"Not people. White people."
~Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
Here set black
Here set white
Wet the brush, now gently.
Lay the palette, oh so careful, rest in hand now softly.
A drop of blue set bottom left
Drop of red, the bottom right
Set now yellow at the top, brush in hand, it's ready.
Damp, not dripping, the brush is lifted-- green, let's start with green.
Sweep blue up
Take yellow down
Midway they meet completely.
Swish and flow the two will mingle, more than one is necessary.
Mix now green with blue
And yellow with green
This created is tertiary.
Wash these colors from the brush, it's done to start anew
Do now the same with yellow and red
Then combine the red and blue
Orange, then purple, and all in between born freely.
It's what they call the color wheel. Believe it's done? Ha! Hardly.
There waits white
There waits black
Time to add them in, blend kindly.
Greys created, both dark and light, give to other colors now generously.
White to make tints of red
Black, the Shades of blue
For tones of yellow add a grey, a bit odd maybe-- it will do.
Must a repeat be described?
Must it go on to explain?
A single color does not paint a picture
That idea is foolish and vain
Colors in all kinds of shapes and sizes, the endless possibilities
Infinities inside infinities
The paintings now rest their case.
Just as there are many colors on a palette, there are skin colors, and personalities with depths and complexity that cannot be categorized in a single small sentence. The process that makes up each and ever person is limitless. To define a group by one shade, by one stereotype, by one category, is completely wrong. Although there can be truth in stereotypes and ideas behind certain people, just as there are white and black in many colors, they do not define people individually nor as a whole.
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