Buju Banton and the Island of Hate

For the thousands of American tourists who flock to its pristine beaches, Jamaica is considered a tropical paradise.  To the country's gay and lesbian citizens it is, quite literally, hell on earth.

"There is no end to the war between me and faggots."  - Buju Banton
 
Jamaica is a small island nation controlled by conservative Christians and rabidly homophobic Rastafarians.  Political leaders there have passed some of the harshest anti-sodomy laws on the planet.   Same gender sex is punishable by ten-years in prison with hard labor.  In this climate of hate, bias crimes against LGBT individuals are rampant - and often deadly.  From LezGetReal:  Several prominent Jamaican gay activists have been murdered in the recent past; assaults and violence against gays in Jamaica are commonplace occurrences.  Gay-rights activists say Jamaican police are of little help, as they see gays more as criminals than victims and often overlook evidence in anti-gay hate crimes.  (It's worth noting that many island newspapers are also complicit in the gay bashing.  Their hate-filled editorials would make Sally Kern moist.)

Jamaica is the home of popular Reggae musician Buju Banton, whose song lyrics call for the murder of homosexuals.  And he's bringing his act to the USA. 

A few weeks ago, promoters for AEG Live and Live Nation disclosed that several of Banton's U.S. concerts had been cancelled.  At the time, mainstream media outlets erroneously reported that the entire tour was called off.  This information is wrong.  Banton will still be vocalizing his hate in more than thirty American cities - and making bags of money while doing it.  From IndyBay:  While concerts in San Francisco and LA were canceled, as of this writing the following California concerts are still on: Eureka (Oct. 11); Santa Clara (Oct. 13); and Salona Beach near San Diego (Oct. 17).  Bantu's MySpace Music page lists canceled shows as TBD, indicating he’s seeking out other venues.  In Philadelphia, the first city in the tour, the concert was initially canceled, but then the promoter and venue agreed to have the show anyway.  To counter the tour, San Diego gay rights activist Syd Stevens has launched a website that not only gives updated information about the tour and how to contact concert venues to protest, it also aims to counter myths peddled by Banton's business allies.  "I felt it was necessary to create a centralized information clearing house on the web, like we did for the nationwide anti-Prop 8 Day of Decision protests.  I want to empower local activists to post their letters, organize protests and boycotts and remain unified nationally.  Many people don’t know who Buju is.  Those who do likely know about his hate lyrics, but they don’t seem to know he was also involved in an armed assault on six gay men in Jamaica."  While a Jamaican court acquitted Banton of the attack, LGBT activists have a great degree of skepticism about the kind of justice that gay victims could get in a country notorious for its violent homophobia.   

You can visit the Cancel Buju Banton website to learn more about this homobigot.  And if you know someone who's planning a trip to Jamaica, ask them if they really want to support a state that treats its gay citizenry like human filth.

Spread the word.

Comments

[Bee Girl]

The media did give the impression that the whole tour was cancelled. Facebooking this... now.

[Amanda]

Wasn't he banned in England?

[SamK]

Please note that Buju Banton was NOT acquitted of the charges in that assault on six gay men in 2004 for which he was arrested. The charges were dropped by the judge so he was never tried on the matter and the evidence was never presented before a jury. One of the men who was assaulted lost his sight in one eye. For details, see this Time Magazine article http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1182991,00.html "The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?"

[Toki Omodiviera]

Hallo my name is toki omodiviera and i am trying to cotact Buju Banton about a song called "the ganjaman" i have put it on YOUTUBE nder "toki omodiviera" please can you who reads this massege give it over to mr Buju Banton. And if possible he could listen to it on youtube. thanks