Following up on my recent Taki’s column about race and cultural conformity…
When Don Letts stepped beyond the boundaries of his British-Caribbean culture, he was embraced by his new white friends.
Patti Smith dragged him on stage (with amusing results).
He toured America with the Sex Pistols, and the world with the Clash, later joining Mick Jones’ post-Clash group Big Audio Dynamite on keyboards (although he admits that he still puts stickers on the keys to tell the notes apart.)
Letts’ “brederin,” however, weren’t always so open-hearted.
Reggae star Peter Tosh condemned the Clash as “heathens” and “barbarians” and accused them of stealing his equipment during a gig in Kingston, to cite just one anecdote.
