<p class="s16"><span class="s20"><span class="bumpedFont15">WHO I AM – WHY I AM – WHAT I DO -- </span></span><span class="s20"><span class="bumpedFont15">PART 9</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">Again</span></span><span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">, JESUS WAS BLACK – Not a blond hair, blue eyed, peace and love promoting prophet…</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">For the past several weeks</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">I shared my certainty that </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">there are some who may be asking, “Why does it matter if Jesus </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">was</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> Black or not?”</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">First</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, I shared that it matters that Jesus was Black </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">because it is true.</span></span>​<span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">Second</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, I shared that it matters</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> that Jesus was Black </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">because </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">it </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">challenges us to rethink what we think about Black people.</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">Third</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, I share</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">d</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> that it matters that Jesus was Black because it forces us, and some of us need to be forced, to acknowledge that we </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">have been intentionally and systematically </span></span><span class="s24"><span class="bumpedFont20">Mis</span></span><span class="s24"><span class="bumpedFont20">-educated </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">(in the words of Carter G. Woodson) and therefore, cannot trust what was taught, and continues to be taught, to us and about us regarding our overall contribution to culture and </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">civilization in this world. </span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s12"><span class="bumpedFont20">Fourth</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, it matters that Jesus is Black because it encourages us to </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">reject assimilation as a path to </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">acceptance and </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">achievement. </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Since</span></span> <span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">we </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">continue to be taught that everything about us is bad, some of us have rejected everything about us and adopted the belief that if we can </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">assimilate</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> – that is, be like white people, then we will</span></span> <span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">achieve what we desire. The debate of whether to assimilate or not goes back to the antebellum period when newly freed slaves sought ways to minimize their Blackness in favor of adopting what it meant </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">to be white and/or </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">to be </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">accepted by whites. They bleached their</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> skin, straightened their hair, </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">pinched</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">their children’s noses, etc. </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">as a path to acceptance and achievement.</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Assimilation undergirded the </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">discussions</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois regarding the path to acceptance and achievement</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> of Black people</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">. </span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Today, assimilation is yet viewed by some as an appropriate path to acceptance and achievement. For example, some Blacks believe if their </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">children go to school with white children, they will get a better education</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">. If they</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> live in a neighborhood with white people, </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">they</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> will be able to live in peace</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">.  If they</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> can be accepted by white people – </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">receive invitations</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> to their parties, participate in their social organizations, sit on their corpo</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">rate boards</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, etc.</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> – they have arrived and are </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">now </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">somebody</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">.</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">No. Our children will get a better education when they </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">go to</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> school</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">s</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> that values </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">them and values a holistic educational philosophy of academics, culture and spirituality. No. We are able to live in peace when we live in neighborhoods where residents respect each other. No. </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">We</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20"> have arrived and </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">are somebody when we discover who God created us to be and what God created us to do. </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Accordingly</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, when we are in the presence of white people, we are not trying hard to prove to them that we are not “those Black people.” No, no, no. </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Our acceptance and achievement is not based upon being like and liked by them.</span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Wear your hair the way that you desire. Live in the house that you desire. Attend the schools that you desire. Join the organizations that you desire.</span></span> <span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">However</span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">, </span></span><span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">do them because that is what you desire, rather than doing them because you are seeking to fit in with white people as a path to acceptance and achievement. </span></span></p>
<p class="s22">​<span class="s23"><span class="bumpedFont20">Be who you are. Be who God created you to be. God created you in your skin color, with your hair texture, with your facial features. Appreciate who God created you to be and be the best you – as you are – that you can be. Dr. Floyd Prude said it this way, </span></span></p>
<p class="s13"><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20">Be who you is</span></span><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20">,</span></span><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20"> and not who you ain’t.</span></span></p>
<p class="s13"><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20">For if you is who you ain’t, </span></span><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20">then </span></span><span class="s25"><span class="bumpedFont20">you ain’t who you is.</span></span></p>
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