How did Bob Marley become a Rastafarian, and can a white person from Canada become a Rasta, too?
–Ryan L., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Bob was exposed to Rastafari early in his childhood, but he didn’t latch on to it right away. He had learned about some of the teachings of the faith but hadn’t fully accepted them as his own, but his wife, Rita, had an epiphany on April 21, 1966, when former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I, the supreme deity of the faith, or “Jah Rastafari,” visited Jamaica. As Rita described it to BobMarley.com, it was her “favorite day in my life.” Selassie was greeted by between 100,000 and 200,000 followers at Kingston Airport. Rita said Bob wasn’t in Kingston that day but she had written him letters telling him of the rumor that Selassie was to arrive. “He answered quickly,” Rita recalled. “(He wrote), ‘You better go and see and let me know what’s happening.'” Rita said she was unsure what to do at first but decided to stand on the sidewalk and let Selassie’s motorcade roll by, hoping to get a glimpse of the man. Eventually, the ruler drove by Rita an
