Do not stare at me because I'm dark;
it's the sun that tanned me …
This phrase is lifted directly from the Songs of Solomon,
and may be found in vs. 1:6.
I have been amazed by the amount of scientific information and
basis for scientific theory that can be found in the Bible, and I believe that
as we study the Bible more and more, like George Washington Carver, the man who
supposedly spoke to flowers and invented more than 300 uses for peanuts, we
also can come to know the secrets of science and technology, and also partake
of the mysteries God’s creation as a whole, by our study of the word of God.
Recently we have been inundated by so many events that have
been so racially charged as t have caused a sharp rip in the fabric of our
society. First in the death of Trayvon Martin, and a most recent report of a
mother, who allegedly falsely accused two black teenage boys of shooting her
infant son, while, in fact, she was one who murdered her own son.
We have come through the ages of trade slavery, the age of
the KKK, the veiled and not so veiled racial discrimination that has been so
prevalent especially in the United States, which I am quick to say goes both
ways - black to white, and white to black and sometimes I daresay, even black
to darker or lighter black.
But here is my story:
I grew up in Black Africa. I was raised in Nigeria in the
1970s through 1990s. I attended a fully integrated, racially diverse grade
school, and I am proud to say that throughout my early years, I lived an
entirely colorblind life, and this pretty much was the case until I moved to
the United States of America in the mid-1990s.
I must say I received a shock, a rude awakening, when after
I started living in the United States; I became exposed to this ugly monster
called racial discrimination.
I am blessed that I have not been as exposed as some of my
other counterparts. I have pretty much lived amongst people who have been
loving, giving and very much tolerant of other cultures and communities, from
Philadelphia through Eau Claire Wisconsin, through to Minneapolis where I now
reside, but that has pretty much been amongst people who know me, or have taken
the time, and trouble to get to know me.
From some, I have experienced kindness beyond measure, but I
have also experienced an amazing sense of impotence that comes from being
regarded as being less than human, just because of the color of my skin. I have
been followed around by overzealous shop clerks in departmental stores,
unseasonably and unnecessarily questioned regarding my choices, and my ability
to afford items that I have attempted to purchase, I have been patronized, I
have been sidelined, and I have been spoken to in less than dulcet tones in
compensation for my supposed inability to understand the English language,
because I have an “accent” and because I AM BLACK.
I initially did not understand why my African-American
brothers and sisters were so vehement in their condemnation of racism, and
their bluster-veiled fear of the ‘white folk’. My innermost thoughts towards
these sentiments were “they need to get over it” until I became
AFRICAN-AMERICAN.
So I began to ask God and myself this question: Why am I
black? And why is the white man white? Was God being partial in creating the
black man black, and the white man white? I knew that all men were created
equal and that I was not intellectually inferior, neither was I socially inept,
because I had been raised to walk as a princess, and been brought up with a
deeply ingrained sense of self-worth.
So why White, and Black?
Here is my genealogy:
God initially showed me why I am the dark I am, and why you
are the pale you are, through the zebra:
The zebra being one of the most graceful and beautiful of
God’s created animals, has for centuries, been loved by connoisseurs of beauty,
class and elegance – A quality that sets it apart from all the other animals,
the intertwining of black and white. I have come to the realization that the
Zebra would not have been as beautiful if he had been totally white, or
completely black. It’s magnificence lying in the black-and-white intertwined,
complex and beautiful patterning of its hide.
I believe that this was God’s intention for the race that he
created, the human race, black and white - to be at its most beautiful,
magnificent, complex and intriguing, by being distinct, yet complexly
intertwined in pattern, to form a stunningly beautiful whole.
The zebra would not a zebra be, without
its stripes…
God’s word also demonstrates the seasonality of time, and
the variance of climates to the endpoint of Seedtime and Harvest time. Through
observation, I have noted that in all the climates where the sun shines bright
and hot, the skin is dark and lustrous, and in all the countries where the sun
does not shine as brightly or as hotly, the skin gleams pale and pink, and
elsewhere, everything in between. God’s word clearly shows that in the
beginning, for there to be a balance, there was created seedtime and harvest
time, and so also night and day, winter, spring, summer, and autumn for the
propagation of life, unto life, unto life. So also did He create the
seasons of His people, black, white, caramel, and yellow for the propagation of
life, unto life, unto life.
So do not stare at me because I am dark,
it is not because I am stupid, it is because the sun has burned me…
It is because I am of Ham and you of Japheth, and he of
Shem, All sons and daughters of courage, survivors of the flood, all from one
father, but separated by time, circumstance, and seasons, once again to be
entwined much like in the Zebra.
So do not stare at me because I am
dark, I am as beautiful as you and you are as beautiful as I, and this I know
because God told me so…
© AdePero Mettabel, 072913.
Mettabel Okulaja, MD is an
Internal Medicine physician, and an inspirational speaker. She is also the author of 'The Voice of One Woman' - A rich
anthology of prose, poems, original quotes and short stories, platformed on her
own discovery of herself as a deliberate and beautiful uniquely created being.
Her book is available online both in paper and eBook formats, on amazon.com, bn.com and wherever great books are sold.
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