Review of All the Colors We Will See by Patrice Gopo

Beloved Differences Bring Us Together in Hope

Posted on by Michele Morin

Conversations about the laws that govern chemistry might be one of the most spiritual things going on this week at my dining room table. Homeschooling chemistry involves revisiting the Periodic Table of Elements with its jagged line separating the metals and the non-metals and the tiny numbers that define and describe unseen properties of pure substances, and for me this is pure joy. Chemistry’s Law of Definite Proportions that I’ve been unknowingly applying to my pancake recipe all these years points to a God who is not only a Creator but also a Designer. The fact that a highly reactive metal and a poisonous gas, when combined in the correct proportions, can be sprinkled on my hamburger to heighten its flavor is a joyful lesson in the unexpected, but then, the laws of science serve to heighten our awareness of the exceptions to the rules and the unpredictability that leaves room for the unknown.

In All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way, Patrice Gopo declares herself to be a combination of elements, unique and unpredictable–more evidence that “elements that hold certain properties in isolation. . . together yield something perhaps less obvious.” (26) Her story points to the beauty that is inherent in unexpected combinations of geography, ethnicity, and culture. As a woman with a unique mingling of genes from the Asian and the African continents, as a black Jamaican American who grew up in Alaska, she struggled to land in a known space, and her writing is a travelogue in which Gopo finds peace in living with and learning to love her “unpredictable unknown.”

Through a collection of essays, the reader realizes that it is possible to find home in far off places, and that our differences actually lend us a point of commonality, a gift to celebrate, and a reason to come together. It is through loving our own people, through speaking the language of our heart, through cherishing the unique beauty that our genes produce, through embracing that heritage, and accepting our own way of being in the world that we begin to see our “differences” as an offering to the world–not a barrier from the world.

Speaking a Different Language

What is the “ideal” way to raise a child in a multi-lingual home? Patrice and her husband Nyasha both speak English, and his Zimbabwean Shona is more a cultural memory than a heart language. Even so, they have honored its presence in their family by dipping their brush into its palette to name their daughters. They are learning as a family to count to ten in Shona, and have resisted the Americanized pronunciation [plan-tayn’] of Patrice’s delicious Jamaican plantains [plan’-tins].  There is room in their home for the conflation of all the various cultures and practices that are part of their family’s heritage.

Cherishing a Different Beauty

Giving up her routine of hair relaxing chemicals and returning to her natural hair texture, Patrice discovered strength that came as a complete surprise. She weaves foundational wisdom behind her choice throughout a number of her essays, calling readers to attention regarding the prevailing views of beauty that idealize very specific white traits.

Learning to style and manage her daughters’ hair has heightened the importance of Patrice’s understanding of her own feelings about beauty, and you can read her essay on acquiring both skill and confidence over at SheLoves Magazine.

Embracing a Different Heritage

When Patrice arrived at Carnegie Mellon University to study engineering, she also received free and immersive tutoring in Black American culture with details that just were not part of her upbringing by two Jamaican immigrant parents with Indian ancestry. Her identity process has been one of claiming all the parts, living under the weight of all the varied stories, accepting the unknown chapters of the those stories, and living the sum total with congruence before her children.

As a black family worshiping in a mostly white congregation, Patrice offers thoughtful commentary on the tension between Paul’s declaration that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Gentile” and the Sunday morning tightrope walk of parsing her sentences, avoiding offense, and dodging sensitive topics. While reaching out to her white sisters one at a time, she shares that “sometimes only a person who looks like me can understand certain things about me. Like what it feels like to walk into a room and consistently be the only person of my race.” (191)

Beloved Differences Bring Us Together in HopeAccepting a Different Way of Being in the World

Selfless serving has become a counter-cultural pursuit, so when Patrice announced that she was “giving the year after college to God,” there were some raised eyebrows and concern among family and friends. She ended up in a far off land . . . washing silverware to the glory of God.

Returning to the United States to begin her career in engineering, she eventually moved on to community development, and she shares her conflicted journey of leaving a career that sorely lacks black female role models. Almost surprised to find herself a writer, her voice is raised in the pursuit of problem solving and justice.

Patrice Gopo joins Deidra Riggs in the choir of women who are singing “God Bless the Whole World” in a minor key. With writing that carries depth of emotion and clarity of expression, they remind white mothers like myself that our sons need not fear the fate of Philando Castile or Alton Sterling, and they offer words to bridge the empathy gap.  Looking squarely at tragedy, Patrice acknowledges that we live in the space between what is and what will someday be while praying for God-initiated transformation leading to oneness in heart and in mind.

Even as a seasoned under-liner-of-sentences-in-preparation-for-a-thorough-book-review-to-be-written-very-soon, I found myself gulping down this collection of essays with my pen idle in my hand, forgetting to read like a reviewer, and just reading for the experience, because each of us is a collection of stories. We forget this at our peril, for the unfolding of a story implies hope and possibility at every stage of life:

“You press forth into the unknown,
and the other side, the reality of
the other side, pierces your heart in a way
that reminds you of your humanness,
of your possibilities, of your very life.”

Patrice Gopo, All the Colors We Will See

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

Thankful for the differences that just might bring us together after all,

Michele Morin

I  am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. If you should decide to purchase All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way simply click on the title (or the image) within the text, and you’ll be taken directly to Amazon. If you decide to buy, I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Patrice’s website is a rich resource with links to many places where her writing has appeared as well as her speaking schedule. Click here to visit for further information about her book and her career.

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four sons, four daughters-in-love, and six adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

46 thoughts on “Beloved Differences Bring Us Together in Hope”

  1. A very interesting book and life story, Patrice Gopo has indeed lived a very colourful life and shares a very important message, especially for these times. We should all embrace difference and acceptance.
    #mixitup

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  2. Sounds like a very relevant book for these days and times, Michele! I’ll be pinning! And since there wasn’t a place to comment on your Desiring God article, I wanted you to know it was wonderful! Very inspiring and full of mom-earned wisdom! Loved it!

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  4. Wow! What a book, I particularly like your words here: It is through loving our own people, through speaking the language of our heart, through cherishing the unique beauty that our genes produce, through embracing that heritage, and accepting our own way of being in the world that we begin to see our “differences” as an offering to the world–not a barrier from the world.
    Let’s shout this ’round the world, Michele! ❤ #globalblogging xoxo

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  7. Wow! This sounds so interesting, Michele. Being from the Caribbean myself, a place where many of us are products of unique combinations of geography, ethnicity and culture, and having studied and lived in several multicultural countries, I can relate on so many fronts. I actually chuckled when I read ‘plantin’ vs ‘plantayn’. Any West Indian knows it is plantin. 🙂 But seriously, honest voicing and appreciation of our differences is so refreshing and may be just what we need at this time. After all, God’s plan has always been for a multi-national family. Thanks for the great review.

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  8. This book is currently sitting on my desk waiting to be read. Your review is wonderful and I am eager to read this one soon.

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  10. Michele, you know I would love any book review that begins with chemistry! 🙂 I MUST read this book. Not only does it sound like a wonderful testament to God and to the strength he gives His followers, I think it would help me to understand my DIL, who is from the Dominican Republic, even better. She is often the only person of color in the room. I don’t know how that feels. When the Eagles won the Super Bowl, she begged her brother, who lives in Philly, NOT to go out and get caught up in the celebration, because she feared it could turn violent (it did) and she did not want a “Philando Castile or Alton Sterling” situation to develop with him. I don’t have that same fear for my own sons. She is the dear woman who calls me almost every day “just to chat”. I need to read this book for her. (Sorry for the ramble!)

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    1. That was one awesome “ramble,” and it’s good to hear that you are the woman your DIL calls to chat. The story you shared about Philly is the kind of thing that doesn’t occur to us unless we have a person of color in our lives.
      You’ll love Patrice’s voice.

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  13. Michele, what a beautiful post. This sounds like a book I need to read. Thank you for sharing from—and about—Patrice’s book. And, thank you for the reminder that we all have many stories that make us who we are. I’ll be pondering this post as I make dinner and head into the closing part of my day.

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    1. Yes, Patrice has a lovely way of sharing her story, even with the hard parts that are unpleasant to look at, with grace, and in a way that uses Scripture like a pointer and not like a club.

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  15. everything about this post is beautiful, the messages, the lessons and the journey. Really fascinated by her #ABloggingGoodTime

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  16. I was very moved by what you shared of this book, Michele. Although I’m a hundred percent Indian – born and bred in India – our family has had a lot of influence of other cultures and now has many members from various ethnicities.

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  18. Thanks for your book review, but I loved your intro about your Chemistry convos around homeschooling even more. how often we too can be ‘reactive’, but bonded with the Holy Spirit, our corrosive nature is neutralized and replaced by the stable elements of peace and joy. 🙂

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