Do your part put to the Coronavirus Pandemic to an end. It is not over yet. It may be getting better for some of us, but it is not better for all of us. Stay informed, get vaccinated, share your experiences and be well. Best wishes, Bruce.
It’s been hidden for so long.
Far away, but burning brightly as a distant star
Waiting to be seen.
Waiting for my eyes to open and my mind to find what has always been there.
I am African. Science tells me so and I believe the Science. My soul includes the soul of my most ancient of ancestors, my inner African .
All of my ancestors likely had the same skin color when they started our out of Africa on the nearly two million year journey to where we are today. My gene contributors went to the north. One line to the Middle East and the other line to what is now known as Scandinavia.
Others stayed in Africa and their skin, like that of my ancestors, probably started pale and changed to a darker color later on to better adapt to the intensity of sunlight nearer to the Equator.
Skin color is a function of biological adaptation to one’s latitudinal location. Nothing more and nothing less.
Why worry about skin color? I, being from the privileged class of people called Caucasian or White have no standing to speak on the subject. End of subject.
I would still be living in blissful ignorance to the issues related to skin color if not for the magnification of that distant star, my African soul. A decade ago, even 18 months ago, I didn’t really get Black Lives Matter. I didn’t have a clue. By virtue of my pale skin I’ve been granted some sort of undeserved privilege. It doesn’t feel good.
People and conversations, school and church started bringing that distant star ever closer. Ta’Nehisi Coats in “Between the World and Me” brought that star a little closer. Robin DiAngelo in “White Fragility” magnified that star a little more. Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” brought the star closer still. Colson Whitehead’s novel “Underground Railroad” added more magnification. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi in “How To Be An Anti Racist” brought further magnification to what I had unwittingly been and how to change. Add Isabel Wilkerson and her book “Caste” which I am still listening to and the star gets just a little brighter still. Unitarian Universalist Minister Nancy Palmer Jones and UU lay leader Karen Lin focus me in even more with their book “Mistakes and Miracles” and the challenges of bringing multiculturalism into UU congregations. My own church community trying to “Widen the Circle” of our own church family.
I can almost see it now, my African soul, my shining star. It is still in the distance, but it is much closer now. I can faintly see it. Its light shines brightly through the ages. Current events magnify it even more and make me proud that deep down within me are my African roots.
My African soul delights in the growth I have made and my yearning to continue that growth.
Let me close with some music to clarify what I’m trying to say.
The song “Be A Light,” arranged by Tim Hayden with words and music by Joshua Miller, Matt Dragstrem, Josh Thompson and Thomas Rhett Akins and performed by the Alegria Singers from the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, CA in the Virtual Choir format under the direction and sound engineering of John M. Ector, is a powerful message for these times
Listen real closely to the words at the end of the song.
There is one other song that wants to be included here as well. It was written by UU songwriter Amanda Udis Kessler. It is called “Just Such A Time As Now” performed by a quartet from the Alegria Singers of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose.
Do good and be well,
Bruce
Bruce
Plenty to think about in your well written post.