Colored People: Highlights from Taste of Reconciliation 2010

My favorite thing about the video I’m posting here is that it gives me an opportunity to share one of my favorite songs— DC Talk’s “Colored People,” which I’ve chosen as the soundtrack. (“Colored People” copyright 1995 Achtober Songs (BMI) Up In The Mix Music (BMI) (adm. at EMIMGPublishing.com/Tigerback Music (ASCAP) All rights reserved. Used by permission.) Because the song plays in the background, you won’t be able to hear all the lyrics, so I’ve included them under the video below.

I want to give a shout out to Ed Stroh, head of the video ministry at Living Springs. He videotaped the entire Taste of Reconciliation service, and he uploaded it to the Living Springs website almost immediately, giving me access to a lot of material I had not caught while I was running around with my Flip. Thanks, too, to Linsette Hawkins. She is a member of Living Springs’ Building Bridges team, and she shot video while she was interacting with people and supervising children’s games. The video posted here is a blend of footage from Ed, Linsette, and myself.

I also want to publicly recognize Jeanne Poole, who led the interactive multi-cultural art presentation mentioned at the beginning of the video. Jeanne’s art presentation is very meaningful and very well done, but not too many people take advantage of it because there is so much else going on during the Taste. NOTE: If you have ideas about how we can make Jeanne’s interactive art presentation accessible to more people, will you post them in the comments below?

Colored People (songwriters: George Cocchini, Toby Mckeehan)

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir
I couldn’t help but note your shade of melanin
I tip my hat to the colorful arrangement, ’cause I
see the beauty in the tones of our skin

We’ve gotta come together and thank the Maker of us all

We’re colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We’re colored people, and they call us the human race
We’ve got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

A piece of canvas is only the beginning
It takes on character with every loving stroke
This thing of beauty is the passion of an Artist’s heart
By God’s design, we are a skin kaleidoscope

We’ve gotta come together—aren’t we all human after all?

We’re colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We’re colored people, and they call us the human race
We’ve got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

Ignorance has wronged some races, and vengeance is the Lord’s
If we aspire to share this space, repentance is the cure

Well, just a day in the shoes of a color blind man
Should make it easy for you to see
That these diverse tones do more than cover our bones
As a part of our anatomy

We’re colored people, and they call us the human race
[Oh, colored people]
We’re colored people, and we all gotta share this space
[Yeah we've got to come together somehow]
We’re colored people, and we live in a tainted world
[Red and yellow, black and white]
We’re colored people, every man, woman, boy, and girl
[Colored people, colored people, colored people, colored people, yeah]

Related links:

• 4 Reasons to Join Us at this year’s Taste of Reconciliation
• Super Salsa Sunday
• From China to Glenwood: Adventures in Diversity