"Actually, Jesus was black. Haven't you seen Madonna's Like a Prayer video?" -Meg

Meg's black Jesus quote came after I relayed an overheard conversation from today:

Participant #1: Jesus wasn't white, he was Jewish.

Facilitator: Actually, Jesus was of North African descent.


So the last time I looked on a globe, Israel was in the Middle East, but it does turn out that some people wonder if Jesus has roots in North Africa...Once Laura overheard an argument in her classroom between two kids, debating if Jesus was black or white.


Anyway, I met Meg at West 5 for dinner with Laura and we talked about our days... Meg built some fish habitats, Laura taught kids about the American dream, and I sat through what might have been the worst "training" opportunity ever.

It was awful for many reasons. One of the facilitators kept using the phrase "these people" - seriously, she said it like 18 times, as in, "how would 'these people' feel about that?" and I wanted to raise my hand and ask her 1) who she was referring to with the phrase "these people", 2) how the phrase "these people" impacts the people about whom she is speaking...and I wanted to send her Obama's remarks to the NEA on the use of the phrase "these kids" - This is just a serious pet peeve of mine, and I should probably work on letting it go.... I didn't call her on it because I had already caused trouble previously and felt like it wasn't in anyone's best interests to argue.

(If you want to see Madonna in all her 80's glory, check out the Like a Prayer video.)