Jamaica’s Criminalization of Locs Is Anti-Black
Locs are a signifier of Rastafarianism, whose believers have been persecuted by the government
When I first moved to Toronto, one of the identifiers people used to reference my homeland, Jamaica, was Bob Marley. They asked whether or not I knew his family or listened to reggae music. Bob Marley, as well as his Rastafarian religion, is a global signifier for Jamaican culture. It’s ironic that despite Marley being synonymous with “brand Jamaica,” locs are still criminalized.
On the eve of Emancipation Day, a weeklong celebration marking Jamaica’s independence from colonial rule, the Supreme Court of Jamaica ruled a seven-year-old girl’s school had the right to prevent her from attending because of her locs. Everyone who has locs isn’t Rastafarian (including the seven-year-old girl), but their persecution stems from the religion. Over 90% of Jamaica’s population is Black, but the island still has many remnants of slavery and racism. The politics of hair runs deeper than aesthetics. It permeates institutions rooted in anti-Blackness and colonial ideology, affecting everyday life.
Though Rastafarians’ roots are in Jamaica, they are among the country’s most marginalized. As a kid, my mom caught me jamming to Marley’s music and smoking my “scliff,” my…
