I must speak on the controversy within the African American community regarding dark skin verses light skin.

I’ve known people of African descent of all lineages and descriptions; I’ve known them my entire adult life. They’re all different in some sense, and they’re all the same in another. My African friends and acquaintances taught me, by example, that Africans are not, by any stretch of the imagination, homogenous. Neither are African Americans, who are, in a holistic sense, a nation and ethnic group with many sub categories.

That said, the 400 years of slavery is a factor that must never be ignored or understated. This wound could, theoretically, be healed in a generation if everyone looked at the reality without fear or hatred. It’s fear and hatred of some “other,” real or imagined, and fear of self (which begins as free form, and searches for something, anything, to attach itself to; like a parasite) that produces the disease of the mind and heart. What’s ironic is that in the end, when you strip away the external appearances, and the symptoms of the disease, there’s nothing other than that fear and hate itself that should be feared and hated.

I must show my Muslim face here: Allah revealed in the Quran that the different color of people are a blessing and a sign for those who have wisdom (Suratul Rum 30:22). It is mentioned in the same sentence as the diversity within the creation of the heavens and the earth itself. Humanity needs people of different races / colors. Without this, the whole symbiosis becomes unbalanced, and the structure collapses.

Being Muslim or non-Muslim is irrelevant to being able to see the inner truth in this. In the last half century I’ve been on this planet, I’ve seen nothing to indicate this is incorrect.

The only fly in the ointment is the disease in human hearts. Cure that disease, and what remains is peace produced by love and mutual respect.

And we’ve reached a crisis point where peace is no longer an idealistic dream: it’s a survival tactic.