Black Jesus movies asks, what is the color of faith?

The first film depicting a Black Jesus, and also suggesting that the Crucifixion could have been racially motivated, is set to hit movie theaters soon.

Color of The Cross, starring writer-director-producer Jean Claude LaMarre as Jesus and Debbie Morgan as his mother, Mary, focuses on the human pain and suffering that Jesus, his disciples, and his family endured instead of the bloody torture of Christ's crucifixion. And it asks the question, What is the color of faith?

"It's an important film. I think it's a film that speaks really at the heart of how we as Black people in this country see ourselves. The image of Jesus has been one that rests outside our own image for way too long. So it's about time to make a film like this," LaMarre tells Jet.

"Color of the Cross is not about dividing people, it is about broadening their perspective. I believe that Jesus was Black. Through other people's eyes he may be White, Latino or even Asian. We want to convey that it is not what the messenger looks like that is important, it is the message itself," says LeMarre, who personally financed the $2.5 million movie.

"At the end of the day, we as Black people have a ... very significant role in biblical history and the history of Christianity. The movie speaks on two levels: it's a film that I hope accomplishes two things at the same time. I made the film to create and to help build, by building Black esteem of Black people in this country, but at the same time destroying the prejudices that divide us.

"If White people can watch this movie and appreciate its message, then at the end of the day the color of Jesus really doesn't matter," he says.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning