Citing health concerns, reggae star Buju Banton's attorney wants his client moved from the Pinellas County Jail where he has been held since December.Attorney David Markus filed the motion Monday. A hearing is set for 10 a.m. Friday.
Banton has lost 40 pounds and was not given a diet in accordance with his religious views, according to the motion. The 36-year-old, Jamaican-born singer is a Rastafarian, a religion that places importance on a vegetable- and fruit-based diet. [Slowly becoming criminalized]
The Grammy-nominated artist is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, accused of participating with two associates in a deal to buy cocaine from undercover federal agents in Sarasota.
If moved, Banton, who is here on an entertainer's visa, would likely go to a federal immigration detention facility hours away.
10 comments:
When Buju was arrested, my mind asked right away who is it that the Feds really want? At the time, I couldn't think of who "Kingfish" AKA the Feds were after. Recently, however, the Obama administrations has been pressing Prime Minister Bruce Golding to give up Christopher "Dudus" Coke, the Don of Tivoli Gardens in Kingston, JA. I don't think Buju is from that particular area but....
That is interesting. I think that they have to make accommodations for Jews and Muslims due to their dietary restrictions. They ought to accommodate his needs. Seems like he's starving to death; I think thats cruel and unusual.
on the other hand, some might say that he shouldn't be in jail in the first place. The war on drugs is evil.
If accomodations are made to respect the Jewish and Islamic faiths, then yes, Rastafari should be accomodated as well...ital is vital!
As for the actual charge, I am curious to see who it is they are actually after in the first place. The so-called War on Drugs was, is and always will be a complete joke. Five keys of coke isn't minor at any rate, but on a small time level, the concept is nothing more than cashing in on whatever the going rate is for locking up an individual these days, and takes the nickel and dime (literally) street hustlers off the block. What about the source? What about taking this War on Drugs across the border and focusing your efforts there? Or would that be putting your hand in someone's pocket? People laugh when it's said, but it's true: Nobody in the hood is bringing these large amounts of drugs across the borders; it's like a "quantity not quality" mentality when they make these arrests. And based on some cats I know personally, once you get out of jail, you're pretty much right back to the same thing anyway.
As more and more legislation is put on the table to legalize marijuana, even beyond medical use, I wander how this so-called War on Drugs will change course...here's how "New York's Finest" is trying to keep their numbers up:
"Although simple marijuana possession is a violation and not a crime in New York State, if the marijuana is "open to public view" it can be charged as a misdemeanor. According to a 2008 study by Harry Levine and Deborah Small and released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, police have made some 400,000 misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests over the past decade. Levine said: "Every year since 1997 police in New York City have been intimidating and tricking tens of thousands of young people to take out their marijuana and to hand it over. When the young people do so they are handcuffed, arrested and usually spend 24 hours in the city's jails." (NORML newsletter, 04/02/10)
NYC has had a 4600 percent increase in marijuana arrests since 1990.
CIA has been involved with drug running to fund their black ops for decades and decades. In Afghanistan; in Southeast Asia,in Latin America, etc. Before the U.S. CIA got into the act, the British East India Company was both a government chartered corporation and a front for drug trafficking in China used by England.
If marijuana becomes legal, it will be not because ours (and other) corporate governments have had a change of heart, but because the cost of keeping it illegal has begun to far outweigh the actual monetary and political gain it provides their covert agencies and corporate relations. (Building prisons is big, big money and many private prison contractors no doubt have ties to government. Likewise, covert operations funded by drugs means no oversight by the well-meaning rubes and puppets in the Congress. But, at a certain point, the cost of building the prisons and housing the prisoners, plus paying for the "collateral" violence, weaponry, etc., becomes far too great to sustain.)
Marijuana will become legal at some point because it has become to costly to "war" against (for all the reasons above) and too costly too eradicate the competition, especially when it's so easy for any of millions of users to grow. (The drug war is as much about so-called intelligence agencies/governments having a monopoly over the drug trade as it is is funding the "dirty jobs" and creating the other revenue streams through the prison-industrial-complex.) But, if marijuana is made legal, then it can be made an above-board, "legitimate" monopoly of the government and its corporate fronts, plus that it will then be easy to tax and monitor who exactly is purchasing it and why. Plus, they'll be able to regulate who sells you the weed and the seeds for it. Imagine genetically-modified Monsanto Weed seeds and let that sink in.
The other consideration as to why marijuana will become legal is that those who use marijuana for spiritual uplift and self-development are a very tiny minority of the people; I imagine this is true even among Rastafarians. The majority pot-culture encouraged by mass media portrayals and which, in fact, exists, is about escapism, bullshit sessions and passivity. It ain't about political action, self-and-community liberation and spiritual connection. You don't see Cleveland or the Family Guy hooking up with the ghost of Fela Kuti to challenge any corrupt governments; but you DO see the fathers on South Park giving themselves testicular cancer so they can get high and waste time bouncing around town on their ball sacks. So why not let this *one "drug"* become legal? Especially since the PR on locking up someone's cancer-sick grandma for toking up undermines the confidence in the legitimacy of government agencies like the DEA and FBI that the Corporate Fascist State requires from the majority, non-toking populace.
As for the Libertarian dream of full drug legalization across the board, ain't gonna happen anytime soon. Especially if this UN official was right in saying that laundered drug money has been the only thing keeping the fake "legit" economy afloat over the past few years:
www.correntewire.com/was_bailout_largest_drug_money_laundering_operation_history
Buju Bantu? They should allow him his ital food, but I'm not holding my breath. Cocaine still makes for a monopoly it's worth the Fed's time and money to keep i illicit, so the man is effed six ways to Sunday.
But hey, I could be wrong.
Banton.
Gotta check my spelling when I'm in mid-rant. Another thing to consider. While the sale of cocaine (and heroine) for that matter are currently used by both the intelligence agencies of certain governments and the insurgents/guerillas who are fighting them (for example, in Colombia), I don't know that that's the case when it comes to marijuana anywhere in the world at the present time. Maybe it is and I just don't know about it. Could be something to look into.
There's a federal law called the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act prevents prisons from inhibiting a prisoner from praticing their faith.
There's a case sorta similar to Buju's where a prisoner called Paul Cortez was accused of murder, jailed then in prison became vegan then Buddhist. The prisons still refuse to provide him with the right food. The prisons might argue Buddhism does not 'compel' one to be vegan, but that's bogus and illegal.
For RasTa, the Law of the Nazarite (Num 6 v.1-6) does prohibit the eating of that which is unclean and of the vine i.e meat, grapes & GMO : )Depending on where you live, some do eat fish and eggs.
Even if Buju did get the transfer on the religious basis, it's not really a win. He's still in prison.
I doubt there are PETA's et al. are lobbying for his rights. The plantation media never fails to mention he the 'anti-gay singer' and I'm sure so gay activists wld be foaming at the mouth if he walked.
Lol @ GMO ganja that wld be toxic!
Let me get this straight. He can't get a vegetarian type diet? Or he doesn't like the types of vegetables and fruits they are giving him?
I mean if it's a demand to get him food from Whole Foods rather than the regular grocery story...I say that's too bad--it's jail. I like Buju Banton too, but if you are caught trying to sell 11 pounds of cocaine...you aren't quite in a position to demand anything.
Anyway from what I know, there is no consensus on just what is and is not Ital, I've always thought there was some leeway.
I think its that he can't get vegetarian options all the time, but that's my interpretation.
And actually prisoners have been granted special options like cruelty-free products and the soy range in some UK prisons, dunno if that's the same in the US.
The name Ital is distinct - it doesn't only refer to what one eats but a way of life - hence an Italist is someone who strives for true livity, to reach nirvana, in a sense.
If you've read the early books of RasTafarI it states that Rases don't eat beef or pork, fish and eggs may be allowed and for a strict Ras it's largely a vegetable diet and fasting on the Sabbath.
KW,
Thanks. Interesting stuff. I suppose a strict Ras would be involved in conspiracy to distribute cocaine...so in the big picture Buju is out of luck.
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