Shades of Brown from Dark to Light

The world is in desperate need of true blue compassion. Hard compassion, loving compassion, teaching compassion and all of the above. The sad part of it is, we are so divided by something that makes up only 16% of our entire body weight. And something even more minute than that, this thing that makes up such a small part of us, is the same....outside of one social deciding factor. M-E-L-A-N-I-N.

The social changes of our society are something else. Something very difficult for me to accept as a conservative Christian young woman, is racism. The division between races of people. To be specific, the division between people with different ratios of eumelanin and pheomelanin, the only two dark and light Melanin skin pigments found in our outer layer of skin. The only difference beyond this is different physical features such as eye color, height, weight, muscle mass....etc. Things we have never divided society over. Things that are accepted just as readily as we shun those with a different ratio of eumelanin and pheomelanin than ourselves.

Let's look at some specific facts about that outer layer of ourselves that I will break down.

The correct terms for skin in order are subcutaneous tissue, the dermis, and the epidermis (going from the deepest to the surface). Which layer contains the ratios of eumelanin and pheomelanin mentioned previously? Ah, the outermost layer. The epidermis. It makes up only 5% of our entire skin mass which in total measures up to about 1.5-4.0 mm thick. The dermis (where our hair follicles and blood vessels are located) makes up 90% of our skin mass.

So let's break that paragraph down even further. The epidermis contains our melanin ratio but only comprises 5% of our skin mass which only makes up 16% of our body mass. To think that we could go a step further to state that eumelanin and pheomelanin make up an even smaller percentage of the epidermis. 

Melanin is essentially an oxidized amino acid, more specifically, the amino acid tyrosine. Of course, there are one or two chemicals that divide eumelanin and pheomelanin from each other, but amino acids are the number one component that supports melanin's purpose. Eumelanin contains the chemical makeup that looks, to the naked eye, like brown to really dark brown skin. Pheomelanin contains the formula for pink and yellow skin tones. Each of these is placed with a different percentage of the other form of melanin to comprise different  "colors" of skin that are "Shades of Brown from Dark to Light".

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Folks, we are socially and politically divided by a chemical ratio. Such a tiny part of the outer part of ourselves that we don't look any deeper than the epidermis to find out what really divides each of us, one from the other. There are two other layers of skin underneath that epidermis. A dermis and subcutaneous tissue. The middle layer of skin contains blood both oxygenized and deoxygenized. It is RED. Slit the finger of a "coal" black person and slit the finger of a "marshmallow" white person and see what color their blood is. It is the same. The person with that knife has the faith to cut through that epidermis, through the racism, through the melanin, the eumelanin, the pheomelanin, the percentages, the scientific and social hypotheses and theories...only to find that we all bleed the same red. A fact that no one can deny.  

Stereotyping divides us like water and oil. Some "races" of people seem to commit more crimes than another, others are smarter, others are more political.....every shade of person is different, but no shade is smarter or more criminal than another. These stereotypes are lies that the media, government, world powers, and ultimately what Satan himself would have us to believe. Each and every person makes a choice to be the person that they are. The decisions that define someone's destiny and ultimately their stereotype lie beneath the layers of skin that divide us by color. 

Each and every person shies away from the subject of what I call "shadism" instead of racism because it makes them awkward and socially uncomfortable. These shy and uncomfortable people out in public are the same people that would gladly rip anyone apart on social media just because they disagreed with them on the subject of racism, yet if they see a protest out in public, they will avoid it. All because they want to peaceably disagree and not be bothered unless they can hide behind a computer screen, not put words to their face, and rip everyone to shreds without being identified as a person of opinion. 

They won't broach the barriers to talk about these things face to face, because of fear. Fear of differentiating opinion, fear of rejection, fear of condemnation. Peaceably disagreeing is the most dangerous form of disagreement in our culture that exists today, and folks, it is not Biblical! Sadly, confessing "Christians" are among the percentage of those that argue over the internet and can be among the most racist people in the world. Others, though they be not racist, will say nothing in defense of the truth. This is the second most dangerous form of disagreement.

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." 

Ephesians 5:11-

As Christians, we tend to grab onto the first portion of this verse when it comes to discrimination between colors or shades of people. We may have no fellowship with racist people or entertain those thoughts, but we ignore the fact that we are called to EXPOSE the truth in order to expose the gravity of the falsehoods that are promoted as truth in our day. We nervously inch around the topics, we crawl our way along the wall in order to avoid conversations that are remotely close to becoming an awkward situation for us. We may be conservative in our beliefs, but as a whole, we show that we are no better than liberals. A Christian is called to be fruitful in a system of darkness and so many of us go to Church on Sunday and live the rest of the week as if we didn't know God's truth exists. 

Essentially, lives are precious. People represent souls for the kingdom of God no matter what color they happen to be. Whether we be dark or we be light, we often shun so many salvation opportunities out of fear of rejection and fear of a lie called racism. We are called to be a witness, not first to judge someone based on their skin color and then decide if we should be a light for Christ. We cannot turn on and turn off Christ at our bidding. We either live Christ and be a witness, or we shut it off and the Holy Spirit becomes very distant. 

Under every physical feature is a heart that beats the same way as everyone else's, it pumps the same red blood, that same red blood flows through the same dermis, and underneath the same epidermis with the same melanin. The only differences between us all now are chemicals in our skin, Christ, and a choice. A choice to reach out, touch, speak, join arms with the darker and lighter of us, and together advance forward for the kingdom of God. 

That choice is yours.