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Who would have thought that a mini interview with Buju Banton in San Francisco in 2003 would put us deep in discussions with Gay Rights activist Peter Tatchell of London's based OUTRAGE or Germany's gay rights group LSVD? The year was 1999 and the Maritime Hall was the most consistent spot for reggae in the San Francisco bay area. It was my first time seeing Buju Banton live and also the first time that Complex and I would be in the same event. Though we did not know each other, I vaguely remember a crew of Caribbean folks with flags waving up under the front of the stage. Ingrained in my memory is also the scary crowd response when Buju's Boom Bye Bye song began to play. Since undergrad I refused to dance to it and would walk off the floor and leave an American partner a little puzzled as they did not understand the lyrics. Some people use this argument that folks don't even understand the lyrics to somehow make them acceptable. So, there I was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco in 2003 up under the stage listening to Buju and equipped with a recorder and questions for an interview. The interview became a mini interview after I asked about Boom Bye Bye. I thought it was a fair question given I heard it play that night in 2003 and made some reference to that at the bottom of my interview in our newsletter. Fast forward to Summer 2004 and the latest in reggae news is that Beenie Man's performance at the MTV music awards was cancelled and Salem sponsored concerts in the US dropped. His homophobic lyrics incite violence. The same Beenie Man who in 2002 during his Tropical Storm tour in San Francisco spoke about the diverse nature of people's lifestlyes and the need to accept that as a part of life. Websites like afiwi.com started discussion boards which, according to the webmaster were to provide a forum for people to voice their opinions on the issue without any censorship and hopefully open the door for healthy discussions to begin. Though the responses were diverse, many are ten times more offensive than the lyrics in the songs. There began many heated arguments on the issue then came an email from Germany: "In Germany in recent weeks there has been a lively discussion about Buju Banton as he prepared for a tour of German cities and festivals. The question of whether he has performed “Boom Bye Bye” in recent years has played a big part in this. LSVD, the German gay rights group, made reference in its campaign on Buju Banton to your mini interview and report in Jouvay in February 2004 on a concert of Buju Banton in San Francisco in 2003 where he performed “Boom Bye Bye”.http://www.jouvay.com/NewsletterFebruary2004.html In a meeting last Sunday in Bremen before his concert at the “Modernes” venue (attended by the management of Modernes, promoters involved with Reggare concerts in Germany and the Bremen gay group Rat & Tat) Buju Banton claimed that he has not performed “Boom Bye Bye” in many years. You can find two written reports on the meeting at the discussion board of “Modernes”. He says, “I am confronted with a song I barely remember, since I have not sung it in years.” Buju Banton stated in the conversation, that he has not played the song in years – specifically also not in Jamaica. So in fact Buju Banton is claiming in Germany that your article from February 2004 is factually wrong. We would be very interested to get your response on Buju Banton’s statements." My reply: "Whilst I cannot remember exactly what he says I do know that the song was alluded to at both shows. It starts, the crowd (unfortunately) gets very hyped and then he "pulls up". He may not have sung the song in its entirety in years might be a more accurate statement from him. There is a very big discussion on the banning of Buju and Beenie Man from major concerts in the world because of gay/rights activist groups. What worries me is that actual laws that can make a change in gay/lesbian rights in Jamaica, where these singers live and grow, are not in place. And one must question whether trying to silence the island's most famous singers is the way to go without a parallel attack on the law makers.There's much discontent over the banning of Beenie Man from an MTV concert when the network stood behind Eminem." Then comes an email from London's OUTRAGE!: "I understand from Philiip Braun of LSVD that you have some concerns re the Stop Murder Music campaign against Beenie Man and other "kill gays" reggae artists: First, we have in the past organised similer huge campaigns against white artists, such as Guns n Roses, Marky Mark and Eminem. The fact that MTV did not pull Eminem is no excuse for Beenie Man. They should have pulled Eminem and we urged them to do so. Second, this Stop Murder Music campaign is the only way to open up the debate about gay law reform in Jamaica. Ten years of quiet lobbying has failed totally. But this current campaign is beginning to open up that debate at last. I hope this reassures you.... According the Jamaican press (Jamaica Observer, 9 August), Buju Banton performed Boom Bye Bye at a concert in Negril, Jamaica, on 8 August. He re-released it on his Greatest Hits album too. Even today, he still gets royalties from his incitements to murder LGBTs. He has ignored all pleas to desist for 10 years!! Our campaign has the full backing of the Jamaican LGBT movement, J-Flag, and British black LGBT activists." In the midst of all of this, the Jamaica Gleaner publishes on September 6th, 2004 the following letter to the Editor (I had sent a very different sounding letter into them that same time which never got published): "NO ONE seems to be looking at the bigger picture as it relates to homosexuality here in Jamaica. Not too long ago, the disease called homosexuality was just concentrated in a small group of our people. Not so today, as it would seem that homosexuality has claimed victory over the greater number of our people.This is a crisis time. In the same way we have tackled other diseases, like malaria, polio and many other less harmful diseases, we must now pay special attention to the scenario of this one. A lot of groups around the world, including Amnesty International have come in defence of people suffering from this immoral behaviour pattern. Now, I would love to see similar groups speak out strongly against homosexuality.Is our society gone blind? Why is no one speaking about the thousands of people like myself who suffer at the hands of these immoral people? How many are there like myself who have been asked to relinquish their jobs even though they are performing remarkably well because they refuse to have any part of this immoral intrinsic evil? Today, it now calls for prayer, strong prayer from those of us who are faithful to Christianity, so I am recommending that we come together in our communities and learn to use the most powerful tool to fight evil, the Holy Rosary and let's begin the process of exorcism to save our brothers and sisters, our mother and fathers, our friends, our neighbours, our nation and the wider world. BROTHER DOUGLAS Living Image (CCR) Ministry." Letters like those reflect the nature of the problem in Jamaica, where many people stand by the "bible" in their views on homosexuality. One may wonder how such a god fearing population could boast the second highest murder rate in the world! Despite my beliefs that Jamaican artists in the international arena need to be hip to the laws and public awareness of the people outside of Jamaica, I had some issues with the way in which they were so easily being silenced. Articles were popping up all over the international press. The Economist published an article entitled "Homophobic reggae music comes to Britain." In it the author states, "Jamaica is now exporting a new batch of reggae singers who sing some songs whose lyrics feature violent attacks on gay people. Two of them, Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel, have been shortlisted for the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 30th. According to the BPI, a record-industry trade association, reggae increased its market share from 0.7% of the albums sold in Britain in 2002 to 1.5% last year. With this interest has come greater scrutiny of the lyrics. While many of the words are sung in a Jamaican patois that sounds inoffensive to the uninitiated, websites now offer translations of songs like “We Nuh Like Gay” by Elephant Man or “Boom Boom Bye Bye” by Buju Banton, which threatens gay men with a “gunshot in ah head”. These songs raise fewer eyebrows in Jamaica, where homosexuality is illegal, but have led to protests and cancelled concerts from Miami to Berlin. American rappers may already be showing the way. Eminem, a rapper from Detroit, responded to similar criticism by toning down the homophobia in his songs, according to Glennda Testone of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in America. He then went one better by performing a duet with Elton John, a gay singer." And yet another letter to OUTRAGE!: Peter, Kudos to you and your support group. In a little more than a month not only have concerts been cancelled, but Beenie Man and Outrage have appeared in Time Magazine, The Economist, The Miami Herald, and Toronto Star to name a few. CARICOM should hire you for no issue in the Caribbean creates such a consistent stir in the news over here. You already know that I don't agree with any anti gay lyrics that these guys sing, but you also know that I think this campaign is disturbingly silent on its racial implications. I think that the airing of this issue is needed, but one must ask why mainstream media is so quick to call out the Jamaican "Deejay", yardie, black dancehall singer as the proponent of violence. Is the Economist supporting your campaign though they still write profusely about President Bush and wayward poltics wrt gay and lesbian rights in the States. Or is it just easier for them to add to that stereotype of black men? The police who arrested Beenie Man on his arrival in London are likely the same ones who harass black men in London. They surely don't arrest the Pinochets or Bush on arrival in London for an investigation on their contribution to the murder of folk. You need to question why it is so easy for a promoter to drop a black reggae artist versus someone like Eminem. I must ask why you are not once again going after Eminem who performed at the Grammy's and who I don't think recalled his old CDs and donated money to a Gay or Lesbian charity, something that you are asking Beenie to do. You wrote, "We lobbied against Eminem's nomination for Brit and Grammy Awards. We also tried to get his invitation revoked and urged people to boycott his records. But the eight reggae singers are qualitatively different from Eminem. Their incitements to murder are much more explicit, frequent and repeated. They are directly related to a society where gays and lesbians are routinely murdered and where gay-bash victims have no legal protection. That makes them far more serious and threatening to LGBT people." I would argue that that is not true if one looks at cases like Matthew Shepard or the more recent statements by President Bush on Gay and Lesbian marriages which are being outlawed in California. Homophobia is just as pressing in the Empire. What I find disturbing is the lack of depth that
these articles give to the issue and all seem to support your campaign
without asking the bigger questions: what dialogue are you opening and
with whom, and where? You're targeting entertainers whom you and yours
have probably never seen perform on a Wednesday night at Passa Passa
or at any venue in London. I say this because Phillip used an article
I wrote to suggest that Buju still performs Boom Bye Bye which suggests
he'd never seen the bloke live. I guess Beenie is being targeted because
he's got a big contract with Virgin, but again I must stress that you're
targeting the wrong guy. Ever seen him live? I have. And he talked about
homosexuality during his show. He stressed that people must live and
let live. That was in San Francisco during his Tropical Storm tour.
Maybe you can get the video. It would be nice if your media folks could
do a more complete review of the issue so people get an idea of the
society these artists come from. Maybe then your targets will expand
to include British companies with investments from Jamaica? I know that
living in the States is very different from living in Jamaica and that
the groups who called for help (JFLAG and JAS) live in a society that
boasts the second highest murder rate in the world and is brutal to
gay and lesbians and probably say, "whatever it fucking takes to
end this crap." The question is how do you address that immediate
need without taking advantage of the obvious racial disparities that
exist in the North and Europe so that black folk don't see your campaign
as biased? Or if you do take advantage of that racial disparity which
makes it easy for mainstream media to cover this issue and once again
portray the black jamaican yardie as violent, how do you open your campaign
so that it includes once again Eminem? Peter's response: Sorry, Beenie Man is no angel. Just last month at a concert in Philadelphia he made a statement from the stage lumping gay men togther with child sex abusers. On 22 August in Jamaica he told his audience that he had never apologised and to prove it he performed several of his "kill gays" tracks, stirring the crowd into a frenzy of homophobic hatred. I do not understand why you constantly require us to defend, explain and justify fighting injustice and persecution. OutRage! is a small group of unpaid volunteers, working 18 to 20 hours a day seven days a week on this campaign. We are all suffering from severe mental and physical exhaustion, caused by the long hours and other stresses and strains of the campaign. I am being attacked in the media, assaulted in the street and the police fear that a hit-man may be sent to kill me. We need support, and action from you to help us defend LGBT Jamaicans. You rightly have issues with some of the media reporting, which could be broader and deeper. Well, that is not our responsibility. Take up your concerns with the reporters. They are to blame. I am sorry, we cannot cope with doing more. I hope you understand. |
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