If you have read my previous articles, you are likely aware that I am a Native American by this point. This is a major part of my identity, and one that is visible in my face and affects how I am seen by others. However, there is another thing I must disclose.
I have a lot of WASP ancestry in me. I’m from the South. Many of my ancestors were early British settlers. I have ancestors who came over on the Mayflower and its follow-up ships. I have ancestors who were in Jamestown. Among the Puritans. The early settlers of Maryland. The Pennsylvania Germans and the Quakers. New Sweden and New Netherlands settlers. Even some of the earliest Finnish, Belgian, Norwegian, and French Huguenot settlers. And this isn’t exhaustive.
My ancestors include governors. Captains. Generals. Colonels. Many of the military leaders. Indeed, many of the people responsible for killing relatives of my Native ancestors were my ancestors through another line or two (or, in one case, seven).
The truth of the matter is, much of my ancestry wasn’t the more obscure poor farmers, especially my Southern family. The reality is…many of my ancestors were Virginia Planters. Yes, the ones that produced George Washington, Nathaniel Macon, Thomas Jefferson, John Randolph, James Madison, William Henry Harrison, James Monroe, and numerous other prominent people of the time. I am a member of the Randolph, Dandridge, Jones, Jennings, Ball, Bolling, Macon, Jackson, and Harrison families (and this isn’t exhaustive).
But, even more than that, my family tree basically warps right around a single person- Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. I am so thoroughly related to her, that my family tree connects to her fairly closely no less than fourteen to fifteen times, including twice from her maternal uncle, once each from two of her maternal great-uncles (who were brothers), and twice from one of her paternal great-aunts.
So, yes, my ancestors owned slaves. Some owned just a few. Some owned quite a lot. And some were outright slave traders operating out of Barbados.
And some of those slaveowners weren’t even white! My ancestor Gilbert Cox is listed on the 1790 US Census as “Free persons other than white”, and his will lists slaves given to his heirs. And he owned more than ten. No small amount.
And, yes, I had ancestors who fought for the Confederacy (all but one of which were on my Dad’s side, as most of my Mom’s (except the one) fought for the Union). In fact, Martha Washington’s great-granddaughter married Robert E. Lee.
So, yes, my family has a lot to answer for. We had a hand in royally screwing up race relations in this country. We had a hand in the slave trade and slave ownership. We had a hand in the atrocities against my Native Ancestors and other Natives. And no amount of just apologizing can fix these historical wrongs. It can only be, at best, a nice gesture, but it is empty without backing action. It is useless without atonement.
At the very least, I can say this: take the freaking statues down. It’s far past time. I support reparations to the descendants of slaves. I support the much-needed compensation for Native Americans and protection of our rights.
The Cult of the Lost Cause needs to go away, in the US, in Brazil, in Belize, and elsewhere former Confederates moved to. The Confederacy was nothing worth celebrating. To those Confederate descendants who contend we are not our ancestors and are not at fault: we may not be to blame for their actions, but all of us are responsible for fixing them. We fucked up. We have for centuries. After slavery was decades of Jim Crow laws. After that has been other forms of institutionalized racism that we ourselves helped contribute to, either directly or indirectly. We can either continue their legacy of hurting Black people, or we can create a better legacy for our descendants. Ask yourselves: do you want to be the ancestor who did nothing, or the one who sought to atone for the past? Ask, “How do I want to be remembered?”
You can start by taking the damn statues down.