I Am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women in Their Own Words

WALKER (continued from page 23)have been brought up to adore must beexpanded to include the "wizard" andthe dancer, and that when this is done, itbecomes clear that He coexists quite easilywith pagan indigenous peoples. Indeed,it was because the teachings ofJesus were already familiar to many ofour ancestors, especially in the Newworld—they already practiced the loveand sharing that he preached—that theChristian Church was able to make asmany genuine converts to the Christianreligion as it did.All people deserve to worship a Godwho also worships them. A God thatmade them, and likes them. That is whyNature, Mother Earth, is such a goodchoice. Never will Nature require thatyou cut off some part of your body toplease her; Never will Mother Earth findanything wrong with your natural way.She made it, and she made it however itis so that you will be more comfortableas part of Her Creation, rather than less.Everyone deserves a God who adoresour freedom: Nature would never adviseus to do anything but be ourselves.Mother Earth will do all that she can tosupport our choices, whatever they are.For they are of Her, and inherent in ourcreation is Her Trust.We are born knowing how to worship,just as we are born knowing how tolaugh.THERE IS A SPECIAL GRIEF FELT BY THEchildren and grandchildren of thosewho were forbidden to read, forbiddento explore, forbidden to question or toknow. Looking back on my parents' andgrandparents' lives I have often feltoverwhelmed, helpless, as I've examinedhistory and society, and especially religion,with them in mind, and have seenhow they were manipulated away froma belief in their own judgment and faithin themselves.It is most painful to realize they wereforever trying to correct a "flaw"—thatof being black,female and human—thatdid not exist, except as "men of God,"but really men of greed, misogyny andviolence, defined it. What a burden tothink one is conceived in sin, rather thanin pleasure; that one is born into evilrather than into joy. In my work, I speakto my parents and to my most distantancestors about what I myself havefound as an Earthling growing naturallyout of the Universe. I create characterswho sometimes speak in the language ofimmediate ancestors, characters who arenot passive, but active in the discoveryof what is vital and real in this world.Characters who explore what it wouldfeel like not to be imprisoned by the hatredof women, the love of violence, andthe destructiveness of greed taught tohuman beings as the "religion" by whichthey must guide their lives.What is happening in the world moreand more is that people are attemptingthat love you to death.Yeah, I say, and he give me a lyncheddaddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog ofa step pa and a sister I probably won'tever see again. Anyhow, I say, the God Ibeen praying and writing to is a man.And act just like all the other mens Iknow. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown.She say, Miss Celie. You better hush.God might hear you.Let'im hear me, I say. If he ever lis-Wards Chapel, Eatonton, Georgia, Alice's family's church for over one hundred years, andwhere she was baptised.to decolonize their spirits. A crucial actof empowerment, one that might returnreverence to the Earth, thereby saving it,in this fearful-of-Nature, spiritually colonizedage.AN EXAMPLE OF THIS DECOLONIZATIONoccurs in The Color Purple: Shug, thepagan, discusses the nature of God withCelie, the confused Christian:Dear Nettie,I don't write to God no more, I writeto you.What happen to God? ast Shug.Who that? I say.She look at me serious.Big a devil as you is, I say, you notworried bout no God surely.She say, Wait a minute. Hold on just aminute here. Just because I don't harassit like some peoples us know don't meanI ain't got religion.What God do for me? I ast.She say, Celie! Like she shock. He gaveyou life, good health, and a good womantened to poor colored women the worldwould be a different place, I can tell you.She talk and talk, trying to budge meway from blasphemy. But I blasphemymuch as I want to.All my life I never care what peoplethought bout nothing I did, I say. Butdeep in my heart I care about God. Whathe going to think. And come to find out,he don't think. Just sit up there gloryingin being deef, I reckon. But it ain't easytrying to do without god. Even if youknow he ain't there, trying to do withouthim is a strain.I is a sinner, say Shug. Cause I wasborn. I don't deny it. But once you findout what's out there waiting for us, whatelse can you be?Sinners have more good times, I say.You know why? she ast.Cause you ain't all the time worryingbout God, I say.Naw, that ain't it, she say. Us worrybout God a lot. But once us feel loved byGod, us do the best us can to please himwith what us like.You telling me God love you, and yousInO N T H E ISSUES • Spring 1997