The Polarizing Complexity of the Kyrie Topic - Part One
Introduction and The Religious Perspective
Welcome to the three-part analysis of The Polarizing Complexity of the Kyrie Topic. This is Section I of three. You can find Part II here and Part III here.
I recently started watching the documentary Hebrews to Negros and wanted to present a discussion topic. However, I quickly realized that the subject was so elaborate that a step back (no basketball pun intended) was needed to fully understand all the ramifications and perspectives taking place.
This article in front of you is the summation of all those perspectives.
This topic is a lot more convoluted than any simple podcast or commentary can provide. The issue, however, is quite interesting because of the number of synonyms, misinterpretations, and technicalities that form this entire topic.
For one example, a semite1 can be referred to as anyone who speaks the Semitic language2, which includes a broad group of individuals known as the Afroasiatic family3.
That's just one example of how one word can have many meanings. As I researched more, I began to question if this whole media frenzy (Kyrie interview blowup) was not a deliberate polarizing event.
I say this because one has to understand what's happening here to make sense of things, but most of the population doesn't. Yet, they're immediately drawn to one side or the other; hence, the polarization.
This article is my hope to explain what I think is occurring thoroughly, clarify all sides of the equation, and hopefully educate the reader a little bit more about the reality they're in and inhabit.
I address this topic from three different perspectives because these perspectives are needed to understand the complexity at play. The first perspective will be that from a religious perspective. Next, we'll follow with the historical perspective, and we'll close with the political perspective.
To be as objective as possible, most of my references will be from Wikipedia. I do this to show the reader that all the information I present is public, factual statements.
However, users can manipulate Wikipedia, and most of these pages have been altered within the past week. You can only wonder if that's reflective of the narrative being changed with this controversy.
I hope you like this information, and if you would like to read more and learn more about the reality that we inhabit, please feel free to subscribe.
The Religious Perspective
Starting with the religious perspective, we must realize that when we discuss religion, this is a very personal topic and means so much to individuals. It won't be easy to see a clear picture without emotion, but we will approach this as logically and objectively as possible.
No religion or religious group of people is being attacked here. I am just calling that out.
Diving right it, we're going to address the topic of the term "Jew." From Wikipedia4, we can see that many definitions fit this one word:
In essence, the word "Jew" can be defined as a conglomerate of several different, albeit closely related, ideas:
A Jew is one who practices the Jewish religion, Judaism. This includes both converts and those who have been members of the Jewish religion since birth.
A Jew is one who is a descendant of the ancient Israelite ethnic group, and therefore is a member of the Jewish people. This includes those who may not be observantly religious, or maybe irreligious altogether, and claim an overtly cultural connection.
A Jew is one who, regardless of current religious identity, is directly descended from a Jewish ancestor. Traditionally, this has only applied to matrilineal ancestry, however, some Jewish groups also recognize Jewishness by way of patrilineal descent.
Similar to semite, we see how one word can have multiple meanings and interpretations - further adding to the complexity of the topic - but since we are discussing this from a religious perspective, we will focus on the description of one who practices the faith of Judaism.
That is quite different from someone called an Israelite, primarily if "Israelite" refers to someone who lives in modern-day Israel. We address this further from the political perspective.
Staying with this religious term, when we discuss a Jew, we are referring to the religion of Judaism, which is associated with the Bible. The God of the Bible is known as Yahweh, and individuals would like to see representation within the Bible when studying the Bible. And this is where things start to get a little bit dicey.
When discussing representation within the Bible, one must acknowledge the African presence. And if we admit that there was an African presence that far back, naturally, one wonders what that means in today's day and age.
To truly understand the African presence in the Bible5, here are a few characters and facts listed within it:
From Genesis to Revelation there is a great deal of proof that blacks are present throughout the Bible:
In the Hebrew, Adam (or Ahdahm) is defined as swarthy, dusky, reddish-brown soil, dark-skinned like a shadow. Aphra: The soil from which Adham was made, meaning: dust, clay, always very black or very dark brown in color. (The Biblical History of Black Mankind by C. McGhee Livers)
The Garden of Eden was described in Genesis as having been near a four-river system in the region of the lands of Cush, Havilah, and Asshur, which today would be near the borders of Eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. The birthplace of humanity was confirmed when the oldest human remains were found in Ethiopia in 1974. Science and the Bible are often at odds, but one thing both confirm is that the birthplace of humanity was in East Africa. (Eden: The Biblical Garden Discovered in East Africa by Gert Muller)
Many of the Hebrew patriarchs married or had children with women from African tribes. Abraham had children with Hagar and Keturah both from African (Hamitic) tribes. Moses married Zippora, who was Ethiopian. Jacob had children with two handmaidens from African tribes, and these children became the patriarchs of two tribes of Israel.
From an African, African-American, Latin, Indian - any negroid race - perspective, from a historical context, all modern society has taught is that negroids and their descendants were enslaved.
The Bible and religion propagated this message with the "Curse of Ham6" theory. It started in the 19th century (simultaneously with Evolution). Ironically, under this theory, the Egyptians were identified to be from a Caucasian race since they built the Pyramids.
Nevertheless, reading the Bible from the negroid perspective and seeing that there were people who resembled you makes this religion come alive. There's a more profound connection there. It becomes more personal.
As an negroid African, I realize the need to find yourself in spiritual history. Religion is there to introduce us to spirituality, but multiple religions have been tainted or politicized.
Two religious ideologies that I strongly recommend would be, first, Gnosticism. Be warned, Gnosticism tells an entirely different view of creation than the whole "God created the Earth" story.
The second would be IFA, one of the oldest spiritual practices known to man, which has been said to have elements within the Bible and Hebrew language and predates Greek and Roman times by millennia.
And this is why this aspect of the topic is so polarizing. There's a religion at stake here. If one converts to Judaism, whether it be through historical relevance or conversion, they can consider themselves a "jew." We can have Black Jews, Asian Jews, German Jews, and even Russian Jews.
But the fact remains that "Jew" is not a term that is exclusive to one group of people. It can encompass all.
This section concludes the religious perspective of this topic. Next, we'll move to the historical perspective.
This concludes Part I of The Polarizing Complexity of the Kyrie Topic. You can find Part II here and Part III here.
References
Semite | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people
Ancient Semitic Speaking People | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic-speaking_peoples
Afroasiatic Family | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroasiatic_languages
Different meaning of the word “Jew” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3F
Africans in the Bible | https://sojo.net/articles/faith-action/black-presence-bible-uncovering-hidden-ones
Curse of Ham | https://archive.ph/d9JbA