Truth knows no color; it appeals to intelligence.

“Truth knows no color; it appeals to intelligence.” Thus declared James Hal Cone, the father of Black Liberation Theology, whose words shimmer like iron tempered by fire — clear, sharp, and enduring. In this single sentence, Cone speaks of a truth that transcends the divisions of race, culture, and history: that truth itself is not bound by skin, nation, or tribe, but by the openness of the mind and the courage of the heart to recognize it. It is not the hue of one’s body, but the light of one’s understanding that determines the capacity to perceive truth.

Cone’s words arose from the crucible of a time when truth was distorted by power and prejudice. Living in an America wounded by racism, he sought to remind both oppressor and oppressed that truth is not a possession, but a revelation — one that calls to the intelligence and conscience of humanity. In his theology, he proclaimed that God stands with the marginalized, yet he never claimed that truth itself belongs to any single people. Rather, he taught that truth speaks to those who will listen, to those whose minds are free enough to see beyond color and condition, and whose spirits are brave enough to confront injustice.

To say that “truth knows no color” is to strike at the very roots of ignorance. Throughout history, men have wrapped falsehood in the garments of race, using difference to divide what was meant to be whole. Yet Cone reminds us that truth — eternal and impartial — cannot be confined by human prejudice. Just as sunlight falls upon all without favor, so too does truth shine upon every soul capable of reflection. The key lies not in color, but in intelligence — not the intelligence of cleverness or cunning, but that deeper wisdom born of humility, empathy, and moral clarity.

History gives us countless mirrors of this truth. Consider Frederick Douglass, born into bondage yet destined to become one of America’s greatest voices of reason and justice. His intellect and oratory shattered the myth that race defines worth. Through his words, he revealed the moral bankruptcy of slavery and the brilliance of the human mind when guided by truth. Douglass did not fight with hatred but with intellect, proving that truth — when spoken with courage — transcends the chains of color and silences the ignorance of oppression. In him, Cone’s words find embodiment: the intelligence of the free mind dismantling the falsehoods of the age.

Yet Cone’s declaration is not only about race; it is a warning to all humanity. For every generation builds its own walls — of creed, of class, of nation — and declares its own truths to be supreme. But the eternal truth, the truth that liberates, belongs to none of these. It resides beyond banners and borders, beyond ideology and dogma. It lives in the intelligence that seeks understanding rather than dominance, compassion rather than conquest. It is this intelligence that hears truth’s voice, no matter whose mouth speaks it.

And so, this quote calls us to a moral awakening — to strip away the illusions that cloud our perception, to cleanse the mirror of our mind. If truth knows no color, then those who seek it must also see without bias. To appeal to intelligence is to invite every person to think, to discern, to question the falsehoods handed down by tradition or authority. It is to live with open eyes in a world that often prefers blindness.

Let this, then, be the lesson: cultivate the intelligence of the heart as well as the mind. Do not judge truth by the messenger’s face, but by the substance of what is said. Listen to the voices the world has silenced; learn from those the world has ignored. For in every people, in every age, truth has spoken — sometimes softly, sometimes through struggle, but always to the intelligent, the willing, the awake.

Thus, as James Hal Cone reminds us, truth stands above color, creed, and condition. It is the song of the soul yearning to be free. And those who hear it, those who answer its call with thought and compassion, become its guardians. For truth, once seen by an enlightened mind, becomes the inheritance of all humanity — shining, impartial, and eternal.