BROWN AND WHITE - THE UNSPEAKABLE SPOKEN HERE

 

 

You probably won't hear anyone else saying this, but I will:

 

Not all people who have brown skin are the same.

 

Not all the Negro, Coloured, Black, Afro-American people are the same, no more than all pale skinned Caucasians are the same.

 

Yet people always speak of "Blacks" as if they were one people, one organization, one nation, of one history, one character. What a lie! Yet most people never stop to wonder if it is true. No, it is not true.

 

People whose ancestors originated in Africa are as diverse as people with pale skins whose ancestors came from Europe. And, by the way, folks, we ALL originated in Africa. All human beings have their roots in Africa. Time and climate have changed our physical characteristics but, if you prick us, do we not bleed?

 

People descended from the slaves brought to America in chains are not the same as dark skinned people who have come to America in recent decades from Africa or the Caribbean or the Middle-East, Mexico, South America or India. They have different histories, different cultures, different experiences and different attitudes.

 

Like the Jews who fled the Nazis and the Cossacks, the descendents of the slaves have worked hard and paid their dues with sweat and blood, and earned the right to stand tall among others in society. I believe that those with more than a century of history in North America are less inclined than some young newcomers to expect to grab whatever they want from others rather than go to school and work for a living. And still, even that is a generalization based on observation and experience. Still, a generalization.

 

Another distortion of facts - "Blacks" are imprisoned disproportionately compared to "Whites". Why? Is it bigotry? Are all the jurists and all the judges bigots?

 

I believe many are. But has anyone asked if more dark skinned people than white skinned people are in prison because more dark skinned people have committed crimes? 

 

Yes, I dare to ask. Heaven forbid that anyone might check the facts and remove the opportunities for bigots on all sides to sling mud and claim they are being oppressed. There is plenty of real oppression going on without false claims. 

 

Since I was old enough to read, I have had a tender place in my heart for coloured people. Those I came to know preferred "coloured", and the darling who would one day be my husband, hated the word "Black" since, in his time, "Black" came along with "Bastard".

 

Most people of colour are not black but multifarious shades of brown. "Black" was a political statement, not a fact, and it is arrogant, ignorant and presumptuous to think that all people of colour want to be associated with the Black Panthers. But it serves the extremists to make it appear that they hold the minds and votes of all people of colour in their hands.

 

I resent people who tell me that "everyone is prejudiced." I am not and I refuse to go along with the accusation. Prejudice means you have made up your mind about someone or something before you have any facts. I am always searching for facts and I have decades of experience. Many people are ignorant, afraid, shy, self-centred, but not everyone hates and not everyone is a bigot.

 

I also resent people of colour who spit on people of a different colour - pink or white, for example, Christians or Jews, for example - who reach out to help Negroes or people of colour or African-Americans or Indigenous or Native people. Caucasian Christians and Jews have risked life and limb and spent great resources trying to bring justice and succour to people of colour. Caucasian Jews and Christians befriend and care for and heal and some even love people whose skin is dark. But haters term this "Big Brother" and have contempt for us. Bigotry works both ways.

 

Most people avoid the whole issue. They would rather not have to deal with conflict that does not affect them personally. But bigotry is used by some people for personal gain, for power. They are jealous and greedy and it is easier to do - as the Nazis did - and take what others have rather than earn benefits by honest effort.

 

It is important to expose the hatred and the greed that underlies bigotry. Silence is the enemy. It serves the interests of tyrants of all colours and religions and nationalities.

 

When I was a Pinkerton Investigator, I checked the backgrounds of people. I went back at least ten years to see who they were and what they did. That way, you get some idea of who a person is.

 

Yes, judge us. Judge us by our actions, our character, not by the colour of our skin, the language we speak or our religious choices. Judge us by what we have done.