The Shrine of the Black Madonna

I’ve found that most posts on the venerable 12(e) fall into the following categories: me complaining about things, listing bad things that happed to me, recounting humor anecdotes and the occasional rant. This will be of the last variety.

Watching the news I saw an interview with a reverend from “The Shrine of the Black Madonna.” This touched off a long time pet peeve: attempts to claim the race of Christ. Most American depictions of Jesus make him a white man; this church takes the position that he was black. Whether you believe that He was the Son of God, its pretty certain that he was an Israeli (I’m not sure when they stopped being Israelites and became Israelis, but I’ll use the latter). When was the last time you saw someone native to Israel or Palestine who was either white or black? Though Americans probably can’t stand the thought, Jesus most likely looked like an Arab with olive skin and curly hair. It just seems petty to claim that Jesus was the same race as you; this seems like claiming tacit aggrandizement by sharing the skin color of Christ.

I’m not asking for much, just give me an accurate depiction or description.