the color of water by james mcbride

Ruth has a lot of wisdom that are universal truths. One is the fact that we are all human beings and that God, in whatever form, would not care about the colour of one's skin, “God is the color of water. Water doesn't have a color.” Ruth avoids the whole question of ethnicity to her kids. She would rather consider the human race rather than ethnic race.

Ruth also knew that education in all its forms was the key out of ignorance, “I asked her if I was black or white. She replied "You are a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!”