Why Would You Eat From A Witch?

Reflections on Tina Knowles’ Gumbo

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

A few months ago, a reader debated with me from something I wrote about how Black American culture is still immensely shaped by Christianity. She made the argument that Christianity’s hold is no longer as strong within the community particularly amongst the youth. It was a valid critique and one that I validated. It is true that Black Americans under 45 are far less religious than our predecessors. We as a collective do not attend church as much as our grandparents and parents did. Many of us are embracing alternative beliefs, different religions, no beliefs and a fewer amount of us are actually atheists. Despite that, I knew for a fact that Christianity still shapes our culture in countless ways and religion is interwoven with culture. This means that people are often culturally religious and not necessarily strict adherents to the faith. Sounds complicated but such are humans.

At any rate, if memory serves me correctly there was this big thing of Tina Knowles, who is Beyonce’s mother selling gumbo at the famous Black Houston Rodeo during March of 2026. Numerous people reportedly got sick from the gumbo and she was forced according to most reports to stop selling the gumbo. As this controversy was brewing , there was a concurrent conversation that seemed to dominate at the same time. It was the accusation of Tina Knowles and her family being involved in witchcraft. To be more specific , the conjoined dual practices of Louisiana Voodoo and Hoodoo. There seemed to be this thought that circulated about the gumbo being sold as a ritual. There was something about this that was so funny. And one that kept repeating itself when I watched those videos and people talking about the gumbo and Tina Knowles; why eat gumbo or anything from someone who you believe is a witch? The general consensus seemed and seems to be that people who practice ATR’s and/or profess to be witches are bad people. So again, why eat from someone who you feel is something that you think is bad? Make it make sense. The argument could be that the celebrity of the person would garner patrons and support regardless. Yet and still, it is something one should really ponder.

On that same wave of thought, other streams of thought came in. First , it validated my original statement about Christianity still retaining power within the Black community . The way people were invoking Jesus’ name left and right, dropping Bible verses , swearing an undying allegiance to the Father and Holy Spirit is evidence at least of that foundation not being completely broken. Even with my generation .This led me somewhere else with it.

Pre European and Arab contact, African peoples had their own faith systems. Those faith systems were actually centuries older than the European branded Christianity and Arab oriented Islam. There are countless Hotep scholars who can give a far more succinct run down on how those faiths are really manipulations and edited versions of African faiths. I’m not on that level so don’t come for me y’all. The most basic thing to understand is that the people who were the ancestors of modern day Black Americans as well as all of the afro descended people in the Americas had their own unique faith systems complete with languages, deities, practices , traditions , so on and so forth. Part of stripping of the identity of the Africans who were stolen, CHOSSA as my dear Laura M. Quainoo always refers to us as, was denying them the right to practice their religions. They were forced to practice Christianity. It should be well known enough to know that Black folks freestyle everything and religion was no different. And here we get the establishment and rise of afro syncretic religion or the combination of Christianity with our original African belief systems. Across the Americas, Hoodoo, Voodoo, Vodou, Santeria, Candomble, Orisha and so many more sprang up in populations of enslaved Africans. Those faiths survived in secret and under heavy surveillance by white people to ensure that making their god, our God, would keep us compliant. It simultaneously had the pronounced effect to make the white man , a god in many respects.

The argument is always made that out of all the countries in the Americas where black people were enslaved, it is us Black Americans who are the most disconnected from our roots. Hoodoo and Louisiana Vodou ‘ s survival to this present day debunks this fallacy in thought. In fact the syncretization of our culture was so effective that we don’t often recognize that many of our traditions, our food, our music, the way we pray, our sayings all come from Hoodoo and Voodoo. Eating collard greens and Black eyed peas on New Years is Hoodoo. Not sweeping someone’s feet is Hoodoo. Not splitting the pole, throwing salt behind your back and being careful with mirrors are all practices rooted in Hoodoo and Voodoo. Many of our grandmamas and great grandmamas heavily adhered to these rules and more and took us to church every Sunday. Depending on your family, some of those same grandmamas would frown about rootwork or lean heavy into it. It is very family dependent and it operates on a key foundation of Black American culture; secrecy.

Secrecy is huge in Black American culture. We have innumerable sayings about not the right hand not letting the left know what is what. It makes sense that people who have had to survive under the heavy weights of white violence and oppression would learn to keep things to ourselves. Our religious and spiritual beliefs were no different. It was quite okay and in fact beneficial to be loud and proud about being a church goer every Sunday. But you hushed your mouth about lighting candles, going to see a worker or doctor, keeping a certain bag and so on. Those were things that you didn’t talk about. I fear though that our people in many cases kept too quiet.

Many of us Black Americans are the descendants of root workers. We have ancestors who did all kinds of rituals. We had psychics, we had midwives skilled in all kinds of medicine. We had people who do spells of all kinds. We have always had those people in our lineages. Unfortunately, that knowledge was not always passed down. The tragedy I find in not passing that knowledge down is that it leaves us with a lack of respect for those faith systems and how they may have manifested in our lives and lineages.

Any other Black family heard that story about everyone eating that pot of Spaghetti or Soup that been “worked” on?

Another tragedy to me about this is the maintenance of white supremacy on our faith systems. We can by some accounts rightfully change the skin color of the Jesus we hang up. But, what do we do about the ancestors whose blood runs through our veins who was beaten to accept this faith that by its bastardization condoned our enslavement?

If our DNA and blood comes from our ancestors, how do they feel about our rejection of our original faith systems? Could our lack of connection to our source be fueling the turmoil that confronts Black Americans to this day?

It is undeniable that this is a different day and age in many respects. I find that as a collective, people are questioning a lot more. People are exposing a lot more. People are not keeping secrets as much as they used to. The world as mysterious as it is , seems to be commanding a spirit of rebellion amongst the people. Black America is no different and I believe that one of our biggest rebellions is happening spiritually. There is this energy of return, of repair, of risk to tear down that which has been designed.

The Black Church has many , many faults. It has done quite a bit of damage in our community. But it has also been the first place where many of our revolutionaries got their start. Many of our freedom fighters were bred in the Church. So much of our culture is rooted in the church. That community spirit and willingness to be so open comes from the church. To this day, I love a good Gospel session. So this is not to drag the Black Church or Black Christians. I do believe that there needs to be an acknowledgement and respect for all of our ancestral traditions. The Black Church will need to reckon with its origin story , its marriage with white supremacy and the effect it has had on our community. Wanna talk about witchcraft? Let’s start there.

So to get back to Ms. Tina’s gumbo and by extension Beyonce, I suspect it is people wanting to get in touch with those roots in ways they can’t even explain. Naw it ain’t just about that crayfish, sausage, crab , chicken, file stew over that white rice. It’s about those hymns, its about those baths, its about those essences that can’t be named but is felt. Like that saying about you can take someone out of somewhere but can’t beat it out of them. The people wanna know about their roots. It is telling that one of our biggest stars ever hasn’t shied away from hers . Whether it is just artistic extravagances or they really about that life, we may never know for sure. But I don’t think it is a coincidence that we love her so much.

What are your thoughts?

[embed]God Ain’t White Call to end the demonization of African faithmedium.com