In The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, the principal character is a blue-skinned pack horse librarian in Kentucky who delivers books to residents isolated in the Appalachian Mountains.

Shunned by her white-skinned neighbors, the blue-skinned librarian expects repulsion instead of friendship from everyone she meets. When she accidentally touches the hand of one of her book route clients, the client surprises her when she says, “Our hands don’t care they’s different colors. Feels nice jus’ the same, huh?” Such a simple truth. Why, oh why, hasn’t everyone figured this out yet?  

Science Fiction

This book fascinated me with two things I knew nothing about: Blue People of Kentucky and the 1936 Pack Horse Library Project. The Blue People of Kentucky, carriers of a genetic trait that led to a disease which gave them blue-tinged skin, were thought of as inferior and discriminated against by white people. Fascinating.

“Blue” people sounded like science fiction to me. Television shows and movies depict societies where everyone travels from planet to planet beaming themselves from one place to the next. And yet, species from different corners of the universe continue to judge one another, each thinking their appearance makes them superior to the other.

It’s Black and White

There is a remarkable episode of Star Trek about aliens whose skin is half black and half white, although some were black on the right side of their bodies while others were black on the left. This inconsequential difference served as the basis for their racial war. This might be comical if it didn’t mimic our own societies ridiculousness in judging someone by the color of their skin.

In the real world, we are smart enough to produce science fiction-like technology and still, we remain unable to realize that appearance is not a measure of a person’s value.

If only, like this character in Ms. Richardson’s book, the fearful majority would concentrate on what we all have in common instead of how we differ, perhaps we could live in a world that embraces the glorious uniqueness running throughout our species.

We’re Only Human

A blue hand intertwined with a white hand knows the same friendship as two white ones. A Jewish mother and a Muslim mother mourn equally over the tragic loss of a child. Attraction and love cross gender norms with the same strength.

We all experience life in much the same way. We embrace health and protect ourselves from disease. No human is exempt from the need to strive for success, joy and vigor. Failure, pain, and death spare no one. Under every different skin color and behind every belief we hold, we are the same species—we are human.

Thanks, Kim Michele Richardson, “Our hands don’t care they’s different colors,” is one great line.

If you can relate to this great line, I’d love to hear from you! Please scroll down and leave a comment.

If you’d like to read more about The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek click here.

If you’d like to read about me and why I started this blog click here.