Sweet Black Jesus...

I think it was Malcom Little, the gentleman who would later become known as Malcom X, who with the assistance of Alex Haley wrote about his belief in a Black Jesus. Given that his Malcom X's father was a follower of Marcus Garvey, and the religious movement birth from his teachings, it seems reasonable for him to posit this concept.

Of course, we don't hear too much about Black Jesus until Chris Rock, who played Marcus, the Thirteenth Apostle, in "Dogma," the best movie on theology and popular culture ever made. Yes, it is a Jay and Silent Bob flick, but in terms of dealing with concepts of concepts of religious doctrine, I have to say, it is pretty spot on, even if it does piss a lot of people off.

All of that backstory aside, rarely do we get to encounter images of Black Jesus. So call me happily surprised when I strolled into a weird flea market and found all of these along with other carnival midway prize fair, you know, Scarface posters, Little Mermaid mirrors, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The first image I came across was sandwiched between a Tu Pac picture and a 50 Cent picture. Yes, Black Jesus likes to roll with the thugs. Why? Because Black Jesus accepts everyone, just like White Jesus does.

Here we get to see Black Jesus in a number of scenes of healing, preaching, and martyrdom. I think of this as the epitomy of struggle image.

The last image is the best of all. This triptych is of an all Black Last Supper, or as I like to think of it, the Blast Supper. Of Course Jesus is in the Middle. If I made this picture thought, I would have made Judas a white man.