From 1974 to 1980, Jamaica was rife with political violence. Gangs linked to the country’s two parties, the democratic socialist People’s National Party (PNP) and the conservative Jamaican Labour Party (JLP), were locked in an urban paramilitary conflict that killed, injured, and displaced thousands of people.

In 1978, influenced by the Rastafarian message of unity, gang leaders agreed to peace talks. Out of this process came the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, which brought together rival gang members, party officials, and the biggest names in reggae, including Bob Marley, who had himself been shot two years prior, most likely by a JLP gunman.

During his performance, Marley summoned onstage the party leaders, prime minister Michael Manley of the PNP and his opponent, Edward Seaga of the JLP, and clasped their hands in a sign of unity. Images of that moment are now iconic, in part because they seem to show Bob Marley as mainstream global culture imagines him: a peacemaker transcending all conflict, including politics.