On Family, Money and Memory
Last week, our guest blogger, Spelman economist, Dr. deGannes Scott wrote a great article about the road to economic freedom. On that road, many of our families
including my own have encountered many obstacles. Here is an excerpt from my new book, The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest
Slave Auction in American History, in which I reflect on the resilience of
the Black family and the connection between the acquisition of material things
and historical memory. This excerpt
follows a discussion in the text of the many Black family reunions taking place
across the United States which stand in stark contrast to the sea of negative
statistics about modern day Black families.
On an
anecdotal level, there are many situations in which parents (married or not)
are doing their best to express their love to their children and keep the
connection with their families, albeit often in material ways. It may be that
the shopkeeper who buys her son $150 Nike sneakers is not just a shameless
consumer but someone trying to express her love ironically in the way that our
society often emphasizes the most – material things. The salesperson on a minimum wage salary
brags that when her daughter graduates from high
school, her father will buy her a new car. He is not another deadbeat Black Dad she
proffers though she is not asked the
question. They may not be married, but their daughter’s graduation in
a sea of negative statistics on Black
drop- out rates is cause for celebration.
Then there is the five year old
whose mother of humble means gives a lavish “Hollywood” style birthday party
befitting a movie star’s daughter complete with red carpet and professional
photos. Her
child’s birthday, she reasons, is cause
for celebration. No one asks regarding her dad’s absence. He could be dead. He
could be in prison. He could simply be unable to attend. In the Black community, we learn not to ask
regarding parentage. We learn to
celebrate with those who celebrate and mourn with those who mourn.
From my academic and
memory obsessed perspective, I used to
think that all these gestures were misguided. After all, books, books and more
books were what we needed as a people. Or as Thomas Jefferson himself
said: “I cannot live without
books.” But then one day, I looked
closer and realized that what I was witnessing was love. This
was a way that some parents tried to show love to their children. This was their way of giving them what in their
minds was the very best.
Genealogy, family
reunions, and other initiatives go far in filling the gaps created by
historical breaches, yet they cannot fully bridge the chasm of loss and
displacement of identity and name.
Nothing—no car, no pair of sneakers, no video game—can take the place of
forefathers forever unknown, of ancestral places never visited, of artifacts,
heirlooms and memories never inherited.
This book attempts to
put the Black family crisis in historical perspective. It shows that the Black
family has proven itself to be incredibly resilient. Out of the ashes of the
Weeping Time and slavery, many are putting these fragments of historical memory
back together, piece by piece, block by block, brick by brick with faith,
fortitude and hope that these missing pieces will represent a surer foundation
than material things ever could.
Picture Credit: John White, “Black mother and child,” US National Archives, Creative Commons License (flkr), circa 1970.
On Family, Money and Memory
Reviewed by Unknown
on
July 15, 2017
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
July 15, 2017
Rating:
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