming and shaving, tattooing of the skin, cuttings of the flesh.
(2) We are basically vegetarians, making scant use of certain animal flesh yet outlawing the use of swine's flesh in any form, shell fishes, scaleless fishes, snails, etc.
(3) We worship and observe no other God but Rastafari, outlawing all other forms of Pagan worship yet respecting all believers.
(4) We love and respect the brotherhood of mankind, yet our first love is to the sons of Ham.
(5) We disapprove and abhor utterly hate, jealousy, envy, deceit, guile, treachery, etc.
(6) We do not agree to the pleasures of present-day society and its modern evils.
(7) We are avowed to create a world order of one brotherhood.
(8 ) Our duty is to extend the hand of charity to any brother in distress, firstly for he is of the Rastafari order - secondly to any human, animals, plants, etc., likewise.
(9) We do adhere to the ancient laws of Ethiopia.
(10) Thou shall give no thought to the aid, titles and possessions that the enemy in his fear may seek to bestow on you; resolution to your purpose is the love of Rastafari."
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References
Jamaican Rastafarians
20th-century Jamaican politicians
1925 births
1998 deaths
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