Families Belong Together

Support Statement:

Families Belong Together is inspiring for me as a shared experience that naturally has me involved. I witnessed my father receiving his citizenship when I was a child and what it meant to him and all the hard work he did to make that happen. Before the internet, I only had a small foto album with the fotos of my Abuelita, Tias, y prima to see what they looked like, and brief collect calls once a month. Now I have apps that have given me a little more connection. I also had two chances to visit them overseas as since travel is expensive. It is so important to keep growing with family and making sure everyone is living as best as they can regardless of where we live. So, I know how meaningful it is for all the beautiful contributions people are making to this organization.

I am still trying to learn more and touch base with my roots. I think everyone can identify with wanting the option to know where they come from and the stories of the people who made every growing branch for your time to sprout. Henry Louis Gates Jr. sparks everyone to engage in his television series "Finding Your Roots" and so does Raoul Peck's documentaries. When I moved into a small town in Upstate New York in 2019, I introduced myself to my neighbor who naturally asked me where I came from. I answered with the name of the American city that I was born in and grew up in. Staring at me they then said, “Ohh, yes…but Where are you from?”, and to that question I responded that I had also lived in LA and NYC thinking maybe it was my accent that sounded different as to the reason why they asked me twice. Slowly becoming aware of what they wanted to hear which was due to my skin color and physicality for my answers had not satisfied them. Then I gave them the final answer with the name of another country. I asked them where they were from to which they replied, “Oh my family is from here, we are American”. The thing is that anyone with melanin in their skin, mine in fact is rather light but seen, is a beautiful show of proof that we are from here. As today scientist describe how our earth is a moving spaceship that welcomes all life forms to our ancestors who left the walls painted and the ground layered with history.

As to my neighbor in Upstate NY and all, ALL our families have lived here for centuries and have migrated from North to South and East to West. The thick branches of my family tree are nestled above the lungs of the earth by the Amazon, the Pijao, with their connection to our earth they have left reflective artisan weavings and golden communities with waxed ornaments that are now left on display for ransom in one of your local museums. My last name, as Malcolm X himself has pointed out to the world, is derived from a slave name passed on to me. That brutal legacy, stems from the Portuguese and Spanish conquistadors. While my other side is mixed with the bloody English which also sanction from a relentless class system. My mother’s parents sprout from Texas and Pennsylvania. My grandmother’s father came across the Atlantic where he was a tailor in Nottingham stitching ballads of Gandeleyn, while my grandfather’s father was across the pond from the Cheshire fabric mills of Warrington. There both families lived and witnessed deep in the woods the Hundreds Years War, Black Death, and War of the Roses. For now, we all know the abundance of life goes further back in time. Perhaps their parents heard the myths of Eudora. The world wide web is deep and this is where I am coming from.

The purpose of our existence here on earth that all of my ancestor’s bore witness to is that WE ARE HERE TO TAKE GREAT CARE OF THIS WONDROUS GARDEN. It is a continued adventure that I double-dutch hopped in time for the next moves? So thank you for taking the time to read this! I support what this organization does and welcome you to volunteer or contribute to Families Belong Together in the best way you can from your corner of the world.