Though obscure to mainstream America, the knowledge the brothers from the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge shared came as no surprise to me. In the '80s, when the music was first termed the Black CNN, artists educated listeners about black history in America. The Israelites believe that it is their duty to change that. Watson says that pictures of Jesus seen in churches today contradict Biblical descriptions of a man with hair like wool and feet the color of burnt bronze. Instead, he says, representations of Jesus are twin to portraits of Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, hinting at a purposeful falsification of Christ's skin color.
People just go on face value, and they run with whatever they've been told.
Philly, Watson went through the Hebrew Academy in New York. In 1991, he was ordained as Priest Yawasap. Since he arrived in Portland a few years ago, he has ministered downtown and on the Israelites' cable-access program, The Hidden Truth . However shocking their views may be to some, Hebrew Israelites are not solely after controversy. Though they want their message to reach everyone, they feel a sense of urgency to touch black folks.