Why Has The Western Church "White-Washed" Biblical History?

It may simply be a "sociological" phenomenon. The desire for a culture, any culture, to make the imagery and moral codes of historical, heroic figures their own. To identify themselves with the best and most heroic figures and acts in order to associate themselves with positive and virtuous ideals and ideology.

Is that the case with Western Christianity? Why has the influence and even inclusion of Black people in the bible, in significant roles I might add, been either reduced or overlooked in biblical discussions and studies? Then what of the contribution of African Christians and apologists during the early post Apostolic era? Why has their imagery also suffered from this "white-washing" motif? 

"The White Jesus. The God Of The White Man's Religion, Christianity"

One of the chants that have been reverberated over and over, quite in error, by groups such as The Nation Of Islam, and the Black Hebrew Israelites, and others who have held to Black Nationalism and Black Separatism, has been that the Bible and Christianity in general is the "White Man's Religion" and Jesus is a "White man's God".

In short the story goes like this:

The White man, took Black man both from his home (Africa), and his religion (Islam ~ at least in most cases) and stripped him of his cultural identity and re-indoctrinated him to believe in White superiority (aka: Christianity) and in the White man's god (aka: Jesus) and did this all as a control mechanism.

But the question is how did this "White man's religion" become a "White man's religion" and the Jewish Jesus become a White European in the minds of many?  

Author Forrest G Wood states this:

"Graphic portrayals of Christ had to be “as far removed as possible from anything that could suggest darkness or blackness.” The result was a Renaissance image of Christ that recorded his transmogrification from Semitic to Aryan, his dark hair and beard evolving into “the color of sunshine” and his dark eyes magically taking on the “color of the sky” from which he descended and to which he returned." ~  Forrest G. Wood, The Arrogance of Faith: Christianity and Race in America from the Colonial Era to the Twentieth Century (New York: Knopf, 1990), pg. 51.

So it seems that the evolution of the European Jesus and his association to a Eurocentric religion, where a cultural virtues were aligned with biblical values, was more of a sociological event than a biblical or religious or even migrational truth. 

White Christian teachers and preachers such as the late Billy Graham, noted relentlessly that Christianity was NOT a White man's religion, neither was it a Black man's religion, but a religion of ALL men, and that there was no cultural advantage/disadvantage to any race in accepting Christ or in repentance.

However, what some teachers did was severely reduce and downplay the influence of Blacks and Black culture from the biblical narrative itself. in the many places where Blacks or African countries and cultures are mentioned, they are nearly always downplayed when the teaching is positive and hailed when the teaching is negative. 

For instance...When I was in theology school, our Old Testament Survey professor taught a message on Moses wife, Zipporah without the mention in any form that Zipporah was or could have been a Black woman and that the reason that Moses sister Miriam and Aaron did not like her, or mocked and criticized her, was because she was Black. (Num. 12:1) 

Now, part of this stems from the fanciful conjecture that  Moses had 2 wives as opposed to 1, and that Miriam and Aaron were simply criticizing the one. However, there is no reason to think or believe that Moses had 2 wives from the text. There is reason however to believe that Zipporah, was not only a Midianite (Jethro or Reuel's  daughter) but was also a fine dark skinned woman of possibly Cushite (Kushite) or as the KJV says "Ethiopian" descent. Either of which would have led a faithful historian to conclude that the woman had African ancestry or heritage and therefore was a Black woman by heritage. 

Conversely, in Exodus 18, Jethro (aka: Reuel), Zipporah's father, being a Midianite, who by virtue of his lineage also had a historical Black heritage, was responsible for helping Moses to effectively organize his duties as a chief Judge to adjudicate the grievances of the People under God's direction. 

In other words, the first theocratic form of governance that the bible points to was, in part, organized by Blacks and people of color. 

This is hardly a narrative that anyone within Christianity preaches or teaches today. In fact it is often held that churches organized by Blacks are somewhat disorderly while churches organized by Whites are generally more orderly. (which is a completely different article) But the point is clear, Black people and positive Black culture over time, and even within the biblical narrative, has been downplayed or ignored and even cursorily stepped over in many instances. 

Very little effort has been given to pointing out the praise or positive contribution of Blacks within the pages of biblical writ and I personally believe this has led to the confusion, alienation and even anger of millions of Black people over time to conclude that they have no or very little positive place or history within the world and ultimately society itself.

Teach It In Schools. The Bible IS Black History

Most shocking to many is that Black people's place and history within the bible is certain and in many instances if not most, very positive. For instance, it was a Black man, from an African territory of Cyrene, that helped bear the cross of Jesus during the crucifixion. (Mk. 15:21, Lk. 23:26) That is certainly not coincidental. 

There is much more that can be said on this topic, but please watch this interview with Dr. Theron Williams. I believe you will find it eye-opening.