"Hair Like Wool, Feet like Brass: The Power of the Image"

I attended a film documentary produced by Dr. Paula Whatley Matabane, a professor of communications at Howard University. The film explored images of Jesus and the African-American experience during the 1950's and 1960's.

This filmmaker sought to answer the question "Does the color of Jesus matter?"

Viewing that film gave me an opportunity to think about one's faith in a light that I never thought about before. It was not the concept of Jeus Christ being a man of color, you know, Black, that shocked me. It was realizing that Black people were being brutalized back in the day by people who looked like Jesus, blue eyes and long hair, but yet they still had this unwavering belief in this White Jesus image. I never thought about it like that before.

I remembered seeing some of those same images of Jesus in homes and on the fans we had at our church when I was growing up. I, like the filmmaker, also had a grandmother who took me to church e-e-e-v-v-e-e-r-r-y Sunday. Church started with Sunday school, morning service then evening service, every Sunday.

I sat there and smelled the bacon cooking in my grandmother's, Ma Minnie, house from my bedroom as a youth. The smell of food from her kitchen was my alarm clock each Sunday morning. Aromas from the day's dinner or breakfast that particular Sunday was such a wonderful gentle nudge to awake to.

But never once did I ever think to question those images I saw of Jesus. I did know there was this strong and powerful belief that came at the sound of His name inspite of what He was suppose to look like and I didn't know that it was called Faith then. Now, that kind of Faith I was taught has taken me a long way. For that I am truly grateful.

That lesson has also help me to understand, but not accept hatred.

It too was taught.