The better question to ask is, “are Jews persons of color?” And of course that depends on how you define “person of color.” POC is an obnoxiously American phrase. It is loaded with division, and in as much as it is true, I suppose it is also obvious. But historically its not a phrase that has been used outside of the US, and I suspect that many who use it today would generally not categorize Jews as “persons of color.”

Recently I’ve watched three claims about Jesus worm their way into popular discourse: That Jesus was A). a person of color, B). an immigrant, and C). Palestinian.

Obviously, the increase in these claims coincides with their perceived political value. Last Christmas, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez made these points as an appeal for Christians to advocate for different immigration policies. Just yesterday, the Washington Post ran a (particularly strange) column appealing to evangelicals to stop supporting President Trump—something about his connection to the youth group purity movement of the 1990’s (!)—but it closed with the author reminding Christians that Jesus was a “person of color” and “[an] immigrant.”

As ironic as these statements are coming from people arguing for expanded legalized abortion, they are not confined there. I’ve seen pastors, authors, and church leaders repeat those three claims in contexts where politics don’t seem to be the goal. I fear that we are almost at a tipping point where those claims have been repeated so often that they are beginning to be assumed as true.

But these claims are problematic because they represent a subtle attempt to redefine Jesus away from his own Jewish identity.

Let’s tackle them one at a time.

Was Jesus “a person of color?”

First a disclaimer: I don’t really care what color Jesus’ skin was. When people say “by the way, you know Jesus was a POC,” they seem to be implying that this would be offensive to evangelicals. Hardly. If Jesus’ skin was black, brown, yellow or white, I find it entirely insignificant. He is the Lord of the entire human race, so his exact pigmentation and complexion is theologically irrelevant.

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