Chamberlin suggests that the zionist legend of returning to Israel in Rastafarian myth may be the only true legend that came out of north american slavery. Reggae music came out of this story-song tradition, in roots reggae. It allows those singing to imagine a homeland:

“If I could reach the border, then I would step across
So please take me to the border, no matter what’s the cost
Cause I’m leaving it…
I’m leaving out to Babylon
I’m leaving out to Rome
I’m leaving out to Israel
This place could never be our home
Say, we wan, we wan go home
Say, we wan, we wan go home
Yes, we wan, we wan go home
Say, we wan, we wan go home
Where the milk and honey flow
Say, we wan, we wan go home
That’s where we want to go
Say, we wan, we wan go home
Africa, we want to go.”

– Gregory Isaacs, “Border” (GG’s Records, Jamaica: 1977).
It’s the idea behind “home”: the place where you belong – that is borrowed from the zionist homeland story. Chamberlin argues that Rastafarianism has acknowledged the connection between the holocaust of the 2nd World War, of slavery, and of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas (and other areas but for the sake of this class, we’ll stick to the Americas) more clearly than anyone else. This provides all people who feel displaced to relate to the idea of “home” being something to come back to again sometime in the future. The “myth/legend” provides something to imagine, home is an idea that everyone can relate to, and the hope within this legend is that one day reality will catch up to what they’re imagining (Chamberlin 84). This gives them the will to continue to fight or to stay sane in their struggle – stories keep us sane, says Chamberlin (85). Westerners (settlers, etc.) may not have many stories attached to the land they live on – ie, in the Americas. This makes me wonder if its because settlers were the colonizers, ie they didn’t or don’t have to deal with the same level of struggle that say, people sold as slaves had to deal with, or that Indigenous populations that were displaced by force had to deal with. One aspect of the reading that really spoke to me was when Chamberlin said that songs like “by the rivers of Babylon” bring back the dead and really, it haunts us. He says that one of the most difficult challenges we face today is the knowledge of the unspeakable horror that is the holocausts of past (or still occurring, or remnants of them) (Chamberlin 82). Rastafarian songs make this clear to us all – and they happen to be very popular, easy to absorb into popular culture.

This brought to my mind a group of Canadian Indigenous artists who incorporate hiphop, electronic and traditional singing and drumming into their music, and who are becoming very popular: A Tribe Called Red. One of their videos tells the story of how they collaborated with Black Bear (traditional drummer) to create the single “Stadium Pow Wow”. In the mini documentary, one of the members of ATCR alludes to the Hopi prophecy that one day all of the tribes of Turtle Island (the americas) will be connected through a giant spider web (read: the internet!). This group encourages storytelling from the people who are the story, not from outsiders – they encourage pride in Indigenous roots, and they are catching on quickly. I see this music/video as a powerful storytelling tool that combines old tradition with accessible modern day music through the internet – accessible for the youth, who need empowering role models they feel connected with.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, Edward. If this is your land, where are your stories? Finding Common Ground. Toronto: A.A. Knopf Canada, 2003. Print.

Isaacs, Gregory. Border. GG’s Records, Jamaica: 1977. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR2FJYdYt_w. 2 October 2016. Web.

Tribe Called Red. The Manawan Session. Youtube: 2016. www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0e4d1yt7x8. 1 October 2016. Web.

Tribe Called Red. Stadium Pow Wow. www.tribecalledred.com. 1 October 2016. Web.