Unable to change text color (from Black)

For the next person who blunders into this and searches for an answer...

If you have a Condition Code whose decoration is a custom color, and you delete the color, the text goes to Black, and you cannot change the color of text bearing that CC - with local color override, or a Character Format that applies a color (I didn't try Paragraph format).

I am copying formatted content in from an older document that doesn't conform to current templates. I had deleted unused colors in the source, but not unused Condition Codes, one of which rode in with some text. What was controlled by the CC in the old doc is now controlled by a color Character format, except that when applied, the text stayed stubornly black (until I nuked the CC).