Much of the ‘hip hop’ played on the radio stations popular with teens today contains lyrics that are overtly racist and misogynist. A few courageous djs refuse to play this type of hip-hop, i.e., Davey-D. The consequences ~ they’ve been removed from the air on commercial stations…

Parents ~ please pay attention to what your teens are listening to. Although the culture at large mocks this, it is ok to exercise parental discretion Also, inform the stations that you will not patronize their advertisers.

Your comment about sexual business being expected to be private would apply as much in the US and Canada as it would in Jamaica, the issue is that what’s considered sexual is subject to a massive double standard when sexual orientation is concerned. Holding hands in public, kissing your partner in public, and publically admitting that you are in love. Should heterosexuals as well as homosexuals avoid doing these things in public?

The Jamaican government and the Jamaican people do not share your belief that people should be allowed to love the people they love… even in private. In Jamaica, publically admitting that you’ve engaged in consensual sex with another male IS a crime sufficient to send someone to the prisons you mentioned as a deterrent for homophobic murder, and actually admitting to or being caught in said sexual activity is very rarely required for an arrest.

These prisons as a deterrent for violence? Not so much. Not only does the country have an extremely high rate of homicide to begin with, LGBT Jamaicans, real or suspected, are regularly beaten, verbally abused, blackmailed, and stolen from BY the police. It’s somewhat difficult to complain about being assaulted, driven from your home (where one normally engages in private sexual business), raped or threatened when the police will, at best, ignore the complaint. At worse, the victims end up facing criminal charges themselves.

Is it cultural imperialism to try to stop this murder? That’s one interpretation, though I have little respect for governments or societies which attempt to shield themselves for criticism of any sort of violence or human rights abuse by claiming that they have cultural reasons to rape, murder, assault, imprison, or vilify people for being born the wrong way. On the other hand, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is an American organization, so maybe by your logic it’s still justified in imposing its own cultural standards when it comes to recognizing musicians anyway.

Also, refugee status is a new and easier way for Jamaicans who don’t fear losing face to leave an island that is ripe with unemployment. Not many claims have been sucessful, usually due to lack of evidence that they were ever considered to be gay in Jamaica and due to lack of evidence of any threat, greater than lyrics of dancehall music.

Nobody is claiming he doesn’t have the right to say these things, they’re condemning an organization for rewarding his music despite the horrific contents of some of his ‘art’. The right to criticise people like this is also protected under free speech, not that this seems to matter to those on the right (and often too those on the left) when they’re being criticised for things that they’ve said, although I find the left is less likely to cry ‘but I have freedom of speech’ when they get criticised.

Please think of what you’re saying. You are making the argument that because you think gay sex is wrong, it is perfectly moral to kill people for doing it, and wrong to criticise people who advocate murder based on sexual orientation. The gay agenda, as you call it, is to be able to live our lives with the people we love, just as heterosexuals do, without being murdered, raped, beaten, shouted at, fired, jailed, and denied our rights. We do have an agenda, and our agenda is equality.

Some people will never want to extend us that equality, for their own reasons, and it’s their right to harbour their hatred or disgust. Committing acts of violence against us, or anyone else, and advocating murder based on hatred is much less acceptable. I’d be extremely surprised if you’d make an appeal to cultural relativism where murder is concerned were it more than a couple other equally reviled groups in question.

Actually, I’m not that sure they really ever were all that concerned about the music either. When a song about being a streetwalker beats out Warren Zevon’s great goodbye for best song, you realize that taste had little to do with this process ever anyway.

I am appalled this man won any awards at all. What kind of message does this send? Especially to vulnerable LGBT youth looking for acceptance and to the World’s youth in general. The message I’d imagine they are hearing is “being gay is bad and gay people deserve injury and death, and it is okay to target, beat up and kill gays.”

That isn’t a good message, is it? And it seems the Grammys have just put their stamp of approval on it. Shame on them!

Several other Rastafarian artistes have written and performed “kill LGBT” songs, including Capleton and Sizzla. The Rastas still believe in the old testament of the bible and specifically believe in Leviticus 20:13, which calls for gays to be killed. (They tend to ignore Leviticus 20:10, which calls for adulterers and adulteresses to be killed.)

Buju Banton claims that he has “moved on.” He signed a Reggae Compassionate Act agreement in 2007, promising not to promote hatred and violence. He soon denied signing the agreement (a copy of his signed agreement is online) and also soon violated the agreement.

Buju Banton has never distanced himself from the “kill LGBT” message of “Boom Bye Bye.” He has not “moved on.”

Now the right wingnuts have ruined reggae too. Everything they touch turns to crap.

My contention however is his refusal to disassociate and or withdraw the Boom Bye Bye song from the market as it still available. He says he is a changed person under Rastafari which is a faith that represents peace and love so in that faith he should renounce the song.

What u think about that?

H