It's Black Jesus, Part Four -- The Last Supper

This is an African-American print of the DaVinci classic. Beautiful, isn't it? Click here to get yours.

Today is known to many Christians as Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday.  Everybody's got a theory on this one but most scholars think that the word maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, the first word of the statement Jesus made to his disciples as he explained why he washed their feet.

Latin: Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos. 
Translation: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.

 

Here's more Black Jesus -- Christ washing the feet of the Apostles. Icon of Pskov school (school of late medieval Russian icon and mural painting), 16th century. I suppose this explains why Eastern Europeans and  Soviets don't have a problem with images of Black Jesus. 

On Holy Thursday, everything takes a very serious turn.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, then celebrates the Passover Feast with them in an upper room in Jerusalem and has the first Communion. Somewhere in there -- probably before the dishes are cleared from the table -- the disciples argue over their rank and greatness (huh?) while Judas skips off to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities and Peter declares his undying loyalty (“Lord, I’m ready to go with you, both to prison and to death!”), with Jesus promptly putting him in check. (“I tell you, Peter, the rooster won’t crow today before you have denied three times that you know me.”)

Jesus goes to The Mount of Olives with the disciples to pray, they eventually get ambushed by Judas and the horde he brought with him -- high priests, officers of the temple guard and the elders -- and after betraying him with a kiss (yeesh!) Jesus is taken away to the high priest's house, where his trial begins. 

The Bible says that when Peter finally denies Jesus, he runs away and cries uncontrollably. Selah.

It's Black Jesus, Part Three - Silent Wednesday

Most of us know this already. For the rest of you that choose to ignore the obvious, I'm gonna tell it to you, anyway: Jesus Christ was not of European ancestry.  There, I said it.

To quote theologian James Cone about the Black Jesus:

“The ‘raceless’ American Christ has a light skin, wavy brown hair, and sometimes – wonder of wonders – blue eyes. For whites to find him with big lips and kinky hair is as offensive as it was for the Pharisees to find him partying with tax-collectors. But whether whites want to hear it or not, Christ is black, baby, with all of the features which are so detestable to white society.”

Most Europeans are much more familiar with Black Jesus than Americans, in part because his image resonates throughout much of their artwork. This one is from a church in Rome and dates from AD 530.

Today is called Silent Wednesday because the Bible doesn't say much of anything about what Jesus did today. After yesterday's hi-jinks, I can only imagine that the good Lord and the rest of his folk slept in.  I know I would.

Today's Bonus: The Boy Who Painted Christ Black. Directed by Bill Duke and featuring Wesley Snipes and that 80s staple Jasmine Guy, this 30 minute movie is based on a short story by John Henrik Clarke.

If you'd like to read the story, click here.

It's Black Jesus, Part Two: Long Day at The Mount of Olives

This is a portrait of what Jesus might actually have looked like -- based on a first century skull (and Jesus' African-Asiatic bloodlines) by medical artist Richard Neave for Jesus: The Complete Story.

Yesterday Jesus went to his house of worship and saw that it had become a marketplace -- so he literally braided a whip and cleaned house. What in the world happened today?

After he and his associates pass that fig tree, they go back to the Temple, where Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders who try to ensnare him in some sort of an argument that will create an opportunity for his arrest.  After he flummoxes them and chews them out, he gives them the slip and leaves the city for the Mount of Olives, where -- prompted by the disciples casually admiring the Temple's architecture -- gives a prophesy on its destruction and then launches into what Biblical scholars call the Olivet Discourse, wherein he talks at length about the end times in parables.

This is also the day that Judas Iscariot negotiates with The Sanhedrin and makes arrangements to betray Jesus.

What a long, pivotal, exhausting day.

Matthew 24
Now Jesus left the temple and was going away. His disciples came to point out to him the temple buildings. ² He responded, “Do you see all these things? I assure that no stone will be left on another. Everything will be demolished.”

As Jesus predicted, the Temple was destroyed -- in 70 AD when the Romans torched it.  Apparently, the fire melted the gold in the Temple, which ran down into the cracks in the stone walls. Later, people searched for that gold, knocking over the stones to find any of it.

Interesting stuff.

I can't even begin to touch the history of this region with a stick -- and yet, a little history goes a long way...!

The Mount of Olives (it was covered with olive trees at one point, hence the name) is one of three mountain ridges -- Mount Scopus to the north and Mount of Corruption (or Mount of Offense) to the south -- located east of Jerusalem's Old City, in an area called The Valley of Jehoshophat.  The ridge isn't suitable for construction, so man-made burial caves were built.  A portion of the mount has been a necropolis for well over 3,000 years -- with an estimated 150,000 graves.  (A Jewish group is in the process of mapping every tombstone there.) Several Old Testament prophets are buried there. So is Absalom.

In Jesus day, Jerusalem was known as "the city of seven hills". Interestingly, so was Rome.

                                                           Arial photograph of the Mount of Olives

Today's Bonus is the TV documentary Jesus: The Complete Story.


                                               Volume 1: The Beginnings


                                               Volume 2: The Mission

It's Black Jesus, Part One: Jesus Goes To Church And Beats The Brakes Off The Moneychangers!

Now that Passover is upon (some of) us and Sunday is Easter, I'm celebrating Holy Week (or Passion Week) with a daily dosage of Black Jesus. Here's today's heady installment -- Jesus Goes to Church and Beats the Brakes Off of the Moneychangers.  (And no, I can't get enough of this picture.)

 ^{Black Jesus and the Moneychangers}

Matthew 21
¹² Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹³ He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer.  But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”

John 2
¹⁴ He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. ¹⁶ He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written, Passion for your house consumes me.^[a]

A little context is usually a good idea.

Jesus and his disciples were amongst the many thousands of pilgrims that came to Jerusalem from all over the world for Passover.  The pilgrims had to exchange their currency to pay the required annual temple tax of a half shekel. Only Tyrian shekels were accepted by the Temple officials because they contained more silver than other coins. Conveniently enough, the moneychangers were there to provide that service -- with a fee that was shared with the Temple priest.  No need to search for animals to make the required sacrifices in the Temple.  Merchants were there to sell them to the highest bidder.  These exchanges turned the Temple into a bustling market, of sorts -- not the holy sacred place that God intended.  Needless to say, Jesus was pissed.

Well, I suppose a handmade whip is one way to clear the decks. Interesting that this happened right after Palm Sunday, on the last week of Jesus' life on earth.

Today's Bonus: the Good Times' Black Jesus episode!

Here's some good news: Aaron McGruder is bringing Black Jesus to Adult Swim this year -- featuring Charlie Murphy, Corey Holcomb and yes, John Witherspoon.  I wonder what Fox News' Megyn "Jesus is white" Kelly will have to say about it.

Speaking of Megyn "...and Santa is white, too" Kelly, I leave you with a panel discussion that includes Tim Wise. It's so much fun to watch him go off, in part because the white people aren't expecting him to sound like a black Baptist preacher.

It's Black Jesus -- on Palm Sunday!

I'm not a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber or his musicals per se but I love Jesus Christ Superstar and I especially love this song Hosanna.

Here's a snippet of an interview with Mr. Webber discussing the beginnings of Jesus Christ Superstar.  Interesting that it was written as a rock album and they had never intended for it to be a musical. 



Here's the song in performance.

 

...and here's the song itself.



CROWD

Hosanna
Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna
Hey Sanna Hosanna
Hey JC, JC won't you smile at me?
Sanna Hosanna
Hey Superstar

CAIAPHAS

Tell the rabble to be quiet, we anticipate a riot.
This common crowd, is much too loud.
Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong.
They are a curse. They should disperse.

CROWD

Hosanna
Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna
Hey Sanna Hosanna
Hey JC, JC you're alright by me
Sanna Hosanna
Hey Superstar

JESUS

Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?
Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.
If every tongue were stilled
The noise would still continue.
The rocks and stone themselves would start to sing:

CROWD AND JESUS

Hosanna
Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna
Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone)

Hey JC, JC won't you fight for me?
Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

JESUS

Sing me your songs,
But not for me alone.
Sing out for yourselves,
For you are bless-ed.
There is not one of you
Who can not win the kingdom.
The slow, the suffering,
The quick, the dead.

CROWD and JESUS

Hosanna
Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna
Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone)

Hey JC, JC won't you die for me?
Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

'Bye, Fred.

Fred Ho -- baritone saxophonist, composer, conductor, writer and activist -- rest in power.

Fun Fact of the Day

Spring Essentials

Letting go is difficult. My junk room is a mess and both my closets are filled with stuff I hardly wear. I'm editing my closets the Tim Gunn way this month -- systematically getting rid of clothing that I've emotionally outgrown, worn out or don't wear. Although I'll be making donations to The Bottomless Closet every week, all the vintage stuff will be sold to the highest bidder.

My wardrobe needs a few basics.  My basics. Style over fashion, folks. Here's my top five.

1. Kiehl's Original Musk Oil I have a friend that loves to say, if you aren't wearing perfume, you aren't fully dressed. This is the concentrated fragrance that makes you smell like you. Wonderful stuff.  If I could, I'd bathe in it.  

2. Midi pencil skirts I can't believe this is a trend. I've been wearing them like crazy since forever. All this means is that what I really want won't be that hard to find.  The downside is that I'll have to see it on everybody else.

3. Tea length dresses  This trend means that I can update my vintage versions with their modern counterparts. I love a dress because it's a complete outfit -- no need to look for the just right top or bottom -- just accessorize and go.  The rule is that the hemline is below midcalf, which is fine by me as long as it's not an a-line situation.

4. Metallic pumps  Silver and gold is one thing but metallic is something else.  This would pop profusely with a white dress. 

5. TWA Gear  My Daddy worked for TWA for over 35 years as a ramp serviceman/mechanic.  I didn't mean to start yet another collection -- trust me, I have enough stuff as it is -- but I needed luggage tags and when I found a set of red TWA vintage vinyl ones, I fell down that rabbit hole with a quickness.  Next came a heavy winter jacket and a mechanic's shirt -- the kind he'd wear to work every day when I was a kid. 

I know exactly how all of it will look on me.  After all, I am my father's daughter. 

New Word of the Day

The 9th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party - Tickets On Sale NOW!

This is it -- the party of the season! -- and tickets are available now.   Please note: I'll be performing with my quintet on June 14th and August 17th. See you on Governor's Island!

Truth and Soul - from The Honorable Louis Farrakhan

"There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth unless someone rises up and tells you the truth." -- Louis Farrakhan

Here's Brother Farrakhan, serving up a nice heaping helping of truth to Mike Wallace, who can stay seated after positing that one-sided statement.

Required Viewing: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

I can't wait to see this movie and I don't know why.  Probably because I know I won't be underwhelmed by how fantastic it is, and I could use a little big budget inspiration. 

At the end of the day, I still want to see a black female superhero on screen.  Not having one is a harsh reminder of how little everything has changed and how far we have to go.  I wonder if they'll have any in the film. The latest version of Superman was so thoroughly rinsed and scoured of black women, they didn't even have any as background talent.

Wait. That's not true. Towards the end of the movie, there was a sister in a parking lot with a TWA, looking towards the sky before she was crushed by a building or something. The camera was on her for all of four seconds.

Progress!

Good news, everyone!

My new Black Americana album The Other Side arrived from the manufacturer on Monday. Read all about that here.

April's NaBloPoMo = Scandal!

Who knows if I'll be able to keep up? Then again, if I can swing it with morning pages, this can't be that far off.

Here's to moving forward, new beginnings and an action-packed spring.

Quote of the Day: Dave Chappelle

Sunday Sermonette: Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers -- "Be With Me Jesus"

When I hold still and remember my earliest recollections of music, it sounded a lot like this -- a sacred chant in a sanctified place, with so many voices crying out to God.

Listen and be blessed.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh Lord, the time is growing nigh
When I must breathe my last breath inside
Lord, in my dying hour, stay with me, Lord

Oh Lord, my friends have gathered 'round
They're watching me slowly, slowly sinking down
Lord, in my dying hour, stay with me, Lord

Now Lord, now Lord, now Jesus time have come
When I'm a leave my earthly home
Friends standing around, tear in the eyes

They know that I am about to die
But I'm not worried, I'm not afraid
I know you do, Jesus, just what You say
You be with me Lord, day and night
I'm not afraid, I said I'm dying, don't leave me now

Oh Lord, I know you'll stand by me
When I'm in trouble, when I'm in misery
And Lord, in my dying hour, stay with me, Lord

Oh Lord, I know You'll stand by Your word
Whenever I call You, I know You have already heard
Lord, in my dying hour, stay with me, Lord

Now Lord, I said farewell, fare thee well
Fare thee well to my friends down here
I got loved ones waiting for me up there

Oh Lord, others are waiting for me
What a reunion, I know that will be
Lord, in my dying hour, stay with me, Lord

Pithy Thought of the Day About Women and Girls

“More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.

The equivalent of five jumbo jets worth of women die in labor each day... life time risk of maternal death is 1,000 times higher in a poor country than in the West. That should be an international scandal.” 

 

- Nicholas D. Kristof, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Spring Bucket List 2014 -- The Harlem Edition

I like bucket lists but I don't see any that accommodate me: a dazzling urbanite that's highly creative and still curious enough hope for the kind of fun that I can only have in New York City -- and yes, preferably Harlem.  Even though this place feels like an elegant gentrified corpse most of the time, there is a heart that still beats somewhere in these mean streets.  In a way it doesn't matter because I know how to make my own fun.  On the other hand, it matters a lot because this is New York City -- the one place in the world where I shouldn't have to work this hard to find things that are unique to this city.

Here's what I'll be up to this spring.

1. The Clean Program -- because nothing recalibrates me from the inside out like this does.
2. Africa Now! Festival, April 2 - 6
3. The FREE 30-Day Yoga Challenge
4. Keith Faison Presents An Easter Show, April 19th at The Apollo Theater
5. The Annual Easter Parade of Hats, April 20
6. La Casa Day Spa Detoxification Package
7. Harlem Jazz Shrines, May 4 - 10
8. Radiant Light: Stained Glass from Canterbury Cathedral at The Cloisters, February 25 - May 18
9. Gauguin: Metamorphoses, March 8 - June 8
10. Carrie Mae Weems: The Museum Series, January 30 - June 29

Drinking Junk Food: No More Soft Drinks!

I gave up soft drinks for Lent, which wasn't difficult. Those extra cans of Coke (from the Chinese delivery guy! Yay!) are stocked up in the back of the fridge, waiting for visitors to drink them.  I'd pretty much signed off on sodas awhile ago, once I started eating clean and reading labels habitually. I stopped drinking Kool-Aid and flavored drinks when I was a kid. Thankfully, diet sodas never did it for me. There's no real sweet tea up here, either. Thank God. I love sweet tea.

It's bigger than any of that, though. I don't live in a part of the country where it's understood that I will get free refills of the soda of my choosing in my gigantic quart container of a Big Gulp from places like 7-11 -- and keep it within easy reach, whether I'm at my desk or in my car. 

This sounds excessive but it's true: Americans drink roughly 50 gallons of soda per person per year.  That's a LOT of sugar -- and/or high fructose corn syrup, which is basically the devil. The soft drink industry knows that people are drinking less soda these days, which is probably why they're all manufacturing bottled water now.  Shockingly, it's just purified tap water. (Brita water bottle, anyone?)

Old habits die hard, though. I'd have a Coke if a bacon cheeseburger was an option. And although burgers haven't been on my menu for awhile, I wouldn't rule them out if I were flying the Japanese flag.

I don't know why I've become so curious about what happens to the body when certain things are consumed.  Maybe I'm turning into a kind of Howard Hughes, of sorts.  If my great-grandparents didn't eat it, neither do I.  The truth is, I've been a pretty good egg, so far -- I don't smoke (never did), I wear sunscreen (always have) and I exercise (I love boxing).  At this point, I  don't want to consume any toxins or carcinogens, if I can help it.  Not eating anything that contains cancer-causing chemicals, contaminants, GMOs or preservatives is a pretty good start -- but that's kind of huge because they're in everything.  If you eat bread from Subway, you're eating a yoga mat. And it's not just Subway, either. Check this list of over 500 products and 130 brands to see if you've been eating azodicarbonamide -- otherwise known as ADA -- the same chemical that makes flip flops. Needless to say, this chemical is banned in Europe and Australia.  No wonder the food tastes so good in other countries.

Do I love baked Chee-tos? Of course.  Do I want to try to drive a car with my feet? Absolutely. At the end of the day, it's just not a good idea. Old habits die hard but they are dying.  None of this is easy for me. Every bite of food is a struggle. 

I wasn't down with Bloomberg's ban on large sodas. The bottom line is, we all make our own choices -- and after a certain age, you work hard to get your great body and your good health, period. You probably shouldn't blame God for your lousy health and whatever diseases come with that when you've spent most of your entire adult life drinking, smoking, not exercising and/or eating garbage.

Sunday Sermonette: Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers -- "Wonderful"

If Sam Cooke is the epitome of what it means to be a soul singer, the group The Soul Stirrers embody all of what rock and roll contains. Within his sound, the secular and the profane walk side by side, with this explosive vocal delivery that is essentially the heart of who he is, crying out to God.  Are the vocals on this song really that far removed from You Send Me?

Formed in 1935, The Soul Stirrers were a quintet that insisted on having two frontmen -- one to sing high and sweet, the other to sing low, with grit -- and set the foundation for gospel, doo-wop, soul and R&B. You can hear where Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, Al Greene, Teddy Pendergrass and countless others got their sound.  The Soul Stirrers were inducted into The Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, which gives me at least one good reason to believe that organization isn't completely full of crap for the great ones they consistently overlook.  Like blues guitar icon Hubert Sumlin.

Listen and be blessed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Wonderful, God is so wonderful
he's wonderful, God he's wonderful

The Lord is my shepherd, he's my guide
Whenever I need, the Lord will provide
And praise my lords name
I know he's so wonderful

And O, he's wonderful and I better believe
The Lord is wonderful, oh yes he is
And O, he's wonderful, I know the Lord
he's so wonderful

And O, if you never tried God, try the Lord one day
And see when my father come down and make a way
And O, i can't help it but love God
he's so wonderful, wonderful etc.

He's been my mother and my father too
There's no limit to what my Lord can do

and O, I love God, he's so wonderful