Hommophobia inna dancehall style...

this all comes down to whether one believes homosexuality is a choice or part of our genes. (i believe the latter) obv the equals argt will never apply, but it becomes less problematic to conflate the two in terms of biology. culturally on the other hand...

i don't really know one way or the other and don't care much as both views have their pros and cons. the bottom line is that if it's genetic or a choice, people should have the right to conduct their lives freely and without discrimination. the notion that homosexuality is a sin, has little to do with the nature/nurture debate, it's more about a changing perceived notions of morality - obv when this morality is as heavily tied to religion as in this instance, you start to encounter serious problems...

I do think, though, that the huge rise in clubs/drugs have done a great deal in building bridges between the straight and gay communities.... there's a lot more people who would never have set foot in a gay club or spoken to a gay person before now regul,ars in many clubs I go to - drawn there by the great music and the hassle free atmosphere. And that's a good thing.

in this instance i think it would make comparatively little difference. but this whole issue is all about people judging one another and who is right/whi is wrong? i just find it horrendously condescending that people have kneejerk "homophobia = evil = end of debate" reactions when there is so much inetresting stuff to be discussed here: music, sociology, theology, history etc... that's why i love dancehall - for all its limitations, it's an incredibly rich vein to mine if you're of a mind to.

I think and inclusive society must also be a society in which there is time and space for reflection. When you think about the artificial divisions different groups construct between themselves and others, they really seem arbitrary and ridiculous. Where I live, in Montreal, I have the time and space to think about issues and to evaluate my positions and outlook regarding religion, race, homosexuality, feminism, etc. When I lived in Kingston, I found that a lot of this time and space was taken up by maintaining my level of personal safety. One particularly difficult day, after having been yealled at by dozens of people on the street (I was walking from a church to a bus stop), I called a friend and tried to explain just how hard it was for me to be in Kingston. Waking up every day I knew I'd be in for a challenge...I'd psych myself up if I wanted to go and buy a paper or if I had to leave campus.

One of my dread friends there talked to me about how much he wished he could sit down and write about his experiences. I said "Why not?" to which he responded "There's too much noise in my community." Read: I can't sleep because of shootings, I have to bleech (Jamaican for staying up late in order to make sure nothing out of order happens) all night, I have to make money to eke by, there is no time. Ghetto youth and dancehall performers talk often about how they feel "under pressure" (think Super Cat's wicked mid eighties tune). The pressure one feels in a garrison community (like Hope Tavern, August Town, Hermitage, Trenchtown, Seaview Gardens Grant's Pen, Waterhouse, Southside....i.e. the majority of communities in Kingston) removes the time and spcae necessary for reflective thought. Hell, when I first came back I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't have to feel uncomfortable walking around my parent's rural community. Fundamentalist belief and faith is, to me, a reaction to the intense pressure many Kingstonians find themselves under. It provides a sense of comfort and safety...perhaps the way to eliminate homophobia in dancehall (and in Jamaica--and perhaps other southern developing nations) is to slam liberal economic policies--the forces of globalization that have led to the incredible poverty and desperation in so many areas around the world.

Artist: Beenie Man
Song: "Thats Right"
Submitted By: Miss Kalunji
http://www.dancehallarea.com

Intro:
Zo, hey, zagga sing, hey, ziggy zagga zow!
Clap your hands to this, then get ready fi do all of it
Zagga zagga go na na na na na, all rudebwoy wave oonu hands up like this
Alright, cool

Chorus:
A from mi bun chi chi man and we go bun sodemite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when mi bun hypocrite and we mi bun parasite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when mi boom dung corruption wid a stick a dynamite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
Mi go a stage show a DJ and tune yah last night
And everybody bawl out seh that's right

Verse 1:
Cause when we bun chi chi man nuttin nuh wrong
And when we bun lesbian nuttin nuh wrong
Bun a borrow taste and a bite nuttin nuh wrong
Bun Susan from she a sleep wid Sharon
And from yuh know yuh straight let mi see your two hand
Cause yuh nuh mix up inna nuh bangarang
Straight and di narrow road a dat mi deh pon
That he gwaan one leap to destruction, sing this song

Chorus:
A from mi bun chi chi man and mi go bun sodemite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And we go bun hypocrite and we go bun parasite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when mi boom dung corruption wid a stick a dynamite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (Bun Wey!!!)
Mi go a stage show a DJ and tune yah last night
And everybody bawl out seh that's right

Verse 2:
So when mi put a fire pon a few and everybody bawl (That's Right)
Bun a sodemite and everybody bawl (That's Right)
Bun a parasite and everybody bawl (That's Right)
Bun a bwoy wey meet anotha man dung a (Stoplight)
Nuff bwoy sell out fi get a piece a di (Spotlight
Da people dem a bawl and a shout (That's not right)
Give mi one a dem gal rather flop all di (Hot type)
Day and night now mi gal a long time

Chorus:
Cau when mi bun chi chi man and mi go bun sodemite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And we go bun chi chi man and we go bun sodemite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when mi boom dung corruption wid a stick a dynamite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
Mi go a stage show a DJ and tune yah last night
And everybody bawl out seh that's right

Verse 3:
Mi bun a bwoy from wey a blow anotha man flute
Person ago nyam cherry and fruit
Caught drop pants inna club a him a don yute
And seh that him a bad that was untrue
A chi chi baboon and chi chi tranquil
Try to send mi court fi get a one suit
But dem waan march and protest discue
Words sound and power mi put dem pon mute
Beenie Man a talk di truth

Chorus:
A when we bun chi chi man and we go bun sodemite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when we bun hypocrite and we go bun parasite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (It's alright)
And when mi boom dung corruption wid a stick a dynamite
And everybody bawl out seh that's right (That's right)
Mi go a stage show a DJ and tune yah last night
And everybody bawl out seh that's right

This grabs at something I have often thought about in larger contexts as well, about how there is a space (or seen to be a space) for people to express or work through questions of reflection and self-study but that there is so much in the way of outside pressure, social stigmatization, stereotyping in general and so forth that can either prevent that space from flourishing or not let that space allowed to be seen for what it is. If I may draw a comparison (and I hope Dan doesn't mind what I'm doing here but I'm sure he agrees), both Dan and I in our teen years in particular were nerdy, had wacked out senses of humor, didn't really approach girls, lost ourselves in music and books and so forth. Thanks to America being what it is, I would have been seen as 'just another teen geek' or the like, but Dan in many peoples' eyes would have been seen first and foremost as an African-American teenager, while that essential part of his personality would either be secondary or simply not addressed at all in favor of limiting stereotypes -- a bit of Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison style) in miniature. Anyway, pardon my interruption and continue...

i don't think we should romanticize conscious roots music, even if we do prefer its lyrical content to that of contemporary dancehall. first of all, conscious music has always struck me as a species of gospel music (even if it rejects Christ etc., the lyrical fixations and overall form owes much to Christian music as The Harder They Come takes some pains to illustrate) and it shares with that genre a certain denseness and monomania when it comes to social commentary. The moralism common to gospel and conscious reggae easily shades over into denunciations of homosexuality--the particular violence with which this ideas is expressed in contemporary dancehall seems part and parcel of the violent quality of that music overall.

As for conscious reggae, I get tired of all the "back to Africa" obsessions (which continue to this day, albeit not making so many appearances on the charts), which begins to ring as hollow as Jews ritualistically saying "next year in Jerusalem" every passover. Now of course Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and others wrote songs of unusual clarity and incisiveness...and Burning Spear took the religious concerns of Rasta to a sublime, almost abstract plane of loose signifiers... but the majority of conscious reggae is hardly that inspired and if it weren't for the general brilliance of pop production/performance in Jamaica I don't think it would come across as all that profound/meaningful.

Amst surely "back to Africa" is *precisely* a ritualistic thing, a working through of Garveyism into rasta symbolism. 'Hollow' is maybe not the most helpful way to think about it.

I was listening to "Rod Of Correction" the other day. It's an allegorical (only in Jamaica!) PNP election song from the (?72) in which Michael Manley is set up as Joshua, beating Sodom and Gomorrah with his Rod of Correction. I always assume that in the 70s most of the corruption rhetoric was aimed at the West but it occurs to me that it's not far from identifying "Sodomites" as the corrupt forces in Jamica...

I remain fascinated by this and uncomfortable about it.

do these people proseletyse at all? i like this idea of kinda uber-flamboyant billy graham types laying on hands! flippancy aside what exactly do you mean mark?

Other point I find interesting is homophobia's relation to masculinity. I've always thought that hip hop is homophobic partly because subdued people try to overcome their situation by emphasizing their personal strength, and with men this often means accentuated masculinity, which can lead to homophobia (and misogyny). However, this probably doesn't apply to Jamaica per se, since homophobia has different connotations there than just emphasizing your manhood. Perhaps Cybele would have more to say on this.

But listen Mr Oxford don
I'm a man on de run
and a man on de run
is a dangerous one

I ent have no gun
i ent have no knife
but mugging de Queens English
is the story of my life

I don't need no axe
to split/ up yu syntax
I don't need no hammer
to mash/ up yu grammar

I warning you Mr. Oxford don
I'm a wanted man
and a wanted man
is a dangerous one.

Dem accuse me of assault
on de Oxford English Dictionary/
imagine a concise peaceful man like me/
dem want me to serve time
for inciting rhyme to riot
but I tekking it quiet
down here on Clapham Common

I'm not a violent man Mr Oxford Don
I only armed wit mih human breath
but human breath
is a dangerous weapon

So mek dem send one big word after me
I ent serving no jail sentence
I slashing suffix in self-defence
I bashing future wit present tense
and if necessary

I making de Queens English acessory/to my offence

anglo carribean poet john agard about patois

when hen sb says things like anti-homosexual sentiment itself is pretty much universal it denies the complexity and ambiguity of third gendered, differently gendered, same sex attracted, etc etc.

However, I strongly doubt homophobes notice the difference. Also, generalizations can be useful for educational purposes, so you can prove "homosexuality" has existed throughout the times and in different cultures, even though the term itself and it's current meaning were coined in the 19th century.

(i think i am probably arguing that at least some of the intensity of crackle between these communitities comes from LIKENESS and thus defensiveness, rather than UNlikeness and hostile puzzlement....)

mark, you are a star! i think you've hit the nail on the head yet again, but i'm going to try to distill this even further. i spent a lot of time in manchester a few years ago and spent much of that time in predominantly gay company. even as a straight man i found the pressure placed on gay people to conform to certain archetypes and toe a certain ideological line crushing, almost all-pervasive and vastly counter-productive. there's a whole nutha thread there but you've got to the root of something really important: that, homophobic or gay, the attitudes and beliefs being discussed here are both forms of orththodoxy...?

-- anthony easton (anthonyeasto...), July 8th, 2003.

read the post above yours again, that's what i was referring to... the connection is easier to understand particularly if you read right the way from the top of this thread's resurrection (if you have time). i've gone some way to trying to tease this out, cybele's gone a lot further. it's a bit involved, but it's back to that whole personification thing we were on about. the "chi-chi man" seems to represent a lot more than just being gay.

cybele will be able to tell you more about the actual existence of gay communities in jamaica as this is something i know very little about, however, as far as i know being visibly gay is not really an option for the majority on the island. the whole thing i find interesting is the fact that the vast majority of the hatred is not in fact aimed at gay people at all, merely using homophobic terminologies as catchwords for so much more

judging by the headline and strap (as based on my possibly inaccurate memory) this scene exists reasonably openly and is militantly determined to continue to enjoy itself despite whatever

however i think some dots now need joining by someone who knows what they're talking about!!

Chilling Call to Murder as Music Attacks Gays

Jamaican rights activist's death is officially said to be motivated by robbery, but campaigners point to pop-fueled homophobia

by Gary Younge in New York

In the heat of January in Jamaica 30,000 people came to the Rebel Salute concert in St. Elizabeth to hear some of the nation's most popular singers deliver a chilling call. With Capleton and Sizzla singing almost exclusively about gay men, the call went out from the stadium:

"Kill dem battybwoys haffi dead, gun shots pon dem ... who want to see dem dead put up his hand" (Kill them, the queers have to die, gun shots in their head ... put up your hand if you want to see them dead.)

Two weeks ago Jamaica's most prominent gay activist, Brian Williamson, was murdered at his home. Mr Williamson, a co-founder of Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), was found with multiple stab wounds to his neck and his face and his throat cut.

With his safe missing and his room ransacked, the police insist that it was a robbery and have one person in custody. Jamaica's gay activists and human rights campaigners are not so sure. They fear Mr Williamson could have been targeted because of his sexual orientation.

"Given the climate that exists in Jamaica there is high possibility that Brian's murder is a hate related crime and we don't want the police to rule that out," said a representative of J-FLAG, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals. Brian was one of the few people who felt comfortable enough to go public with his homosexuality."

Indeed, last May Mr Williamson wrote to the national newspaper, the Jamaica Observer, explaining: "We who are homosexuals are seen as 'the devil's own children' and passed by on the other side of the street or beaten to death by our fellow citizens."

The hatred has followed him to the grave. "We've had one or two well wishers from the straight community," said the J-FLAG representative. "But many more have said things like: 'This is what you get for sin' or 'we should get them one by one.'"

Human rights campaigners say that while the precise motive of Mr Williamson's killers may never be known, his death provides a timely opportunity for the government to address the problem. "We have called on the Jamaican authorities to use this time to make a public statement condemning homophobia and calling for people to respect the rights of lesbian and gay men," said Michael Heflin, of Amnesty International in the United States.

This is not likely to happen soon. From Buju Banton's Boom Boom Bye Bye, which threatened gay men with a "gunshot in ah head", to Beenie Man's "I'm a dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays", Jamaica's popular music scene is steeped in homophobia. Concern that his lyrics could incite violence against gays and activists led to the cancellation of a concert by Beenie Man in London earlier this week.

But songs are not the only place where homophobia is blatant. At a state level, article 76 of the nation's offences against the person act criminalizes the "abominable crime of buggery" with up to 10 years imprisonment, while article 79 punishes any act of physical intimacy between men in public or private with up to two years in jail and the possibility of hard labor.

A recent poll showed 96% of Jamaicans were opposed to any move to legalize homosexual relations. And while the police do not condone homophobic violence, they are often unsympathetic to the victims.

One man described to J-FLAG how six men blocked a road in order to beat up a local gay man. "The crowd stood around watching, chanting 'Battyman, battyman, battyman', before gathering around him as he lay on the sidewalk. The crowd punched and kicked him. They threw garbage on him, all the while shouting 'Battyman, battyman'. They then dragged him down the road for half a kilometer ... The crowd was saying 'Give him to us! Let us kill him! He's a battyman'."

At least five gay Jamaicans have successfully claimed asylum in Britain on grounds of homophobia. "I had to leave because of the pressure," said one 26-year-old Jamaican who settled in Britain in 2000 and asked to remain anonymous. "I had been beaten up and chased and the police would not help you. Once I went to hospital after I was badly beaten up and they refused to treat me."

Few can agree on the source of such homophobia. But most agree the church plays a crucial role. "Evangelical Christianity is very strong, and there is a prudishness and hypocrisy that comes with that," said a representative of J-FLAG. "They ignore the part that says don't have sex out of wedlock and focus on gays."

Others claim the sheer geographical size of islands in the Caribbean makes them more socially conservative. "So long as you are stuck living close to your family then you never really get the space to make the kind of choices about your life that will challenge the values and practices you've been brought up with," said Erin Greene, a member of the Rainbow Alliance of the nearby Bahamas.

The particularly violent expression homophobia has found in Jamaica, most agree, reflects a particularly violent society. In 2002 1,045 people were murdered, and according to Amnesty International, Jamaica has the highest number of police killings per capita in the world. In the national paper, the Daily Gleaner, the murder count is updated daily, between the weather forecast and the lottery numbers.

"The worst thing is when you see children of three or four singing songs about killing the Chi Chi [gay] man," said one J-FLAG representative. "They are learning from an early age that violence against gay people is acceptable."

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004