Orville W. Taylor, Contributor
ON WEDNESDAY, Donald 'Zekes' Phipps was convicted of the brutal mutilation and murder of two men who were his associates. The details of the evidence make one cringe but I better stop here because 'cock mouth kill cock'.
Still, as ghastly as that crime was, just imagine what Jesus of Nazareth went through some 2,000 years ago. He was betrayed by one of the 12 closest men to him. Then he was given to the oppressive Roman invaders, scourged, publicly tortured, made to wear a wreath made of 'cooku makka' (thorns) then placed on what an innocent child described as a plus sign.
As he suffered for hours at the request of the Jewish mob who chose not to 'spare him' but to 'spear him,' he forgave them even though they chose 'Ba-robbas' over him.
Every Easter as we look for signs of the physic nut bleeding or the egg white giving up prophesy, we sit and watch the same films about the execution of Jesus, while eating bun and cheese. It is intriguing that people watch the same movie over and over although they know exactly how it is going to end because they have seen, heard and read about it since their infancy.
THE REAL JESUS
Yet, I have wondered since my teenage years, how could one man take so much punishment? After watching Alex Haley's classic, Roots as the slave masters beat the skin off ultra-black Kunta Kinte, I became even more unconvinced that the wimpy-looking fellow with the groomed long hair and flawless light skin was the real Jesus.
None of those portraits looked like a man who was born in a feeding trough, chopped wood, walked for miles in thin sandals, rode a donkey without a saddle and was strong enough to walk into a temple packed like the arcade and kick over stalls. Then, the scriptures said that he left home at 12. How many white kids do you know do those things?
With that in mind, the idea of a Black Jesus became attractive and so despite the protestations of Elder Taylor, who saw my theory as sheer blasphemy, I pursued the idea.
Well, the evidence is that the Pharaohs who were ruling Egypt during the epoch of Moses were black. These are described in the ancient texts as Cushites and anthropological research support this.
Thus, given that they were black, is it not logical that Joseph with the coat of many colours, and Moses, both of whom passed for Egyptian, must have looked like them?
Furthermore, Matthew 2:13-15 indicate that the infant Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph into Egypt to hide until Herod's death. Tell me, since Egypt and Israel are so geographically close, don't you think that if he were white someone would have likely said: 'Ku di likkle white pickney!'?
They were all able to blend in because they looked like Egyptians.
But even more persuasive than religious conviction and sociological theorising is what is widely accepted as irrefutable proof of biological origin and kinship: DNA evidence.
For years, I had maintained like Professor Josef Ben-Jochannan, that the ancient Jews were not white but became lighter skinned due to the incursions of the Greeks and Romans.
Well, drop dead now! There is a tribe in Southern Africa called the Lemba, who, despite being scores of miles away from the Middle East, have DNA that shows them to be more conclusively from that region than many of the European and American Jews.
This group seemed to have left ancient Israel around 720 BC when the Assyrians captured Samaria and exiled the 10 tribes which comprised the northern Kingdom of Israel. According to recent research by anthropologist Tudor Parfitt, the folklore of the Lemba suggests that they are.
Some of their words are remarkably Hebrew-like and they maintain traditions of not eating pork, not mixing milk and meat, ritual purification of women after menstruation, and circumcision of men. Even more amazing is their ethnic symbol, which is a Star of David with the Elephant of Judah.
The Lemba expressly forbid men marrying outside of the tribe but may allow women to marry into it. This sanction has effectively kept the tribe relatively free of 'Gentile' watering-down of their blood.
In contrast, modern white-looking Jews take their Jewish status from their mothers and have had much inter-racial mixing as they travelled from country to country while in exile until the state of Israel was established after World War II.
DID NOT WANT US TO KNOW
Yet, in the Bible, all ancestry is traced along the patriline. Remember, nowhere in the Bible does it say Mary begat whomever. All the 'begatting' was by men.
So, follow the logic! If the same scientific DNA evidence that has been used to positively identify perpetrators and convict them says that these 'Blackie Tuttus' are from the original stock of Jews, then Moses, Joseph, Jacob, David, Solomon and Jesus were all black.
So then, one does not have to be a Rastafarian to accept that it is not implausible that Jah Jah, Haile Sellassie I, was a descendant of David.
However, some people like to maintain that it is really not relevant whether Jesus was black. Sorry to say, I disagree because obviously somebody did not want us to know.
By the way, my colleague who 'I am Borin' is upset at my opposition to Portia's forcing of clergy on boards.
In defence of his position he refers to 'Rastafarianism.' It's a pity - a veteran journalist of 30 years should know that Rastas reject the offensive 'ism' in favour of Rastafari. Such is the danger of religious hegemony.
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the department of sociology, psychology and social work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
