ORIGINAL PAPER Some Children See Him...: Political Participation and the Black Christ Laura A. Reese Æ Ronald E. Brown Æ James David Ivers Received: 21 February 2005 / Accepted: 2 March 2007 / Published online: 28 March 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract This paper explores the role that membership in a politicized church and believing in a black Christ have on the political mobilization and participation of African Americans. Using data from the 1993–94 National Black Politics Study (NBPS), the authors conclude that imagining a black Christ is a radicalizing force on political participation. Hearing politicizing messages in a place of worship and believing that Christ is black appears to shift African Americans from relatively conservative or traditional forms of political participation, such as contacting offi- cials, to more non-traditional political protest. Further, it appears that imagining a black Christ is distinct from other aspects of a racial belief system and while it has political implications, it clearly has religious roots that separate it from other racial beliefs. Keywords Voting behavior Á Political participation Á Religion and politics L. A. Reese (&) Department of Political Science and Global Urban Studies Program, Michigan State University, 447 Berkey, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA e-mail: reesela@msu.edu R. E. Brown Department of Political Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA e-mail: aa4723@wayne.edu J. D. Ivers Department of Political Science, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA e-mail: jivers@emich.edu 123 Polit Behav (2007) 29:517–537 DOI 10.1007/s11109-007-9033-x