Who Bleached Jesus?

Why is it so hard for white people to confront the reality of racism?

Is there some sort of cellular fear embedded in light skinned people that feels a desperate need to hold a position of superiority to compensate for being the true minority shade of human on planet earth?

What drives the conscience brain to continue holding this utterly flawed position?

This has puzzled me for years.

I’m not kidding.

For the longest time I thought it was just my country.

Then I realized that in other countries around the world there was a skin shade class distinction as well.

Rice powder on the face of a Geisha in Japan; skin bleaching in China and India-

The lighter skins of the wealthier classes in Central and South America-.

Then I thought maybe it was about working outdoors in the sun.

A stigma on being a common labor worker. From that logic, lighter skin was proof that you had no need to labor in the sun, you had enough bucks not to-.

That sort of made sense to me- a bunch of posers determined to make sure you knew they didn’t have to work- it was a marker of privilege.

But then they went and bleached Jesus.

Why?

We all know the part of the world that Jesus came from didn’t have blond, blue-eyed people.

Were white people attempting to take possession of Jesus and disassociate darker skinned people from any visual connection to their savior?

The bible says god created man in his image. So does the Torah. In the biblical location of his birth, Jesus would have skin somewhere between olive and brown, dark hair with soft or kinky curls.

If you accept Jesus as God's only begotten son you might need to adjust your views on skin tone. .

Of course, that’s only if we stay determined to classify ourselves topically.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter. We’re all God’s children-, which makes a lot more sense, but if we accept that as true, then we have a lot of explaining to do.

Like, what right do we think we have that justifies our actions in this continued repression and enslavement of humans by color?

I never got that memo. Is that part somewhere in the “free will” section? If it’s a character test, I think we’ve failed horribly.

Why do white people continue to cling to the wrongness of these actions?

And how in the world anyone can claim to be a Christian and find a way to rationalize this stupidity is beyond my ability to fathom.

After reading the tale of Pharaoh were no lessons learned? We know how that worked out.

In the entire, ginormous Bible there are only two texts that racists cling to for justification of their wickedness; Noah cursed Canaan, because poor Ham stumbled upon him naked and drunk, (and how was that his fault?) and in creation that one sentence- God created everything ‘after it’s kind’.

And again, that logic starts with an assumption that dark skinned people are a completely different race.

That’s just not true.

Not scientifically

Not evolutionarily

Not energetically

Not anatomically

It’s Not. True.

So what will it take for us to learn?

Why is it so terrifying to accept that we are all Gods children?

It makes no sense, particularly as it’s such a weak position.

Now one thing you can find all over the place in scripture is countless examples of what happens to people

Who covet,

Who steal,

Who gather and hoard,

Who oppress,

Who are gluttonous and get fat on the suffering of others,

Who fail to share their food with the wandering traveler,

Who fail to extend hospitality to strangers,

Who worship false gods and golden idols,

Who hold themselves higher and think more of themselves than the rest of creation.

There was never a better time since the creation than this moment to Love thy neighbor as thyself.

What the hell is going on here?

We’re supposed to protect the innocent.

We're putting children in cages.

We're taking babies out of their mother’s arms at the border.

We are jamming people through a mock court system then discarding them after they’ve suffered such horrible abuse that they’ve risked their lives, abandoning everything they’ve ever known to come to America.

The image we’ve had for a very long time is fading fast, but we used to be a beacon of hope for the oppressed.

If you worked hard, you could make something of yourself here.

You could be part of the American dream.

Now we have more people locked up in our country than everywhere else on earth combined.

We lie, cheat, steal from the poor and downtrodden, poison our own water supply and prey upon the kindness of others.

We feed the fears of the ignorant,

encourage race baiting,

mock science,

deny climate change,

and keep folks in office who are actively doing everything they can to take away medical care in the middle of a pandemic.

And for people who feel their hands are clean because they aren’t the ones personally doing it, you’re wrong. It’s even worse.

Now here we are in 2020 and a 25-year-old law abiding black man was shot to death in Georgia by a sheriff and his son for the crime of jogging.

How dare a black man go jogging on a Sunday afternoon!

How dare he try to run away from two white men with loaded guns in a pick up truck yelling at him!

His instincts were good.

He’s dead now.

That wouldn’t happen to a 25 year old white man running down the street at night with a stereo on his shoulder.

It’s just wrong.

There’s a name for it- Murder.

And the worst part is this is nothing new.

This type of assault is common.

Every day, someone is prejudged

and sentenced for the crime of being black.

I have the skin of a caucasian woman.

Does that make me honest?

Safe?

Trustworthy?

Kind?

No it does not.

Like a winning lottery ticket-

I could be a child abusing monster, a coldblooded thief- but I’ll get the benefit of the doubt. Every time.

Why? -The color of my skin.

Did you know I grow Roses?

When I say, “I grow Roses”, what do you imagine?

What do they look like?

How do they smell?

Is it a hedge, bush, or climbing vine?

Do they grow in the sun, or partially shaded by a tree?

How many flowers are called a ‘Rose’?

Just one.

How many colors, sub types, and growing habits can they include?

Countless.

How many subtle, spicy or in some cases overwhelmingly heady scents can they have?

Infinity.

In spite of generational, systematic, concentrated abuse and repression, limited opportunity and the never-ending pain of injustice heaped upon them, black and brown Americans have continued to persist.

Thank God So what’s the deal? What kind of rock star used donkey salesman sold that master race bullshit to justify bloody murder?

What did he covet?

What keeps this ugly beast alive?

And why does this petty, grasping spiritual larceny persist?

Can someone please explain this to me?

I love my garden, and I know I have to give it attention or it suffers. If I neglect my garden, weeds sprout up and take over.

They choke the plants and steal all the water. Before long there’s nothing but sticker vines, nut grass and ant piles.

You can spend years nurturing a green space, but ignore it for one season and you’ll have twice the work to get back half of what you lost.

We have to pay attention. It's important.

Set aside some time to feed and water the beautiful flowers we've planted, so our lives will become richer and our gardens will thrive.

We have some old ideas running loose that need to be eradicated.

Their stench is poisoning the thought garden.

They're tucked away behind the plants we love and nurture, stealing the water and nutrients from the soil.

They sprout beside the young seedlings and grow over night, blocking the sun from their tender shoots, killing the delicate root before it has a chance to grow and become strong enough to survive the drought.

We get distracted by our daily cares. We get tired sometimes and we forget how much work went into the planting. We forget how much pain and sacrifice went into the growing.

The mistakes we made. The sacrifices that brought us back together. The lessons we learned and the rewards we harvested.

Our freedom.

Our choice.

Our voice.

Our future.

Our lives.

Our dreams-

We are all Gods children.

We have to remember to care for the garden. Every farmer knows, weeds grow.

Weeds are part of life. They thrive in neglected spaces.

Just like bad ideas. They're all over the place

They have to be pulled up and thrown out. Like the persistent little thieves they are, they'll keep coming back if you stop taking care to nurture the plants,

or the ideas,

or the freedom you love.

It might take some time to heal the soil before something new can be planted.

But- it's never too late to learn and it's always a good time to do better.

The air will smell so much fresher and the sun will shine brighter, and trust me,

God will be pleased.