Black and White

Last night, I had my English class write a persuasive essay on their favorite color. I told them to convince me that their color was the best color in the world, and they could totally lie if they wanted to. For example: Yellow is the best color in the world because it's God's favorite color.

Or: Blue is better than orange because blue doesn't cheat on their taxes like orange did back in 2004.

It was a fun day.

What was interesting to me: 3 people wrote about their love for White. And 1 guy wrote about black.

Charles is from Cameroon. He is incredibly black. And he looks good in white. White is his favorite color. He says that "White is the superior color". I was slightly uncomfortable in my aryan skin as I heard him describe the purity and superiority of white.

Until . . .

Igor from Russia presented his favorite color. Black. This kid is blond, and very white. He detailed the drama, the mystery and the depth of Black.

I wanted to point up the irony that the whitest guy loved black and that the blackest man loved white--but frankly, I don't know that anyone in my class really cares about the differences in their skin colors. They're all here, in a new country, working hard to make a life for themselves. And some of them prefer black, while others prefer white.

I prefer blue.