People of All Races and Ethnicities Are on the Same Team in the Game of Life

Skin, n: 1 a (1): the integument of an animal (as a fur-bearing mammal or a bird) separated from the body usu. with its hair and feathers. 2 a: the external limiting tissue layer of an animal body esp. when forming a tough but flexible cover relatively impermeable from without while intact. [Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition]

Like the brain, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, etc. the protective layer we call the skin is an organ. It is the body's largest organ and its functions include regulating body temperature and protecting other organs from heat, cold, infection, injury, etc. This mighty sheath is a vital organ. No animal or mammal on Earth could survive without it.

The skin can reveal a person's health. It can contribute to or detract from a person's outer beauty or sex appeal. What it cannot do is magic. It cannot make people think, feel or act a certain way. Its color is not a character trait nor does it result from a genetic defect or curse from God. The same goes for facial features and hair texture.

Skin color no more determine a person's vices, virtues, intelligence, thoughts, emotions, behavior, personality or character than the color of a fruit determines its taste. Bananas, lemons, grapefruit and yellow squash are all yellow fruit but don't taste alike. Anti-freeze and limeade are both green, but of the two only limeade is safe to drink.

Believing that a person's skin color defines the person is like believing that color determines the taste of fruits and vegetables, an animal's temperament and how a vehicle runs--and that the world is flat and storks deliver babies. People have vices, virtues, thoughts, emotions, personalities, etc. They do not have black, white, brown, Asian or other vices, virtues, thoughts, emotions, personalities, etc. Aside from our cultures, customs, preferences, interests, skills, talents, personalities, experiences, upbringings, genetic traits, etc. we are all basically the same: human.

I believe I've found a way to free the mind from the shackles of racial prejudice and racialism, being race-focused. At least it has worked for me. Consider the statements above ...

• When you feel racially superior or inferior to others
• Before succumbing to racial self-hatred and the resultant racial self-destruction
• When you feel fear or hostility towards people of another race
• Before engaging in racial stereotyping
• Before accepting or rejecting others based on race or skin color
• Before implementing, enacting and enforcing written and unwritten racist policies--practicing racism
• Before racially demeaning, disparaging or taunting others
• Before "racial profiling"--as a police officer reflexively regarding and treating people of a particular race as suspicious characters, making unwarrantable arrests or stops
• Before racially limiting yourself and expecting others to do likewise and perceiving yourself as racially limited-- believing you can't achieve what you desire, do what you like or like what you like based on your race
• Before viewing people of a racial group as a monolithic mass--expecting people of a particular race to think, believe, feel, act, speak, vote and perform a certain way and have the same vices, virtues, values, interests, tastes, style, habits, desires, goals, needs and preferences
• Before expecting racial solidarity and conformity among those of your race and questioning, avoiding, excluding and disrespecting members of your race for deviating from the script--believing that the group owns the individual
• Before committing or encouraging hate crimes or genocide
• Before waging war against others of another race
• Before pitying, belittling or patronizing people of another race
• Before seeing yourself or others as more attractive, desirable, glamorous, intelligent, blessed or less so based on race
• Before seeking racial validation and acceptance from people of another race--seeking confirmation outside of your race that you are attractive, desirable, respectable, intelligent, etc.--and feeling a need to win over and earn praise, awards and prestige from people of another race
• Before practicing racial scapegoating
• Before using race as an excuse for mistakes, failure, underachievement and lack of effort
• Before considering race or skin color a character trait--thinking those of a particular race to be inherently racist, dumb, ignorant, lazy, violent, irresponsible, promiscuous, crime-prone, immoral, prosperous, industrious, etc.
• Before speaking, writing, posting or publishing racist statements
• Before being mad about the current U.S. president being non-Caucasian. If the president's and First Lady's and their children's race or skin color bothers you I strongly suggest reading this article over from the beginning. Of course, disagreeing with the current president's policies and decisions doesn't make you a racist or "race traitor." However, if racism or racialism is your illness I recommend re-reading this article until its message sinks in.