In defence of hotepism: Response to Comrade Nephew

Dami Olatuyi
Jul 27, 2017 · 5 min read

I don’t always enjoy using energy to combat things that I see on the internet, but that’s where I have found myself this time. Weirdly, I don’t find myself rebutting the arguments of a free market nutcase, or a Breitbart fanboy; instead I have to combat the arguments about the close relationship between black people and metaphysical phenomena.

Our friend, known on twitter as @ComradeNephew wrote this piece: Entitled Metaphysics, Materials and the struggle for black liberation, available here. in which he basically castigates the extent of metaphysical importance in the black community. I find it particularly strange because I thought that it was common knowledge by now, that spiritual (metaphysical) traditions have existed in every instance of black society that we can find: spiritual practice is the foundation of black society itself. Of course, spiritual practice comes in different shapes and sizes. From that of Abrahamic religions to Orisha tradition, to Native American practices. They exist worldwide and over time.

The most troubling thing thing about the piece is that he has taken the analysis of a 7 or 8 year old of black literature, and has used it to colour his views on it today. He says that he was taught that all black people were descendants of Kings and Queens, and that all black people needed to do was to open our third eye to achieve full liberation, and that a woman's servitude to a man was correct and natural.

So let me get this straight. Comrade Nephew is somebody who considers himself well versed in thousands and thousands of years of black literature, and all he got from it was ‘it is good for women to be in servitude to men’? N***a are you serious!? Like really?? THAT is your impression of black literature? Huh? It would be fair to say that Abrahamic religions support the nuclear family because of the clearly outlined institution of marriage, and that men and women both have clearly outlined roles within that institution, but actual servitude? Which black leaders are teaching or have taught genuine servitude of the woman to the man is right and correct within our community. (Here I speak of genuine servitude as opposed to mutually beneficial arrangements where man and woman ‘serve’ each other by performing reciprocal but different duties).

What most upset me about the piece is the weakness of the arguments that comrade nephew is using to try and malign the close relationship between black societies and spirituality for our entire documented history on this planet. We need so much more than “the third eye doesn’t exist” to consider rejecting our metaphysical inclinations as a means of improving our human condition. How does he know it doesn’t exist? Can he demonstrate this? And anyway why would having a third eye, or believing in it’s existence prevent one from doing all she can to improve her material condition? Seriously, I want to know. I want to know whether all we need to do to get out of our wretched state is to destroy our House Gods, put down our Bibles, and stop attending the Mosque. If Comrade Nephew believes that this is the case, Comrade Nephew should say so in clear terms.

And it’s this confrontation of material and metaphysical which is another problem with his piece. To Comrade Nephew, the two are diametrically opposed. It is either materialism or metaphysics. You cannot have both. My instinct about a person who would present them in this oppositional way, is of someone who does not respect the material, and who does not understand the metaphysical. Why? Because even at the most fundamentally basic level, all human metaphysical connection on Earth must be experienced through the instrument of the human body: which is always material.

In his weak dismissal of metaphysics, did Comrade Nephew miss the teachings of Christianity, specifically of the Trinity which identifies God as both the son (material) and the spirit (metaphysical)? In truth, at least as far as African societies go, metaphysics and materialism complement each other, they support each other, we could even assert that you cannot have one without the other.

Surely, there is a good and necessary point to be made about, for example religion being the “opiate of the masses” in black communities, supporting oppressive power structures and stifling revolutionary thought and action. That argument would have been applauded by myself and others, but the writer chose not to make it. Instead he chose to actually question the value of all metaphysical beliefs in black communities! Regardless, followers of different spiritual traditions have had their place in revolutionary thought and action within black communities: the Liberation Theology of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador and Khalid Mohammad of the Nation of Islam come to mind. Who knows whether Nat Turner would have been moved to lead a rebellion on slave plantations without a knowledge of the Bible?

The piece talks about a “dangerous trend of hotepism” but doesn’t clarify what hotepism is, and therefore can’t demonstrate why it’s dangerous. Is hotepism the rejection of material values in favour of metaphysical ones? If so why use the phrase “metaphysics and hotepism”. Moreover, the writer surely contradicts himself when he uses that term anyway, as he intentionally or unintentionally ostracises the followers of hotepism (whoever they are) from the rest of black people.

Ha. This is especially ironic given his fixation with ‘class analysis’, which he raises several times. In his view, the focus on the metaphysics prevents us from the rigorous class analysis which we as black people need. Othering the followers of hotepism in this way is the first step towards a difference in treatment which constitutes part of class conflict. How’s that for an analysis.

Comrade Nephew talks about some having no real knowledge of history literally one paragraph on from reducing thousands of years of African Literature and metaphysical tradition to the subjugation of women and the third eye. Three paragraphs later he recognises Nelson Mandela as a socialist leader who understands that a “proletarian revolution that will do away with oppressive white supremacist social hierarchies is inevitable”. Absolutely anybody who actually knows the basics of Nelson Mandela’s history will find this recognition laughable, or like myself positively bizarre. Comrade Nephew never comes across as a well informed writer.

He also decries the ‘black people descended from Egyptian Kings and Queens’ narrative as it is historically inaccurate, and also suggests that black people need to be descendants of royalty to be worthy of liberation. The lack of understanding of the writer at this point becomes jarring. He’s written a weak critique of metaphysical study within our community without understanding either what he’s criticising or black history itself. There were in fact black Kings and Queens of Egypt. And the reason that Egypt is used as a focal point in black civilisation is twofold: Firstly it is due to the incredible, unparalleled feats of architecture and engineering that we accomplished there. The Giza Pyramids are the most obvious example. And secondly it is due to the fact that because of it’s location, it has been one of the biggest melting pots of African cultures ever, especially during the dynastic period. Comrade Nephew then claims that the notion about black Egyptian origin is “metaphysical garbage”. At this point I give up.

I’m releasing a book soon. I tweet @damidude

Dami Olatuyi

Written by

Future Lawyer, sombre brexiteer and writer. Tweeting at @Damidude

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