Bob Marley would be disappointed - Legend’s son Julian adds voice to dreadlocks debate

Julian Marley, son of the late reggae icon Bob Marley, is the latest entertainer to lash out against the Supreme Court following last Friday's ruling that the rights of a girl barred from school because of her dreadlocked hair were not infringed upon.

The case, which has gained local and international attention, has been the subject of much conversation as the ruling has been dubbed a travesty and an obvious setback for a nation that will be celebrating 58 years of Independence tomorrow.

Disgrace

Marley told THE STAR that for all the contributions Rastas have made to the advancement of the country, the court's ruling is nothing short of a 'disgrace'.

"I think it's a very big disgrace to see that Jamaica could really make a decision like that and make the whole world hear. Locs is one of the most fundamental cultural traditions in Jamaica. We make the whole world know about Jamaica through locs and the Rasta culture, and to know that they are discriminating against a spiritual order is a very big disgrace. Laws need to be changed and they need to be changed quickly. We can't still be following laws that were made in the 1930s. We are in 2020, people," he said.

He said his father, a man who would often speak out against injustices, would be utterly disappointed if he were alive to bear witness. He felt his dad would be questioning the country's advancement.

"Are we going backwards or are we going forward? You selling out your people or what? Blackness is blackness and we have to accept all aspects of that. Our hair is our African heritage and you can't beat that down and then say you embrace black people," he said.

Marley said the culture must be accepted and taught in schools to children.

"Why we don't teach about the locs instead of trying to take out the locs out of schools? We need to teach this generation and the one coming up the whole history behind Rasta and the locs. We don't know the full history of our own history so right now we need to educate ourselves and nurture who we are because if we don't, nobody will," he said.