None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.

In this statement Anderson rejects racial essentialism by separating an accidental physical trait—skin color—from moral worth and personal character. The first sentence frames complexion as an unchosen “fact of nature,” undermining any claim that it can justify privilege or prejudice. The second sentence extends the point: outward appearance provides no reliable evidence about the “person underneath,” urging evaluation based on conduct, talent, and integrity rather than inherited markers. Coming from an artist who faced segregation and became a symbol of dignity under discrimination, the remark functions both as ethical principle and as quiet rebuke of systems that treat race as destiny.