Love Beyond the Color of Skin

Article by Stephon Leary

A great question we can all ask ourselves is this: “What is the color of love?” Is love black, white, brown, or some other color? At this point I have to say that I don’t know what color love is because to me it looks like many different colors. One thing I do know with certainty, and have experienced personally, is that love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe to transform lives.

Sir Francis Bacon is credited with saying that knowledge is power. I agree that knowledge is powerful. But when compared to the power of love, knowledge looks like a weak imitation. Two thousand years ago, a man renowned for his great knowledge came face to face with perfect love and his life was changed forever. In reflecting on this he wrote:

But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.

- I Corinthians 8:1-3 (NIV)

Like this man who would end up spreading a message of love to people he had previously despised for their differences, the man who loves God learns to love beyond circumstances and the color of skin because God is love.

Changed by Love

I am a testament to this love. As a young African American teenager growing up in inner-city Houston, I hardly ever came into contact with white people. My family, friends, and neighbors were all black. One day, at a gym, I happened to encounter a white man, coach Dave Stallman. He was a man who did not look at the color of my skin. He saw my talent and my character. This man demonstrated love and extended his hand to help change the course of my life. Through him I met one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ‘Pistol Pete’ Maravich, who became a mentor and helped me understand the truth about life and true success.

Coach Stallman also led me to a life-changing moment when he introduced me to Dave and Lynne Johnson.This white suburban couple, along with their four kids, adopted me into their family as a son and a brother. It was through the love and sacrifice of the Johnsons that an impoverished kid like me from the inner-city, who had no foundational structure, no educational structure, and no real direction had the chance for a changed life. Their consistent and sometimes tough love redirected the trajectory of my life and made me the man I am today. It’s this kind of love beyond the color of someone’s skin that we need more of today.

Fulfillment of a Dream

With everything happening in our country now, in terms of social and racial unrest, each and every one of us can be part of the solution. We need to look beyond the color of someone’s skin, look beyond their circumstances, and extend ourselves to love one another and build one another up. Rather than tearing each other down and trying to blame others for our circumstances, we need to empower one another with the hope we all crave and desire so that we give the next generation this same hope.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired the world with his dream—that one day his children would grow up in an America where they were judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I am the fulfillment of that dream. I am the fulfillment of the dreams of hundreds of thousands of white and black Civil War soldiers in the Union Army who gave their lives to end slavery in this country. When they looked down the corridors of time, they saw me.

Because of a white coach and a white family this black man has now become a successful high school and college basketball coach, a trainer, business owner, author and an inventor with a patent.

Love changes everything. Acts of love by people of all races—and colors—towards each other will be the key to healing our nation and world.

Stephon Leary dedicates time to writing his autobiography, launching a boot for injury rehabilitation, and coaching young players as they develop basketball skills through the Reaching New Heights Basketball Program, Shooting Stars AAU: www.newheightshoops.com