I’m in Africa and I Can’t Find a Black Jesus
Writing by Jes on Thursday, 25 of December , 2008 at 9:00 am
The bench is breaking my back causing me to sit in full attention, but in true church fashion…you cant say anything if you didn’t donate to the building fund. I was invited to a Christmas program and being the gracious visitor I am, my face was of stone with smiles and Amen’s throughout this production where I was truly debating throwing out some of my salvation in order to ditch the program early. But the truth is, you can’t walk out of any Church function…I mean what type of Christian walks out on the birth of Jesus? So amidst the bad acting, horrible punch lines, sappy come to Jesus clichés, I sit there fanning and smiling…putting on my own one-woman production starring me in the lead role of acting interested.
And then, in middle of the nativity scene when the three wise men are walking to see the baby Jesus, reality hits a side step. There in front of my eyes was in the middle of Liberia, which is on the West Coast of Africa, was a WHITE BABY Jesus. A white baby Jesus being handled by an African Mary and an African Joseph, on looked by African Wise Men, and forecasted by an African Angel. There in the middle of it was a blue eyed, blond haired baby Jesus.
Now, wait…before everyone starts debating and pulling out scriptures and cultural peace symbols, this blog isn’t about what color Jesus is. This blog is about things just making sense.
See, it wasn’t until then that I stepped out of the play and into the Season Greetings of the holidays and noticed that NONE of the decorations that broadcast the wonders of this season represented black skin tones. There were no Black Santa Clauses, no Black angels, no black Christmas cards, and no Black or African Nativity scenes. And did I mention that I am in Africa? And in Africa, there are A LOT of black people?
I mean I wouldn’t have an issue if I was in Japan and saw a Japanese nativity scene of Jesus and the baby was Japanese. Makes sense, it matches the surroundings you know…but here, it seems almost foreign for someone to paint the baby Jesus black. I mean even if it was a white baby, an African represented the mother MARY so that means that Jesus could be Light-skinned with curly hair. Like a little Jaden Smith or that little light skin boy who played on Smart Guy with the twin sisters.
So, no I don’t get it. I don’t get the simple physics of not having a baby doll that looked like the parents. Better yet, it may be the simple truth that here in Liberia, there aren’t baby dolls that look like the population. The idea is that this country gets everyone’s leftovers is true and getting the scrapes of everyone else’s culture can allow your own culture to become diluted with surroundings. I don’t know if there is answer past observation…I mean, the baby Jesus could have had at least a kente clothe for a bed set. He could have been Albino. Something….
It is like the black people in America are fighting for something, more representation of blackness in the world around them and then when you get to Africa…never mind. There is no fight for that justice…but I don’t know if it is an issue. I do know, I wouldn’t have minded if some mother in the church had stood up and hollered out, “HOLD UP” and threw one of her little infant childs in the basket. I might had stood up and applauding, it’s like standing your ground on your cultural identity, and physics…how two dark skinned Africans gonna give birth to a White Jesus?
I guess in the end, there is some major point here….i thinki it is for us to donate colored baby dolls to the efforts in Africa.
Category: December 08
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg
No comments yet.
