✌🏼I’m Not White
Black History Month is almost over. I don’t make a big deal about it mostly because it seems disingenuous. The truth is, most of us who aren’t what we call “black” are woefully ignorant of any history that isn’t our own skin tone.
It’s kind of like the bandwagon sports fans who are only fans when their team is popular and winning, yet really don’t have any “skin” in the game. As a lifelong Cowboys fan - I know all about that.
So why is this southern white guy writing about skin tone during Black History Month anyway? Have I gone woke? No, just the broke part.
But I am learning. I am listening. And it seems the more I learn, the more I don’t know.
What does this have to do with Jesus? I can hear those questions now. This blog and my podcast are intended to be Jesus-centered. Yet, Jesus often dealt with the cultural issues of His day in unexpected ways. His truth turned many established practices and principles upside down.
He also revealed many absolutes. There is only light or darkness. Sheep or goats. Yes and no. Even black or white.
Matthew 5:36-37 (NET)
36 Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.
37 Let your word be ʻYes, yesʼ or ʻNo, no.ʼ More than this is from the evil one.
That yes or no command is one of the hardest to obey. I still struggle with maybe. My Dad used to say, “Sometimes you run out of truth but just keep going.”
Until planning to write this post, I had never really thought about Jesus using the black/white hair metaphor. I’ve had “gray” hair for more than 25 years.
Once upon a time, I was joking with my then ten-year-old son and his older sisters that they needed to respect me because the Bible says honor the gray head.
My son looked at me and said, “But Dad, your head isn’t gray, it’s white!” Ouch. Funny, but true!
Why all this talk about white and black? I’m getting there. Thanks for bearing with me.
Over the weekend my wife and I watched the Malcolm X movie from the 90’s for the first time. We like both history and Denzel Washington. There was a scene in that movie where they read the definition of black and white from the dictionary. We will get to that, but first, let’s look at the definitions of the Greek words for white and black that Jesus used in the verse above.
g3022. λευκός leukos; white:
1. light, bright, brilliant
A. brilliant from whiteness, (dazzling) white
B. of the garments of angels, and of those exalted to the splendour of the heavenly state
C. shining or white garments worn on festive or state occasions
D. of white garments as the sign of innocence and purity of the soul
g3189. μέλας melas; black:
black
black ink
Interesting how detailed one definition is, and how simple the other is. It should be noted that these definitions don’t come from Ancient Greek but from the Strong’s Concordance first published in 1890.
Modern dictionaries have cleaned up these definitions, but let’s look at how white and black were defined as adjectives in English by Webster’s Dictionary in the 1800s here in America.
WHITE, adjective
1. Being in the color of pure snow; snowy; not dark; as white paper; a white skin.
2. Pale; destitute of color in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; as white with fear.
3. Having the color of purity; pure; clean; free from spot; as white robed innocence.
4. Gray; as white hair; a venerable man, white with age.
5. Pure; unblemished.
6. In a scriptural sense, purified from sin; sanctified. Psalms 51:7.
I’m called white now, but am I? I’ve seen snow and even though I’m seriously caucasian, my skin is nowhere near that color. But look at the other, non-color descriptions of white.
pure; clean; free from spot; as white robed innocence.
Unblemished. Purified from sin
Now let’s look at the definition of black:
BLACK, adjective
1. Of the color of night; destitute of light; dark.
2. Darkened by clouds; as the heavens black with clouds.
3. Sullen; having a cloudy look or countenance.
4. Atrociously wicked; horrible; as a black deed or crime.
5. Dismal; mournful; calamitous.
Compare these non-color descriptions of black:
Sullen; Atrociously wicked; horrible; as a black deed or crime.
Dismal; mournful; calamitous.
I don’t know a single human whose skin color is actually white - even albinos. My pigment is more pink than anything. Why am I not called a pink person? As a Pink Floyd fan, that wouldn’t offend me at all!
I do know some black people whose skin is very dark, but none that are absolutely black. Most are more variations of brown.
So where did these categories and names come from? We often think that the way we understand and categorize things has existed before time. However, the categorization of people groups by skin color is a relatively modern principle. In Bible times, ethnicity was determined by their tribe or nation rather than their skin color - even though some of those ethnic groups did have skin color variations.
Ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks and Romans, recognized diversity in physical appearances among peoples they encountered but did not categorize humanity in a rigid, hierarchical structure based solely or primarily on skin color. Their perceptions were more likely to be influenced by cultural, geographical, and political factors rather than a systematic scientific classification.
It wasn’t until the 18th century that a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician named Carl Linnaeus introduced a classification of humans in part based on skin color. That marked a significant point in the history of racial categorization, intertwining it with scientific discourse in a way that had lasting impacts on society and the perception of race.
So how did all these pink people get called white and all the darker brown people get called black?
I wasn’t there and neither was anyone else alive today. Other than historical documentation, much is just conjecture and I’m not here to write a scientific paper.
But it is very, coincidental at the very least that white and black were used as stereotypes, contributing to the development of racial theories that were later used to justify colonialism, slavery, and racial discrimination.
It would only seem obvious, for those trying to prove supremacy, that whites were pure and sinless while blacks of course were atrociously wicked and horrible.
For us pink people, I hope that reading this will make you think about those definitions the next time you categorize people as black or white. For those with more pigment, I hope you are reminded that you aren’t an inferior category by definition.
Color is just color. People are just people.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no. But also realize that people should be defined by much more than just black or white.
Who is in need and who is helping them? That’s the real black and white of following Jesus.
Matthew 25:40 (NET)
And the king will answer them, ʻI tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.ʼ