Dear Grandpa Massa: An Open Letter to my White Ancestor for Confederate Memorial DayPosted in Articles, History, Media Archive, Slavery, United States on 2018-04-24 01:44Z by Steven |
Dear Grandpa Massa: An Open Letter to my White Ancestor for Confederate Memorial Day
Afroculinaria: Exploring Culinary Traditions of Africa, African America and the African Diaspora
2018-04-23
Michael W. Twitty, African American-Jewish Culinary Historian and Author
To: Captain Richard Henry Bellamy—
From: Your Descendant, Mr. Michael W. Twitty, a published author
Date: 4/23/2018, Confederate Memorial Day
Subject: Times Have Changed
You are my third great grandfather. You are white. Because of you and several others I am Viking, I am Celt, I am a melting pot of western, northern, southern and eastern Europe. But I am still Black, your society made those rules, not mine, but its okay because I’m proud to be Black no matter how you intended it to work against my favor. And despite you, I am Asante, Serer, Fula, Mandinka, Yoruba, Igbo, Kongo and Malagasy.
You and your father William held in bondage my great great great grandmother Arrye and her sons—one of her sons married your daughter a girl child born to a teenage girl you took advantage of from the nearby Chadwick plantation.
You were a deadbeat dad; what’s worse is that there were thousands like you that led to millions like me. Thanks to the miracle of DNA research, oral history has been confirmed sans Maury–you are the father…
Read the entire letter here.