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Every night at dinner, we have discussions about the latest news. That’s how I learned about George Floyd’s murder. I sat in shock and horror as my 22-year-old son, Timothee, told me the heart-breaking story.
I was saddened. I was grieved. I was enraged.
My son was enraged. My entire family was enraged.
It hit us to the core personally—in a big way!
Our whole life, our entire work is in the world of diversity as we walk alongside refugees and immigrants.
Before the age of 19 when I moved to Europe as a foreign exchange student, I knew very few people of color. My high school was in a white, urban setting.
We were all white.
My Mother’s Influence
My mother, on the other hand, worked in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, so many of her friends and colleagues were people of color. My mother loved them, and she transferred that same love and acceptance to me. I remember loving her friends from the beginning, when I first met them, and being appreciative and intrigued by difference—the beauty of color and diversity.
Perhaps that influenced me more than I realized. Perhaps that is part of what pushed me out the door of my home as a young girl to travel the world, to explore and experience the beautiful, diverse world—its people, its languages, its cultures, its lands.
In France, I was immediately surrounded by diverse people—people of different colors, religions, races, and nationalities.
I loved it! It was so refreshing!
I wanted to learn from them, learn about our differences, and learn how to find the beauty in our diversity.
Instead of rejecting it, I welcomed it. Instead of pushing it away, I embraced it.
Diversity.
We Were the Minority
In many of the places we have lived and traveled in Africa, our family has been the minority. It is not an easy place to be, an easy place to walk.
We were often the only white people in marketplaces, hotels, stores, beaches, and schools. Everywhere we went, people looked at us. We were the ones who stood out in the crowd. We were the ones who were different—the outcasts, the loners, the ones people stared at, the ones who didn’t know what they were doing.
We were the only ones who weren’t people of color.
We were the ones with the pale, white skin that blinded you in the sea of dark color. We were the ones who had to coat ourselves with 50+ sunblock, because we would quickly turn into bright red lobsters on the sandy beaches.
We were the minority.
Gravitating Towards Color
When our family moved back to France, it was no surprise that our entire family gravitated towards people of color. We understood what they were going through—what it felt like to be the minority. We could relate.
Almost all of our boys’ friends were from other lands, colors, races, and religions—Turkey, Congo, Tunisia, Kenya, Morocco, Algeria, Syria . . .
When our oldest son, Timothee, went to the university in Germany, most of his friends were from Pakistan, Morocco, and other diverse lands.
Our family loves color. Our family loves diversity.
I have been wanting to write this past week about the devastating murder of George Floyd. My heart breaks—along with the rest of the world—at least with those who love diversity as much as I do and who live to “weave cultures.”
Unfortunately, my week became unexpectedly full with a last-minute move, runs to the ER, and a hospital stay for my 20-year-old son who needed an emergency appendectomy.
Today, I Speak
Today, finally, I sit down. Today, finally, I write. Today, finally, I speak out.
Today, finally, I scream, “I love people of color! Our family loves people of color! Black lives do matter!”
“Weaving cultures” is all about diversity. It’s all about difference. It’s all about the beauty of mixing people of different colors, races, religions, and backgrounds.
If we were all the same color, there would be no global tapestry. There would be only one color of thread, and that does not create a tapestry. It is the diverse colors of thread that make the pattern, the design, the tapestry, the beauty.
Colored Threads
If there is only one color of thread, there is no pattern, no design, no beauty.
The scene is boring, monotonous, and plain.
Without diversity and color, there is no global tapestry.
Every time I sit down to write on this topic, my heart aches and I feel sick to my stomach.
How can this be? How can this happen?
We cannot allow racism, hatred, and prejudice to enter our hearts, our minds, our lives.
We must push it back together with all of our might. We must resist it together with all of our strength.
We must stand up and say, “NO! We choose to love—to love those who are different than ourselves!”
We must not be silent. Rather, silence must speak!
God created us all. God created us all equal. God loves diversity.
God’s hand did not hold only one brush, only one color of paint at the time of creation. He had a rainbow of colors in His hand when He created, when He created people.
God loves diversity and color and so should we!
A Message to My Friends
Today, I want to say something to all my friends around the world, to all of my friends of color, to all of my diverse friends.
Thank you for always welcoming me and my family, for loving us, for protecting us when we were minorities in your land.
We are sorry. We are sorry for what you are going through. We are sorry for your pain. We are sorry that we have not always welcomed you, loved you, and protected you.
Please forgive us. Please forgive my people.
God, please forgive us.
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
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LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
What are you doing to speak out, to push back, to resist? How are you weaving cultures where you are and finding the beauty in diversity?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
