April is known as the rainy month as the saying goes “April showers bring May flowers.”
It also has April Fools’ day and sometimes it does fool us even when things have turned green. Just as you think no more freezing weather that’s when the old man from the north blows in.
He brings with him cold air and occasionally ice and snow.
Like the other night at church as one person said “did you see the snow it was just white?” My brow furrowed as I asked the question “white huh, what color was it supposed to be?”
Ok, so I can be a smart-alex at times.
No, it’s not misspelled!
I was searching through the history of my tribe when I came across a government program known as “The Federal Relocation Act.” It was used to relocate Indians off the reservations to cities. With promises of jobs and places to live. Its’ purpose was to help (or maybe better force) the Indian to assimilate into white society. It didn’t quite work out like they thought it would.
It really didn’t work out well as many of those that went became homeless, alcoholics, and impoverished. A whole culture was changed not for the good. Yet some did survive but most went home.
I use white society because that was the terms used in those days. It is true color was an issue and most of society saw the Indian on tv a raiding, a scalping, and a raping. It wasn’t all that unusual to find prejudice and work harder to find.
Again, we see parallels with other races of color and their fight for rights to be who they are.
I watched a show with Denzel Washington about the struggle in South Africa for their rights. In one scene he was in court and the judge asked him “why he called himself black when he was more brown than black? To which Denzel’s character replied well why do you say you’re white when you’re more pink than white?”
It was true he did look more pink.
I told my wife that I had used a line in story of an Indian coming out onto the street and seeing all the people passing by. He saw different colors some black, brown, greenish tinted ones, and some pink yes pink not all white people are just white!
You have to meet others from Africa to see and a variation in color we call black..
These days the news outlets make a great deal of saying that the government now is represented by some people of color. Why is it that there seems to be only black and brown are those we consider of color?
In grade school we had crayons that had at that time maybe 12 colors and white was one of them.
I told people this story about my sister buying a television set for the family back in the 60’s. it was the first color television I had ever watched and frankly the only one in the neighborhood
I’m not bragging but not everybody sees the same things in life. In this instance this television had two colors. Uhuh! Black and white! You see that is and was at that time color television.
Today I live in an American society with all its faults and history. I live because I was born here.
Those natives, Indians that chose to go what is considered the white mans’ way were called “Apple Toms!” A play on “Uncle Tom.”
“Red on the inside White on the outside.”
How about that I’m red on the outside white inside and I do sometimes get the blues so I do become red, white and blue!
I see color too because to be color blind is as my brother in law Delmer used to say “that’s just adumb.” Those who say this never see the green grass, the blue skies, the rainbow of colors, or pink!
Hah! So what is color? Glory be!
What color is the Indian?