Editing Haile Selassie (section)

=== Selassie's position ===

In a 1967 interview with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]'s Bill McNeil, Selassie denied his alleged divinity.<ref name="Spencer">{{cite book|last=Spencer|first=William David|title=Dread Jesus|date=1998|publisher=SPCK Publishing|isbn=978-0-281-05101-4|page=44}}</ref> For many Rastafari, the CBC interview is not interpreted as a denial. According to Robert Earl Hood, Selassie neither denied nor affirmed his divinity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hood|first=Robert Earl|title=Must God Remain Greek?: Afro Cultures and God-talk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ceFU75KyYQC&pg=PA93+|date=1990|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-2449-1|page=93}}</ref><ref name="ReggaeRoutes2432">{{cite book|author1=O'Brien Chang, Kevin|url=https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan|title=Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music|author2=Chen, Wayne|publisher=Temple University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-1-56639-629-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan/page/n254 243]|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Touch the Happy Isles p. 286">{{cite book|last1=Crewe|first1=Quentin|title=Touch the Happy Isles: A Journey through the Caribbean|date=1987|publisher=Michael Joseph Ltd.|isbn=0-7181-2822-2|location=London|page=286}}</ref>{{listen
| filename     = Haile Selassie 1967 Interview.ogg
| title        = CBC Interview
| description  = Selassie visited Canada in 1967 for an official state visit, CBC news interviewed him and asked him a variety of questions including his position on Rastafarianism
| pos          = right
| format       = [[ogg]]
}}

After his return to Ethiopia, Selassie dispatched Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Mandefro to the [[Caribbean]]. According to Yesehaq, this was to help draw Rastafari and other West Indians to the Ethiopian church.<ref>{{cite web|title=Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Interview|via=YouTube|date=27 December 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXiPllReCBI|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/WXiPllReCBI|archive-date=28 October 2021|access-date=2 January 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201952.html|title=Ethiopians in D.C. Region Mourn Archbishop's Death|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=13 January 2006}}</ref> Some sources suggest that certain islanders and their leaders were resenting the services of their former colonial churches, and vocalised their interest of establishing the Ethiopian church in the Caribbean.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Subin|first=Anne Della|title=Occupy Godhead|url=https://www.bidoun.org/articles/occupy-godhead#:~:text=For%20his%20part%2C%20Haile%20Selassie,them%20find%20the%20True%20God.|work=[[Bidoun]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164446/https://www.bidoun.org/articles/occupy-godhead#:~:text=For%20his%20part%2C%20Haile%20Selassie,them%20find%20the%20True%20God.|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1969, Manley visited the Emperor at his palace in [[Addis Ababa]] before his election as prime minister of Jamaica in 1972. Selassie spoke about his 1966 visit to Jamaica and told Manley that, though he was confused by the Rastafarians' beliefs, he respected them.<ref name="Jerry Funk">{{cite book|last1=Funk|first1=Jerry|title=Life Is an Excellent Adventure: An Irreverent Personal Odyssey|date=2003|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|location=Victoria, Canada|isbn=1-4120-0848-4|pages=148–150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4FqDsPH5_oC&pg=PA148|access-date=14 March 2022|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706031348/https://books.google.com/books?id=R4FqDsPH5_oC&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1948, Selassie donated 500 hectares of land at [[Shashamane]], {{convert|250|km|mi}} south of Addis Ababa, to the [[Ethiopian World Federation|Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated]] for the use of people of African descent who supported Ethiopia during the war.<ref name="PrunierFicquet2015">{{cite book|author1=Gérard Prunier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnxeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT148|title=Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia: Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi|author2=Éloi Ficquet|year=2015|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-84904-618-3|page=148}}</ref> Numerous Rastafari families settled there and still live as a community to this day.<ref>{{cite web|last=Page|first=Thomas|date=13 November 2015|title=Meet the Rastafarians who returned to the Promised Land|url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/africa/ethiopia-rasta-town-shashamene/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816230538/https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/africa/ethiopia-rasta-town-shashamene/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Freston|first=Tom|date=14 February 2014|title=The Promised Land|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/02/shashemane-ethiopia-rastafarian-utopia|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=27 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327115323/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/02/shashemane-ethiopia-rastafarian-utopia|url-status=live}}</ref> This was controversial among the locals, as the Rastas settled on traditionally Oromo land.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Price|first1=Charles|title=Review: Erin C. Macleod Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=223|doi=10.1086/683071|jstor=10.1086/683071|s2cid=162427664|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683071|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315013937/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683071|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Summers|first1=Chris|title=The Rastafarians' flawed African 'promised land'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28059303|publisher=BBC News|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411160940/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28059303|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gomes|first1=Shelene|title=Counter-Narratives of Belonging: Rastafari in the Promised Land|journal=The Global South|year=2018|volume=12|issue=1|publisher=Indiana University Press|page=115|doi=10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|jstor=10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|s2cid=164637705|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315013939/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|url-status=live}}</ref>