Celebrating our "true colors"

If I were going to issue an award for the most absurd line that's found its way into the various "I'm not a racist, but ..." offerings posted by white folks to social media recently it might go to this one,  among much silliness in a meme that popped up several times over the weekend:

"This is America...

"We have some racists...but 99.95% of the people you meet are color blind and don't have a racial bone in their body."

Beyond issues with grammar and usage (it's "racist" not "racial" for example), the premise is absurd. None of us are color blind --- not one. Nor should we be.

In fact, this is one of the wonderful things about the human condition. We can see and celebrate our variety and our differences, if we choose to do so. And when we choose to do so, we've become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

This also is Pride Month for LGBTQ+ folks, a celebration that will be mostly virtual this year thanks to COVID-19. Cyndi Lauper's 1986 version of the Billy Steinberg/Tom Kelly song "True Colors" has been adopted as something of a gay anthem, appropriate to the occasion.

And it has a great deal to say about seeing, recognizing and celebrating "true colors" in everyone. Here's a version released in 2010 as part of the "It Gets Better" project by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles.