Parable of Tehuti walked among us in the Bay

 Parable of Tehuti

Art by Paradise Jah Love

Tehuti was a real being who walked and talked among us here in the Bay. He dressed in pharaonic dress head to toe. His presence was at almost every Black Kemetic event, sometimes silent, sometimes engaging in conversation with deep black consciousness roots, dirty south as we recall. But, most of all was his presence in pharaonic decorum, expressing his kemetic identity no matter what others thought. Tehuti made us bow down to our royal ancestors though his garb may have been of humble origins, yet it did not diminish or deny his royalty. 

He honored and respected me always until the end came near. In his last days he avoided me like I was the plague or had done something wrong to him, though such never happened. I couldn't under why he avoided me at every turn, especially since I had never wronged him in my mind. After Tehuti joined the ancestors, I continued trying to configure why he avoided me.

I wondered if he didn't know how to tell me he was going to the Upper Room. Did he want me to know? Did he know how to tell me good-bye? 

After his transition, I wondered if those in transition want us to know they are departing. I imagined there was shame and guilt in his heart. I imagined myself, when I know I am departing for sure, will I be gracious in my good-byes? Will I, in the manner of Tehuti, cross the street to avoid my friends saying good-bye because I love them so much.

Ya, Tehuti, I see you at every conscious event in the Bay, dressed in your Pharaonic attire as if you were on your throne. Perhaps you ruled that Black African 18th Dynasty, King Tut's time.

No mistake you were Black African Pharaonic King. Wasn't that the time of the heretic king

Akhenaton who gave us his prayer to the One God, ushering monotheism on the scene, soon come Judaism, Christianity and Islam. See Yusef Ali's translation of Al Qur'an, his notes on Akhenaton and his role in the development of monotheism. But, we think James Breasted in his classic The Dawn of Conscious, said it best for all times, "Monotheism is but imperialism in religion." Can you say it better than this? Alas, not only is monotheism imperialism in religion, but history, myth and ritual as well. Thus, he who dominates politically, militarily, economically, and spiritually, controls the narrative thus they dominate myth-ritual conversation. 

I end this conversation only to let you know Tehuti walked among us until he decided to avoid us as he entered the Upper Room. I have nothing else to tell you about Tehuti.

--Marvin X

7/17/21