The Healing Church, a cannabis-using Catholic group in Rhode Island, plans to symbolically apologize to singer Ziggy Marley for the mistreatment of Rastafarians. Their leader, Rev. Dr. Anne Armstrong, will present 3 gifts of repentance to Marley or his representatives before his upcoming concert. The gifts represent apologies for the historic anti-Rastafarian violence, mockery of their traditions, and risks of glossing over their history amid increased popularity. Armstrong believes this apology is warranted given affirmations from the Pope and the Church's role in oppressing the Rastafarian faith.
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RI Catholic Apology to Rastafarians at Marley Concert
1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Rev.Dr. Anne Armstrong401-304-6543 annearmstrongri@gmail.com
We Apologize for
Anti-Rastafarian Bigotry, Mockery
Cannabis Catholics Don Sackcloth-&-Ashes,
to Repent for Jamaican Rastafarians ill-treatment,
in Symbolic Presentation to singer Ziggy Marley at Upcoming Concert
Church activists pay tribute at the newPortsmouth NH AfricanBurial GroundMemorial 9/2015
What: Local Cannabis Church to wear sackcloth and ashes to present 3
ceremonial apology artefacts to Ziggy Marley and/or his representatives.
Where: Stage Right at the Ziggy Marley concert at the Alex and Ani Center (see
map below for pinpoint)
When: 7:00 pm, Friday, September 23, 2016, just before the Ziggy Marley concert
2. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Rev.Dr. Anne Armstrong401-304-6543 annearmstrongri@gmail.com
Rev. Dr. Anne Armstrong, Deaconess and leader of The Healing Church, RIs native cannabis-using
Catholic apostolate, will present 3 gifts of repentance to reggae singer Ziggy Marley before his upcoming
Waterfire performance in downtown Providence.
Armstrong says she hopes the Marley will accept,on behalf of the Rastafarian tradition, her Churchs
symbolic offerings on behalf of American and Christian repentance. She also hopes the international star
will offer words of advice to Americans who want to help undo the damage inflicted. Ziggy Marley is the
son of Rastafarian Prophet, Robert Nesta Bob Marley, and the younger Marley is considered by many
to be a Prophet in his own right, judged by a spirit of compassion, wisdom and equality in his song lyrics.
Rev. Dr. Armstrong, a well-known RI Catholic figurehead for decades,carries a recent letter from the
Popes US ambassador, addressed to her while she sat in jail on cannabis charges,addressing her as Rev.
Dr. Upon this authority, Armstrong rightly claims to be the first recognized female Catholic clergy and
Deacon since the Biblical era when women like St. Phoebe served such roles. As such, she says,she is
entitled to speak for the Catholic Church and its offshoots, and is eager to apologize in the spirt of Pope
Francis recent social justice forays. Pope Frances has sent me three separate affirmations, so I am
entitled, she says.
Armstrong says she and Church canon Alan Gordon hope to present, on behalf of Catholicism and its
offshoot, the Church of England, one gift for each of 3 historic woes inflicted by her culture on
Rastafarians.
One, she says, is under-reported historic anti-Rastafarian violence nearly on the order of the Holocaust, in
terms of the severity of its effect on its victims.
Second, says Armstrong, an apology is due for the number of Westerners who mock Rasta traditions
(such as Pastafarians),wrongly thinking it a new religion invented to justify cannabis and/or other non-
conformist behavior.
Third, Armstrong says, Rastafarianisms increasing popularity with whites creates risk of glossing over
the history of unspeakable racist violence without due reflection. One example she points to is the
recent US State Department Religious Freedom report, which she calls a liberal feel-good report on the
oppression of Rastafarian practice in numerous countries, while the US still eagerly oppresses the faith
themselves.
Armstrongs Apostolate, like the Rastafarian faith, accepts as true the ancient texts telling the Blessed
Mothers childhood as a Temple Priestess,dancing on the Temples 3rd
step under the KNH BSM oil
lamp hung there. Rastafarians almost single-handedly kept the truth alive during the Time of the Lie,
despite brutality and deliberate deprivation of the most basic needs by their neighbors, says Armstrong.
Church canon Alan Gordon, who holds a 2012 UK law degree with top marks in International Law, says:
In truth, the historical systemic use of unwarranted violence against Rastafarianism meets the UNs legal
definition of Genocide, a type of Crime Against Humanity, because it disrupted a religion/cultures
reproduction, through death, incarceration, and deprivation of medicine, food, water,and education.
3. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Rev.Dr. Anne Armstrong401-304-6543 annearmstrongri@gmail.com
According to Alan Gordon, a religious cannabis historian, systemic historic brutal oppression of
Rastafarians in Jamaica and elsewhere is now at grave risk of being swept under the carpet in an ironic
wave of increasing popularity of reggae spirituality among American and European whites. Most white
fans of reggae and Rastafarianism are grateful for the cultural exposure, but due to white-washing by
corporate filters, have no inkling of the suffering behind the ancient memes the Rastafarians kept alive,
says Gordon.
The three gifts to be presented by The Healing Church are:
1. A copy of Armstrong and Gordons book about Biblical KNH BSM, illustrated with
photographs of Cathedral Bible art which the pair say depict cannabis prominently.
2. A copy of UK human rights law scholar Melissa Bones book chapter criticizing hypocritical
application of law against Rastafarians in the US, UK and other nations.
3. A copy of Armstrong and Gordons book about the German enemy wartime confessions and
known links of Harry J. Anslinger, the notorious racist who authored uniform cannabis ban
language for not just all of the American States,but the whole world through a UN treaty he
authored.
Gordon has previously made news in Sept 2014, in Bermuda, criticizing police maltreatment of
Rastafarian People.http://bernews.com/2014/09/gordon-double-standard-for-rastas-hebrews/
Location map for planned ceremony