07.01.2022

Jesus Baby - Black or White?

Sarah Vecera © Photo: Johannes Schermuly/UEM

"The Saviour of the world born to us at Christmas was a person of colour. Full stop." Sarah Vecera, the education officer focusing on "Racism and the Church" and deputy head of the Germany region of the UEM, had called in mid-December on her Instagram channel (moyo.me) for people to question images"" and their own ideas of the white baby Jesus.

Here is the original text by Sarah Vecera:

"He is omnipresent: the fair boy in curly blond hair. White Jesus Baby. The white holy family surrounded by a crowd of white male shepherds and the white angel Gabriel.
What do these old familiar images actually do to us? In the incarnation of God, God comes close to us and becomes one of us. You might think that it is obvious that Jesus is pictured in the same way as the people here. However, there are two crucial points in these thoughts that are not taken into account:
What does "one of us" look like? Behind this is the assumption that German equals white. For one thing, we haven't been for a long time, because 25% of all adults and 42% of all children under the age of 5 have a migrant background, and if we had all once been white (which we never were), it would only have been because PoCs were banned in Germany for centuries.
There is a particular danger for white European people in terms of appropriating Jesus (quasi God himself). With the history of white supremacy in the bag, this comes hand in hand with unequal power relations, which we cannot exclude historically and structurally as churches. It was European Christians who helped invent racial ideology.
And apart from that, the Jew from Nazareth simply never looked like the European hipster dude from most Jesus films and Bibles. The Saviour of the world born to us at Christmas was Person of Color. Full stop.
Now, of course, you can say "But Jesus and Mary weren't as black as they are in this picture!" But let's be honest: for centuries we have made Jesus white, so I not only see it as equalising justice if he is now also black in 1-2 pictures, but also experience it as liberating and as resistance from racialised people."

The publication on her Instagram channel in mid-December 2021 had generated a lively debate on the topic and resulted in many positive comments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the many important impulses. They confirm that it is important and relevant that "racism and the church" has become a priority topic in the educational work of the UEM.