The fact is that Jamaica is a democracy in which lawmakers are voted in by the electoral process.

The fact is that there is discrimination in the ongoing affairs of the Jamaican society against certain groups like the Rastafarians, groups like the poor, groups like dark-skinned people. I say dark-skinned people face discrimination because of the prominence of bleaching in the society.

The laws that are enacted should be such that the proof necessary to charge companies and employers for these crimes against humanity include witnesses, cellphone video and recorded phone calls. If this does not happen soon, there is eventually to be the possibility of such a backlash of revolt and insurgence as these crimes are at the seat of the injustice that creates poverty, crime, selfishness, wickedness, and a general lack of trust in the established order of society.

A demonstrated example of this type of personal bias and prejudice occurred recently. A man was fired from his job because of wearing locks. This made the news. What about those countless cases of discrimination against people who wear locks and have beard, whether they are Rastafarian or not?

The Jamaican Constitution guarantees freedom of thought and freedom of religion and the Rastafarian religion is a legal religion in Jamaica. The incorporation by the Jamaica Parliament of the Church of Haile Selassie I ensures that in perpetuity. Also the Supreme Court case of 2003 from which Rastafarian inmates in prison gained the right to be visited by chaplains from the Church of Haile Selassie I stands in perpetuity.

Rastafarianism certainly has been of benefit to the tourism sector of the Jamaican economy as Europeans and Americans flock to our shores to experience the homeland of Bob Marley and Rastafarianism.