I recently completed watching a Netflix documentary called, “High on the Hog.” I found it to be sneakily illuminating. You are watching this discussion around the origins of dietary tradition, and you find yourself being educated in the soil which produced the foods. The soil is the souls of Black folk. This soil is rich with the nutrients of determination, hope, perseverance, creativity, intelligence, compassion, forgiveness and so much more. The food is a reflection of Black folks’ triumph over death and suffocatingly thick despair. I see in Black people a tenacious capacity for reaching for a sun that faith says is just a little bit further away from warming their faces, which encourages them to push through yet one more layer of earth until they find that light. We are the relentless nature which keeps coming up through the cracks in the concrete. I see the strength of human determination to live and give life, contrary to an opposition force determined to extinguish our life. You must choose the narrative for looking at your history. This documentary confirms the narrative that I embrace, which is one that shows the Black experience as one of transcendence through the rocks, briars, storms, and winters of earthly life.
I am not saying these characteristics are only seen in Black folk because I truly believe all men come from the DNA of GOD, but Black folk have been forced in a unique way to draw from deep internal places because they faced so many barriers and opposition to receiving nourishment for their souls through external sources. We developed skills for excavating the soul to tap into deep inner springs of strength and hope. Through these deep wells within, we found the strength to transcend the perpetual night to reach the sun of new days. Drinking from these wells are the likes of DuBois, Douglas, Booker T, Keaton, Sojourner, and Tubman.
The documentary “High on the Hog” reveals the culinary heritage which once made Black Folk the healthiest people on earth, so much so that our strength was sought to do work others were too weak to bear. Today’s hypertension, diabetes, mental illness, and other self-destructive practices plaguing Black Folk are not a true reflection of our ancestors. Yes, we have darkness in our past, but the preponderance of darkness reflected in Black folk today comes more from conforming to the negative rather than the legacy of transforming the world around us through our inner connection to the positive. That positive being the Love reflected from the inner light of YAHWEH. There is misinformation regarding faith in YAHWEH and the promise of YESHUA HAMASHIACH as being a western creation and tradition, instead of the truth of it being knowledge from the ancient east. The writings of the Old Testament date back to the 6th century BC. This knowledge of the Old Testament is what prompted the Magi from the ancient East to come looking for YESHUA HAMASHIACH, the promised Messiah. The origin of Christianity comes from regions historically populated by people of color.
I just wanted to close this writing by glorifying YAHWEH and not man or a particular race as the source of love, righteousness, and life. The book of John testifies that YESHUA is the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world. Any remnants of virtue found in our souls come from the Light of YAHWEH.
Having a physical descendant from people sometimes called Black folk, who today still suffer from TSD (traumatic stress disorder, because the prefix of post does not apply since the traumatic stress is still occurring), I feel a particular debt at times to offer the healing balm of YESHUA to the Black experience. I see the evidence of our lost and distraught souls often in the practice of self-medicating with the poisons of the western apothecaries. We must do as our ancestors have done and persevere to follow GOD away from the lifestyles of oppressive empires through the Red Sea of redemption, through the wilderness of sin, until we get to the promised land of our inheritance. The resting place of ALL who are willing to forsake their own ways in obedience to the Spirit of Love.
theinscribedheart 
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