"I was on a quiet beach one evening, feeling very blessed and meditating underneath a tree. Eventually, I found myself in the zone that usually opened up simple and profound truths to me and I wanted to know the next step in my mission. This answer came to me: the most important question humanity should ask itself is WHY. because the WHY determines everything else. WHO we are, WHAT we are, WHERE we are, WHEN we are... all these things are determined by WHY we are. Even HOW we do what we do is influenced by WHY we want to do it.

 

Upon asking myself WHY it is that I do what I do, I realized that I was determined to put an end to anything opposed to natural, sustainable, loving Life. Representing the Universal Truth is my preferred lifestyle. This is why Duttyism exists."

With the recent release of his book, Tried & True: Revelations of a Rebellious Youth, plus his tendency to be involved, in tune or otherwise supportive of various manifestations of revolutionary progress, Dutty is becoming increasingly willing to speak in public settings. For a list of upcoming engagements, complete with dates, times and locations, check his calendar by clicking the link below.

Dutty's schedule of upcoming missions

In 18th century Jamaica, there was an African slave called Dutty Bookman (also Bookman Dutty). He was sold like a commodity to someone in French-colonized Ayiti, more commonly known as Haiti. There, the spelling of his name was Frenchified as "Boukman" but that is of little importance here. What is noteworthy is that he incited the bulk of the slave population to revolt against oppression and that act was the genesis of the Haitian Revolution. The rest is history and history is a part of the present. Two centuries later, a child was born in Jamaica and grew up with a decidedly and unmistakably revolutionary spirit. It is now felt that he might be the returned spirit of Dutty.

Duttyism is a repository for inadequate expressions of his soul.

Jamaican Revival

Posted on: November 21st, 2011 by Dutty Bookman No Comments

Bob Marley Stencil

I have said this before but I feel it is important for me to elaborate at this time. Art is illumination in dark times. At least two separate occasions in history have shown us the one undeniable fact: the flourishing of the arts is a critical ingredient in any society’s effort to evolve into a higher consciousness.

 

Take a gander, if you will, at Europe between the 1300′s and the 1600′s. During that time period, the continent transitioned from an era called the Middle Ages to a new era known as the Modern Era. How did it happen? Well, there was an explosion of thought in the fields of science, politics and religion among other things. It is widely agreed though that the most significant innovations of this period were those made in the field of art. That period is now referred to as the Renaissance.

 

Flash forward to the 1920′s, a decade that many of our parents have heard about through firsthand accounts from their own elders. It was a time of intense, blatant racism in the United States. Even though emancipation had been declared, Africans and many mixed persons who appeared to have non-Caucasian features were discriminated. The unfriendly conditions led to the civil rights movements of the 1960′s of course, but I have been learning that the confidence that grew in the Black consciousness of that time, epitomized by people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, stemmed from the seeds planted just prior to the 1920′s. In New York, there was a thriving community of Africans who migrated from all over the USA, especially the segregated states of the south.  In that community, which was (and continues to be) called Harlem, Black culture exploded. It was a conscious effort by musicians, writers and intellectuals, among others, to assert their rights through self-expression. Furthermore, it lifted the USA into a higher human awareness and brought the nation closer to the ideals its political leaders often boast about still. That era is now referred to as the Harlem Renaissance.

 

There is something happening in the Caribbean Sea right now. What appears on various maps to be an oddly shaped dot below and between Cuba and Haiti is actually the scene of another arts revolution. I am a romantic at heart so forgive me for the drama but do not take what I am telling you lightly. Jamaica, that incredibly blessed land where I am proud to be born, is on the rise again. I say “again” because there was already a renaissance here. Bob Marley has come to symbolize it today but it was so much more than one man. It was a culture built on human rights, positivity and the knowledge that Africa and Africans must collectively ascend to their proper place in global society before peace on Earth could be possible. It is widely overstood knowledge that the movement was deliberately derailed somewhere between the 1970′s and the 1980′s. How? By whom? And why? Ask around…

 

I am happy to share the unmistakable truth that the Zion train is, again, on track and heading in the right direction. The renaissance period is past, yes, but something greater has emerged. It is the Jamaican Revival. A thing was thought to be all but completely dead and some were preparing to pull the plug on it; but now signs of vitality are singing and dancing and painting and writing and cooking up a lively meal! Sniff around… look around… ask around. There is a loving energy and no one is unwelcome. If you are alive in this second decade of the 21st century, you are already an inescapable part of it. It is the Jamaican Revival.

 

LOVEwise.

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