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● I am a direct descendant of English, Scottish, French, Italian, German, Danish, and Spanish kings.
● I am related to, in one way or another, virtually all of the Royal Houses of Europe.
● I directly descend from many of the first families of America and because of this some of my direct ancestors are Jamestown residents, Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, and Revolutionary War veterans.
● I had three great-grandfathers who fought in the War of 1812, including one with Andrew Jackson.
● I had over 30 blood relatives, including 7 great-grandfathers, who fought in the Civil War.
● I had over 100 relatives who fought either in WWI, WWII, Korea, or Vietnam.
● I am a cousin to virtually every single American President and have multiple familial ties to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama.
● I am also a cousin to Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, Robert E. Lee, Eleanor Roosevelt, JP Morgan, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Langston Hughes, Tennessee Williams, and a bevy of other notable American historical characters.
To be sure, even as I am aware that there are and have been millions of Americans who can genealogically claim the same or similar things, I am still in a childlike state of wonderment that I can draw such direct ancestral lines to so many historical figures.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t admit that my fascination with my ancestors is solemnly tempered by the realization that because of my deep European roots, I also descend from individuals who believed they were superior because of the color of their white skin.
It is an irrefutable certainty that the ideology of white supremacy and its resultant racism were two of the main exports of my European ancestors and that because of their planting it so firmly into America’s DNA, these two twin evils have had incalculable long-lasting and devastating results.
It is how our founding fathers could, on the one hand, write some of the most soaring and inspirational documents the world has ever seen while simultaneously, on the other hand, develop, practice, perpetuate, and rationalize one of the most brutal and despicable institutions the world has also ever seen—American chattel slavery.
It is also how the malady of American society known by us all as white privilege came into being. Because of this gift given to me by my culture, as a white person in America, I see and experience life differently from any non-white person in this country. In short, the society I was born into favors my ascension and even encourages it, even as it a large part of the time, does the exact opposite to non-whites born into the same society.
This topic is not generally or openly discussed by a large swathe of my fellow white brothers and sisters in America and I believe this is a conscious decision on their part, largely based in their desire of not wanting their days of living their privileged lives to end. It’s as if they believe that if they don’t talk about it or deny it, that nothing will change and that their birth righted societal advantages will remain intact. The angst and fear caused by the thought of the loss of their privilege is what I believe Donald Trump tapped into during the 2016 campaign and continues to tap into on a seemingly daily basis with his words and actions today.
To be clear, I believe this line of thinking is faulty and short-sighted because change is coming, if ever so slowly. There is coming a day, according to U.S. Census figures, within the next century when this country will become a non-white majority nation for the first time in its history.
At some point in the future, I believe, because of this relentless march of the diversity of her people, a day of reckoning will be upon this country and it will be a day when America will be forced to move to fully honor and apply her founding words and principles to all of her citizens.
It is an inexorable truth that those who continue to cling to the discriminatory and prejudiced views of the past and present in America, or those who cling to their white supremacist and racist beliefs, are undeniably on the wrong side of history.
This is why I say that every white person in America today has a choice to make right now—to a) either mindlessly or purposefully claim the privilege they are born into and continue to utilize it for their short-term gain or b) recognize it, call it out for the evil that it is and then actively resist it and fight against it to the benefit of themselves, their fellow citizens and the future.
I, myself, have dedicated my life, through my personal behavior, political activism, and now my writing, to doing the latter and by so doing, fighting the ideology of white supremacy and racism that was handed down to me from our common American ancestors.
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
