The Color of Water - 07/03/2007

"The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother," by James McBride.

This was one of the nine books given to me by Aunt Joan. I was actually in the middle of reading "Memoirs of a Geisha," but left it at work one day and was wanting to read something in the evening. As you know, I tend to read two or three books at a time, so picking up another book is not a big deal to me.

What a great life story; both his and his mother's. This is the true story of a black man, one of 12 children born to Ruth. As a child, James struggles to understand his mother. Why is she so different from the other mothers in his neighborhood, in looks and demeanor? Why is she so strict, so reserved and guarded? Why must the family be its own microcosm? Why does she not answer questions on who she is and where she came from? When he asked her if he was white or black, she'd answer that he was a human being. When he asked her what color God was, her reply was "God is the color of water."

She was tough. She was proud. She was totally contradictory - making fun of those "crazy white people" as she read the newspaper and then admonishing her children to not get involved in the rights movement. This woman put 12 children through college; all 12. Education and knowledge were the number one priority in her life and she made that a priority in her kids' lives. It wasn't all peachy and roses. Imagine being a white woman with 12 black kids in the late 50's through the early 70's? Not accepted by either race; not "fitting" anywhere. This is why she was so protective.

When James stated that he wanted to write a book about her life, it took James 14 years to wheedle out the information from his mother. A white woman. A Polish woman. A Jewish woman. A woman who grew up with a sexually abusive Rabbi father, a lovely but crippled mother, an older brother and a younger sister, all terrified of their father. They bought a store in a black neighborhood and becamse wealthy fleecing the blacks in town. They were shunned by the other Jews for selling to blacks and gentiles. Day and night was work work work for Ruth, born Raichel Shilsky. The story of her escape from this life to New York, her meeting her first black husband with whom she founded a Christian church and raised 8 children before his death, marrying another black man who took on those 8 kids and gave her 4 more, always treating her with respect before his death, and her struggle as a single-mother is an inspiring one. I could never even begin to imagine what she went through. Never. I'm Puerto Rican, married to a white American man and living in the year 2007. Not even a blip on the radar to the world. But back in the 50's when she married? Could you imagine the fear? The doubts? and the love she and Andrew McBride shared to be that strong?

James McBride does a terrific job of expressing his feelings of being lost; adrift. Not knowing who he was. Yes, it sounds cliche' to want to "find oneself," but in McBride's case, it was true. The research and the writing of this story must have been such a cathartic one for him. To understand that he is so many things- he's black, he's white, he's Jewish, and yet never fully any of those. Ruth could never understand his need for all this information, but went along with is finally, because everyone in her former life was either dead or in Florida. :) We're just human beings, right? What a woman.