Equal Rights: Jamaica Honors Peter Tosh with Order of Merit

Words by Jesse Serwer, Photo by Lee Jaffe—

Jamaica today honored the late Peter Tosh—a controversial figure in his lifetime—with a posthumous Order of Merit, as part of the Heroes Day award ceremony. The honor, which comes just a month after the 25th anniversary of the reggae legend’s death, was received by Tosh’s daughter, Niambe. The award follows a symposium, “Peter Tosh: Reggae Revolutionary and Equal Rights Advocate,” held at the University of the West Indies, and comes several days before the reggae legend’s birthday, on October 19th. It would seem that now is a good time to revisit Stepping Razor Red X, the 1993 documentary on the artist and activist’s life, and certainly one of the more interesting documentaries on a reggae artist’s life.

Watch part one below, and catch the rest of the movie here.

Photo: Peter Simon