Research Institute for the Study of Man
The Earth Most Strangest Man: The Rastafarian by Mortimo Planno
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Recognition

The Ras Tafari cult is unique, but it is not seditious. Its adherents have, and should continue to have freedom to preach it. Their demand for freedom of movement is wholly justifiable.

The public should cease to believe that all Ras Tafari brethren conform to a stereotype.

Those Ras Tafarians who advertise themselves by wearing beards or the dreadlocks are shunned by the general public. They have difficulty obtaining work. In every part of the world, including Africa, people who insist on looking different from their fellow men tend to be persecuted by their fellow men. This is not a justification for persecution. The public should learn to recognise that religious people have a right to wear their hair long if they wish to do so.

Some teachers cut the hair of Ras Tafari children so the parents react by keeping the children away from school Some of these parents are asking for special shools for their children. There is a much simpler remedy: The Minister of Education should prohibit teachers from cutting the hair of children without their parent's permission.

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