DANCING IN COLOR

I am watching Dancing with Wolves and am amazed at the repetitive content of history. 

 Two different races, two different worlds, two different languages, cultures, way of thinking.

They were divided by FEAR.

Fear of the unknown.

Fear of different.

Fear of rejection.

Fear of losing one’s culture.

FEAR.

Today, it is no different.

We are faced with many different races in one country, trying to co-exist in a world that perpetuates HATE and FEAR.

My heart grieves at the notion that WE as a nation, a people have lost the FREEDOM to CELEBRATE and to LEARN the differences of other cultures.

I was told by someone, who is not my same race that I do not have a “right” to understand or learn about her culture. That celebrating and understanding that culture is somehow “racist.”

I was told that when I identify certain foods with a culture that I am “racial stereotyping.”

I am not learning a culture or celebrating the uniqueness of that culture… I am being “racist.”

There is so much FEAR in the hearts of people, that we, as a people, cannot even enjoy the diversity and beauty and rich color of humanity that God created for us to be a part of.

In all areas, both sides, no matter how people spin it, or how history records it… Murder, death and war is all because of FEAR…. And the side with the most power, money, man power, and weapons wins… It has nothing to do with a color or race or culture. Rather it has to do with power.

We adopted a young boy from Rwanda when I was 12. He was exactly my age. My parents gave monthly to Compassion, so that he could go to school. The supported him until he was 21. They continued to keep in contact with him, even after our time of support was up. There was a war: tribe against tribe, black skin against black skin; rapes, murders, death, horror. It had nothing to do with color, race or culture… they were from the same place. It had to do with power, fear, and anger.

Justin, as we called him, lost his dad and 8 of his 13 brothers and sisters. He survived. He saw death on a level, I hope I never know. It had nothing to do with the color of his skin, but rather the HATE of one group of people towards another, of the same race and place.

HATRED AND FEAR KILLED 1,000,000 PEOPLE

That is what happened in our country with the Native Americans. They were afraid of the "white people" and they were afraid of the "natives." In that fear, we coin terms and propaganda to fuel that fear, which then turns to anger. On both sides there was murder of the other, in order to protect a mindset that hindered growth, friendship and community.

The soldier was named “Dances with Wolves” and he wanted to learn about this other race and culture. He took a risk, he went into the “enemy’s camp.” The Native American they called “Kicking Bird” wanted to learn about this other race and culture. He too took a risk and went into the “enemy’s camp.” Both were able to learn and grow and establish a friendship of trust and honor.

They valued each other and learned each other’s cultures, and CELEBRATED it. They did not condemn or steer away from the other. In fact, Dances with Wolves left some of his culture behind to become a part of his new friend’s way of life. He partook in the difference, he learned a new way, and he celebrated and mourned the loss with them.  It was a beautiful dance of give and take and celebrating the VALUE of HUMANITY.

It was what he called...

Many different kinds of notes blending together to make a beautiful symphony of music, that delights EVERY soul, without any FEAR, just PEACE.

In the end, Dancing with Wolves, learned, understood, partook, celebrated, enjoyed and lived within the culture. He embraced a way of life, different than his own, in the face of much hatred towards the Native Americans, took a risk and became an advocate for them. Kicking Bird, also learned the ways of the white man and trusted him with his family.

They loved him, he loved them....even though they were different.

We are a people, who judge an entire group of people by a small minority of people filled with HATE and turn it into BONDAGE of FEAR and ANGER. 

There is no justice in hurting one group because another group was hurt. 

There is no healing in demonizing one group of people, because of the IGNORANCE and VIOLENCE of another.

There is no HOPE when division is celebrated and no one has freedom to take a RISK in friendship of someone unlike us. 

May we, a people, bound up in FEAR, which leads to prejudice, racism, hate and death… learn how to dance in the harmonic sounds of DIVERSITY and LOVE… in a nation that has NEVER really learned how to DANCE IN COLOR.

Seeing In Color

In a world torn by racial tension and dissension, I stop to embrace the reality of the why. I was recently reprimanded for engaging a culture that was not my own and called a racist. It created a deep wound that I barely escaped from. I sought the counsel of a dear friend, who identifies herself as "black",to try to understand why I would be accused of such a violent offense.

I was raised in a multicultural community, where color of skin had no bearing on anything. The only thing that mattered to this community was our love for one another. I was engulfed in a Utopian way of life that was almost fictional, and had no comprehension that such a thing as racism existed. I was a part of a community that became my family, and is still my family today. Many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, religious and non-religious families coming together to create this beautiful mosaic of life that created a solid foundation of truth, many fail to stand on. I saw the world in color, in a time when people still saw the world in BLACK AND WHITE.

In my most vulnerable time of brokenness, I was assaulted even more. I was told that I was IGNORANT because I did not see the world in BLACK AND WHITE. That we live in a yang and yang world and to see the world any other way is why the racial tension continues. I was shocked by the response. I thought that my dear friend saw the world in color as well, but after an hour of conversation, I realized that I was minority in how I viewed the world.

The definition of racism has nothing to do with color. In fact, the Jews, have suffered from racism for thousands of years. It had to do with their culture, belief, way of life and heritage and nothing to do with color.

The definition of racism is this:

-the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

True, in the United States, racism has been deemed as a black and white issue. True, that many African American people have suffered oppression, death, false accusation, discrimination and hatred. True, racism is real.

I am not ignorant to the reality of BLACK AND WHITE racism. In fact, it is one of my life long mission to see healing and reconciliation in the area of so much hate. However, the way I fight racism is not by perpetuating segregation. Continuing to separate people based on the color of skin, continuing to put people in categories and identifying people as BLACK AND WHITE, is complete and total racism. There can be no healing in separation. The reality of healing starts by acknowledging that this world is not separated in BLACK AND WHITE. Rather this world is in color.

It is like telling someone, who has been watching television in high definition, Technicolor, flat screen, 3D blue ray… that they are IGNORANT for watching television that way and should watch television from the 1950, BLACK AND WHITE, tube televisions. It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would I, who sees the world in color, want to regress and see the world in BLACK AND WHITE?

The fundamental truth lies in LOVE. God created each and every person with unique characteristics, spiritually, emotionally and physically. Each characteristic was hand designed by our God, for the purpose of glorifying Him and telling others about Jesus. To separate people out in color is demeaning the truth of God. To say that the world is driven by BLACK AND WHITE, is bondage. God does not judge a man by the color of their skin, and neither should we…

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, a vision to see a world where people walked and lived together in harmony, from ethnic and cultural backgrounds, to religious backgrounds, to skin color differences. His vision was inspired by the Holy Spirit and preached to a nation in racial turmoil. Today, 53 years later, our nation is still fixated on color and not character.

Today, as we celebrate a man, who suffered the highest price of assassination, to usher a nation into an era, where WE SEE IN COLOR… let’s not dishonor him by being stuck in the 1950’s where we still see in black and white. Let us be a people who honors God by seeing people the way God see’s people- which is by looking at their heart. Our flesh, and the color of our flesh will fade away, when we die. What remains is our spirit, our soul- that which makes up our character and unique individual person.

I experienced racism, when I was told that I do not have a right to celebrate a culture different than my own. That I do not have the right to understand or learn or be a part of a culture… just because I am WHITE. It devastated me. I didn’t know why at first, but it was because I experienced racism. The funny thing is, I am half Mexican. I took a piece of white printer paper and put it next to my arm… I am not white. My skin is not white, it is more of a caramel color. I put a black piece of paper next to one of the youth in our Bible Study, who has very dark skin… still his skin is not black, it was more of a dark chocolate color with warm hues of red. Trying to categorize people in black and white is IGNORANT. People are not only more than the color of their skin…the diversity and variation of color in people’s skin is so vast, that black and white should only EVER be used as the bookends of the variety of color that is in the 7 billion people that are on this earth.

I do not believe that being COLOR BLIND is beneficial. It strips the beauty of what God created in each of us. Rather I believe that God intended us to delight in the cornucopia of his creation, celebrating the differences of food, music, fashion, architecture, art, language, and culture. SEEING IN COLOR means you really do celebrate DIVERSITY and live every day in the beauty of it.  Diversity helps us to embrace someone different to us, to delight in their culture and to share a common attribute that binds us together as human beings…. LOVE.