The Resurrection Will Not Be Televised pt. 2: Revolutionary Beginnings

Over the next few days I will publish the totality of one of my final papers The Resurrection Will Not Be Televised. Feel free to comment and give me your opinions.

The Marginal Jew & Organic Revolutions of Love
The origins of Christianity lay in the humble servitude of a Jew, named Jesus, from a small town in Galilee, called Nazareth, who in the ultimate act of service gave his life “as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, NIV). This act of redemption is the central event that culminates in the birth of the peaceful Church and the death of the Zionist Messianic hope of over throwing the empire by means of violence and the reinstatement of the Jewish king. Jesus started a revolution of love, which was to grow organically like a mustard bush (Matthew 13:31, NIV), instead of a violent deposing of the oppressor as expected by his Jewish contemporaries. Jesus knew that “you can’t lead the people, if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people, if you don’t serve the people” (West). Thus he commenced on his revolution of love birthed in the ultimate act of service.

Malcolm in the Middle of Criminal Minds
“By any means necessary,” the most infamous words spoken by the late Malcolm X, have influenced the Hip Hop generation immensely. It would be fair to say that the Civil Rights Movement is the mother of the Hip Hop generation, but if it is the mother that means then that the revolutionary Black Panther Party is the father. In the revolutionary spirit of its father and the nonviolent praxis of its mother, Hip Hop was birthed if only to utter the words “We will be heard by any means necessary.” So with the catholic sound system, comprised of speakers and stereo amps gathered from throughout the neighborhood, they gathered in the parks and “partied for their right to fight” (Enemy) to be heard. Hip Hop was created to be a vehicle through which the consciousness of the ghetto could be raised. Afrika Bambaataa, often considered the godfather of Hip Hop, gave it its name. “The word ‘hip’ comes out of the Wolof language, spoken by the Wolof people in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania. In Wolof, there’s a verb, ‘hipi,’ which means ‘to open one’s eyes and see.’ So hipi is a term of enlightenment” (Asante 250). So Hip Hop was created to be the soundtrack of the enlightenment of the ghetto.

Prophets & Apostles
In the midst of a system that was deaf to the cry of the poor and made mute the voice of the oppressed, Prophets and Apostles went forth to speak on behalf of those who had no voice and were not heard. They proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom for those locked down, enlightenment to those blinded, and the release of those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18, paraphrase), and whether with a mic in hand or two by two the message went forth.

Both the Church and Hip Hop were born of struggle and strife, conflict and controversy. Both the Church and Hip Hop started out as voices of spiritual, cultural, and social reform in the midst deep oppression. The Church was birthed in an occupied Jerusalem, oppressed by the imperial forces of Rome. While Hip Hop was birthed in the projects of the South Bronx, New York, a ghetto heavily harassed by the notorious NYPD. Both sought to subvert their oppressors’ brutal tactics by shouting to the people that “there is something better than this.” Not to intermingle their struggles as one, but too establish the cognitive similarities of their origins. The Church was birthed in the intrinsic mixing of the metaphysical and the physical, while Hip Hop was birthed purely out of the physical. Both have expanded to affect the entire world. Both have seen a rapid expanse in their infantile stages. Both have been infected with lust for power and money. Both have whored themselves out for profits. Both are beginning to be referred to in the passé by adding the prefix “post” to their names.