Editing Rastafari (section)

=== Growing visibility: 1950–1969 ===

Rastafari's main appeal was among Jamaica's lower classes.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=47}} For its first thirty years, Rastafari was in a conflictual relationship with the Jamaican authorities.{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=10}} Jamaica's Rastas expressed contempt for many aspects of the island's society, viewing the government, police, bureaucracy, professional classes, and established churches as instruments of Babylon.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=50}} Relations between practitioners and the police were strained, with Rastas often being arrested for cannabis possession.{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=49|2a1=Barrett|2y=1997|2p=93}} During the 1950s the movement grew rapidly in Jamaica and also spread to other Caribbean islands, the United States, and the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=47}}

In the 1940s and 1950s, a more militant brand of Rastafari emerged.{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=15}} The vanguard of this was the [[House of Youth Black Faith]], a group largely based in [[West Kingston, Jamaica|West Kingston]].{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=16}} Backlash against the Rastas grew after a practitioner allegedly killed a woman in 1957.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=50}} In March 1958, the first Rastafarian Universal Convention was held in [[Back-o-Wall]], Kingston.{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=50|2a1=Barrett|2y=1997|2p=92}} Following the event, militant Rastas unsuccessfully tried to capture the city in the name of Haile Selassie.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashmore|1y=1983|1p=28|2a1=Clarke|2y=1986|2p=50|3a1=Barrett|3y=1997|3p=93}} Later that year they tried again in [[Spanish Town]].{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=50}} The increasing militancy of some Rastas resulted in growing alarm;{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=50}} according to Cashmore, the Rastas became "folk devils" in Jamaican society.{{sfn|Cashmore|1983|p=28}}

In 1959, the self-declared prophet and founder of the [[African Reform Church]], [[Claudius Henry]], sold thousands of tickets to Afro-Jamaicans, including many Rastas, for passage on a ship that he claimed would take them to Africa. The ship never arrived and Henry was charged with fraud. In 1960 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the government.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashmore|1y=1983|1pp=28–29|2a1=Clarke|2y=1986|2p=50|3a1=Barrett|3y=1997|3pp=95–98|4a1=Edmonds|4y=2012|4p=19}} Henry's son was accused of being part of a paramilitary cell and executed, confirming public fears about Rasta violence.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashmore|1y=1983|1pp=29–30|2a1=Barrett|2y=1997|2pp=98–99|3a1=Edmonds|3y=2012|3pp=19–20}} One of the most prominent clashes between Rastas and law enforcement was the [[Coral Gardens incident]] of 1963, in which an initial skirmish between police and Rastas resulted in several deaths and led to a larger roundup of practitioners.{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=22}} Clamping down on the Rasta movement, in 1964 the island's government implemented tougher laws surrounding cannabis use.{{sfn|King|2002|p=79}}

At the invitation of its government, [[Grounation Day|Haile Selassie visited Jamaica for the first time on 21 April 1966]], with thousands of Rastas assembled to meet him at the airport.{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=51|2a1=Barrett|2y=1997|2pp=158–160|3a1=King|3y=2002|3pp=82–83|4a1=Edmonds|4y=2012|4p=24}} Over the course of the 1960s, Jamaica's Rasta community underwent a process of [[Charismatic authority#Routinizing charisma|routinisation]],{{sfn|Barrett|1997|p=146}} with the late 1960s witnessing the launch of the first official Rastafarian newspaper, the [[Rastafarian Movement Association]]'s ''Rasta Voice''.{{sfn|King|2002|p=52}} The decade also saw Rastafari develop in increasingly complex ways,{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=51}} as it did when some Rastas began to reinterpret the idea that salvation required a physical return to Africa, instead interpreting salvation as coming through a process of mental decolonisation that embraced African approaches to life.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=51}}

Whereas its membership had previously derived predominantly from poorer sectors of society, in the 1960s Rastafari began attracting support from more privileged groups like students and professional musicians.{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=51|2a1=Edmonds|2y=2012|2p=25}} The foremost group emphasising this approach was the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whose members came to be known as "Uptown Rastas".{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=25}} Many Rastas came under the influence of the Guyanese black nationalist academic [[Walter Rodney]], who lectured to their community in 1968 before publishing his thoughts as the pamphlet ''Groundings''.{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=52|2a1=Bedasse|2y=2013|2pp=297–298|3a1=Edmonds|3y=2012|3p=26}} Like Rodney, many Jamaican Rastas were influenced by the U.S.-based [[Black Power]] movement,{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=54|2a1=Edmonds|2y=2012|2pp=25–26}} and after that movement declined, Rastafari filled the vacuum it left for many black youth.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=55}}