Did Rita Marley cut her dreads?

So did Rita Marley cut her dreads? Is she no longer a Rasta? Or maybe she is in the camp of “you don’t haffi dread to be Rasta.” Better yet, maybe it is just poor journalism by The Jamaica Observer. Maybe they have used someone else’s photo to represent Rita Marley. Although I find it difficult to believe that such an high accredited media outlet would make such a huge mistake in the firs place, much less, it getting past all the editors and going to publication.

The last time I saw Rita Marley was during the whole Snoop Dogg conversion to SnoopLion promotional hoopla and she had her crown back then. So it was rather shocking to be reading an article in the Observer and seeing that her dreads were gone and now replaced by Black women’s favorite, the weave. Not only is Rita sporting a weave in the image, but if you know Rita’s natural dark and smooth complexion, you can see that a little bleaching cream is now being applied to the face. Bleaching cream is also a favorite among some Black women in Africa and Jamaica.

Let’s hope it is just a mistake by the Observer and that photo is not really Rita Marley. Some might say, “so what” and wonder why it matters if she cuts her dreads or not. Well, it really does matter. People think Rasta and they think the Marleys. As a matter of fact, even though the Rasta message was around before Bob Marley was born, there are many,especially whites, who now refer to the Rasta message as the “Marley message”.

If Rita is no longer a Rasta, it would seem like she was just following her husband but had no true inner conviction of her own. There are also many who believe that Bob baptized as a Christian and gave up Rasta before he completed his earthly journey in the physical form. If Rita Marley cut her dreadlocks, then it would give the impression that a strong movement like Rasta was only being used as a hustle to sell music.

Bob Marley once said, “You are what you are, you can never change. If you even change and adopt things, later on in life you filter right back out”. Let’s hope the Jamaica Observer made a big poo poo, and Rita Marley has not filtered out to what she really is, a bald head who used Rasta to sell music.

Looking at the photo the Jamaican Observer is using as Rita, what do you think? Is that really Rita Marley or did they accidentally used someone else photo?

source: 3jamaica