What Color is God’s Skin?
Tom Wilkes was a good friend of mine for many years. Of all of the wonderful people that I met in Up with People and did not keep in touch with, I regret not keeping in touch with Tom the most. Tom was the creator of the world-wide cherished song “What Color is God’s Skin?”. This song has been sung and translated into more languages than probably any other song in modern history.

Tom is now gone from this earthly existence, but the love created by his song lives on. These few notes are taken from the UWPIAA Forum this week:

“I keep a very, very special place for this song in my Mexican heart.” edú

“This song will always be in my heart also. I unfortunately remember some audience reaction that reminded us of the great distance we have to go . As my cast toured the Southern States we had several occasions where our question was answered back with many shouting "White---it is white!!!!" It was usually shouted by white teenage girls. Typically, problems would arise with males which tend to be more vocal and more in your face. In this case , in several different towns and states , the troublemakers were teenage girls which surprised me more than what they were saying. By the way, the year was 1975 cast B.” Kevin

“A Song To Remember... What always amazed me about the Spanish and Italian versions of "God's Skin" is that while I was traveling with my cast throughout the entire country of Mexico for a period of 4 months, and in Italy for 3 weeks, the song was instantly "recognized" on its own accord- If someone didn't know our group "Viva La Gente", when I'd start to sing "God's Skin", they'd instantly know the words. Even in Italy, where UWP hadn't been for several years, there were VERY few folk I encountered who did NOT know this song immediately.

“It's hard to fathom that this simple, pure song has achieved a sort of Immortality that even survives, in its own way, our organization Up With People.” Trampyre

Ole Miss. During my Bi-centennial filming we filmed a cast at Univ. of Mississippi (Ole Miss). I was in the orchestra pit filming. There were still race problems on that campus at that time and we locked the side doors and one bathroom so everyone - all races - would have to use the same doors. I don't remember which cast I was with because I filmed all nine of them during that year.

About half way during the show the African-Americans on campus decided to use our show as a venue for showing their dislike to the university establishment. They proceeded to march single file down the isles and up on to the stage verbally voicing their protest. There was about 90 or a hundred students.

One of our South American Friends thought quick and immediately gathered about 8 large males in the cast to form a semi-circle around him. He told the band to start "God's Skin" and unfortunately for the protesters, it took the wind out of their protest. They slowly walked off the stage then we went on with the show. All of the protesters were hauled off to jail, but the director of the cast would not press charges so they were all released.” Mike  (More)

I last saw Tom during the Bi-centennial year during a parade in Little Rock AK. He was standing on a sidewalk with the rest of the crowd watching as an UWP Float went by. I was lucky that I saw him, as he was not doing anything to draw attention to himself. So like Tom. He was one of the most unpretentious men I ever met. He seemed to me a humble man, a man that most likely would be a close friend to the Creator he wrote about.

A little about Race, from my point of view.

UWP taught me to be color blind. In a very short time after I became involved in UWP I learned to see the good in all men and women. I quickly learned that I can learn something from everyone, no matter who they are. That lesson has stayed with me all of my life. I know that everyone I meet knows something I do not know. I know that they are an “expert” at something. It is my job to find out what.

Often when I hear someone make a racial slur or derogatory comment about race I think to myself that I don’t think I would like to be in that person’s shoes. I say that because it is likely that, that person is putting themselves in a position of mocking the Almighty. As I see it, God created the races for a divine purpose, and though we may not understand why that is, who are we to criticize His handiwork?

Have a good day!