July 11, 2020
“Color”
By Jim Culp
This year, things have occurred on our planet that
is unprecedented in modern times. The world has become a different place, and
millions of youngsters will remember it as a time that is probably best
forgotten. But I want to talk about a trend that has become so monotonous that
I am growing immune to it day by day. This issue of “color” is an old thing,
and it’s time it goes away. Let me define that. I don’t mean to ignore it… that
is what we have been doing for three hundred years. When the “pale faces” came
to the Americas in 1492, they first encountered the Taino. These ingenious
peoples inhabited Hispaniola, an area in the Caribbean Sea that is known today
as the Greater Antilles. In his journal, Christopher Columbus wrote "They were very well built, with
very handsome bodies and very good faces....They do not carry arms or know
them....They should be good servants." Color did not persuade his
writings, but belief that his race was superior to theirs did.
Black Hawk, a leader
of the Sauk, wrote “If the Great and Good Spirit wished us to believe and do as
the whites, he could easily change our opinions, so that we would see, and
think, and act as they do.”
This
opinion of forcing someone’s ideals onto another person, tribe, or community, was
and still is the chief cause of wars on our planet, right after acquisition of
wealth. The Native Americans did not want to be Christianized. They did not
want to be assimilated into European culture. They had lived on this continent
for 14,000 years, and developed thriving societies. They had their issues, but
who doesn’t?
I’ve
made these examples for one reason. History is full of revolting occurrences,
disturbances, and just about any atrocity you could imagine if you exercised
your darkest demons. But I ask one thing…when should we say “enough is enough?”
Do we keep making one tribe, race, or belief the “bosses,” and keep making the
others their slaves? When will we stop using color as a measurement of a human
being? Why does ANYTHING have a color as the first world of its title? I am
asking that question to every single human being on this planet.
I
understand that people have had woes in their lives. I understand that some
people have had problems with the government and the police, but when you try
to say that we should exemplify one color of people for that, you’re smoking
some good shit.
Nationwide,
police shot and killed about 1,000 people in 2017.
In
2018, that number was less, reported at 999.
In
2019, that number was 1,008.
So
far in 2020, we’re at 506.
If
you’ll look at the statistics, the numbers are not all one color; they are all
over the place. Why do cops shoot people? You can study that all day, and when
you’re done, you might as well get some credits and finish your PhD in psychology.
I
have quoted these statistics to show you some facts, but I’ll close with an
opinion. We are never going to be free from conflict and pain until we all work
together for a better society. My next blog is going to tell you how we can do
that.
I believe
that conflict starts with labels. If my t-shirt says “Soundgarden is the best
band of all time,” and you are a Pearl Jam fan, there will be minor conflict.
If you wear a t-shirt that says “Black Lives Matter,” there will be conflict
just about anywhere you go. All lives matter. Black, brown, red, yellow, white,
and chocolate sundaes. Stop putting color in front of a name. Just because
something terrible happened does not give you the right to destroy property and
put your race in front of other races. Equality is about EVERYBODY. Like Mama
used to sing to me, “red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his
sight.”
There
ya go.
-Jim
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