A Karen With A Family Tree With Roots Deep In Slavery.

[NNadir]

This morning, over in the Lounge, I excerpted a piece from the New York Times written by Nabil Ayers expressing admiration for his absent father with whom he only had a cursory acquaintance.: It Took Me 49 Years to Ask the Right Question About My Father

Intrigued by Nabil Ayers writing and his interesting subject, I looked into some of his other writing on line, and found this, where he contacted a white relative whose name was (really), Karen:

A Family Tree With Roots Deep In Slavery

Apparently her forbearers "owned" his forbearers.

There is no firewall on the the relatively short article, but it has a certain irony in our increasingly racist country:

The introductory paragraph:

"Well hello there Nabil!

"I welcome your letter.

...

"So in the little bit of information you shared with me, I am intrigued.

"I have worked for a number of years, 26 in fact, on my genealogy. It has been a passion and at times an obsession."

In her initial email to me, Karen surprised me with her excitement and candor — neither of which I was expecting from the woman whom I had gently accused of being the descendant of the man who owned my ancestors.

"Some of my Ayers ancestors were slave owners. I am aware of this, but know that at least some were included as family and are buried with my ancestors. I hope that was the case always."

After two email exchanges with Karen, I had created a mental image of her. She was older, but not old, possibly in her 60s, with short, cropped, graying brown hair. I imagined her seated at a kitchen table as she typed, in a modest, cozy home somewhere in the South:

"Yes I'm certain we are not blood-related, but it's evident of Ayers connection one way or another.

...

"I just looked you up on Facebook and found you! You have olive-like complexion and look part white. I don't mean anything negative. Just my observation. Some slaves assumed or took their owners name (don't like this) but for the sake of my attempt to explain... So let's say this Dr. Ayers perhaps was white and he had a child with one of the slaves?"...

It's a short piece, worth a read, I think.

[Karadeniz]

1. One of the benefits of belief in reincarnation is its potential to sabotage prejudice. One may at

some time have been an adherent of a now unpopular religion, a race one now oppresses, a gender one has abused. At the least, it can get people thinking!

[PatSeg]

8. Yes, this is true

[ReluctanceTango]

2. I'd get banned for using the words that came out of my mouth

When I read that excerpt alone.

But it started with "Racist," and then rhymed with "what."

[electric_blue68]

3. Even in a way a more intense discovery but never found the story again...

A white researcher and either her black co-researcher, or top assistant found out that the some of white researcher's ancestors had owned some the other black person's ancestors.

Woah! 😮

[Srkdqltr]

4. I have no part in this as my ancestors were not here in slave days.

I just wonder what is the appropriate response? I can't imagine how I would feel if my ancestors were slave owners. On one hand I think I would be saddened, on the other hand I have no part in what was done then. What is the correct response? I have a feeling anything a white person says would be wrong? Maybe , maybe not. Just asking.

[slightlv]

5. Srk, I hear you...

I went to the links and read the articles... I saw where her name was now Ayers-Weir. "Weir" was my step-grandfather's name. While that had nothing to do with the slave owner's namesake, it still was a shock seeing it in the article. It's a Scottish name. My grandfather's people were here in the Midwest forever. I can't even imagine them being in the South! Still, it got me to thinking along the same lines as you. How -would- you respond.

[Srkdqltr]

6. From what I understand about migration a lot of the people who went to those areas were Scots.

[LakeArenal]

10. I think Scarlet O'Hara's father was Scottish.

And yes I know it’s fiction.

[Straw Man]

15. Irish.

Or fictionally Irish, if you prefer.

[misanthrope]

7. I don't believe my ancestors owned any but they fought for the ability to do so

I've seen their graves with the CSA service noted on the stones. I think they were jackasses. From what I saw of their descendants, they weren't wealthy. My paternal great grandfather was a tenant farmer. That doesn't happen to people of means.

It's more likely my ancestors fought to preserve a system that exploited and abused them, too, just not to the same extent it did slaves. They wanted someone to look down upon. I don't have a lot of respect for it.

[Srkdqltr]

9. I have thought a lot of them were a product of their times. It's difficult to judge.

[misanthrope]

12. Were abolitionists time travelers then, stepping back from the future?

Slavery exists now, in various forms around the globe. People have long argued against slavery, centuries before my ancestors lived.

It wasn't their times. It was their unwillingness to truly observe what was going on around them.

[NNadir]

11. There is, in my view, no "correct" response.

Facing the horror and acknowledging it for what it is, and being sure that history is preserved, is something we can do, but one never undo what has been done, one cannot undo the suffering of centuries.

Look. My father served in the US Navy. He shot at Nazi planes and was sunk by Nazi U-boats.

His grandfather was Austrian.

At the end of his life, my father, particularly when he put on his glasses, had an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Eichmann when Eichmann was on trial in Israel for the gleeful murder of more than six million Jews.

I often speculate that I am related to the Eichmann family as a result, going back some generations.

I wish there were something I could do to erase the horrors of history, but all that is possible is to face it, head on, and do what one can to prevent it from happening again by facing the horror.

[Kali]

13. I have ancestors who had slaves and worse, at least one who was in the KKK

I don't feel particular personal shame, it is just family history. I think it matters to acknowledge the past and work to improve the future, but feeling personal shame or responsibility for what other people have done is a waste of energy.

on the other hand my slightly racist Aunt was doing some geneology and like this Karen, has found some relatives that are also descendants of enslaved people. to her credit she is learning some things and participates in zoom calls with them talking about it all.

[John ONeill]

14. Original sin

Each of us has had a trillion ancestors over the last thousand years, and considering our species' chequered history, it's a certainty that some of them did things as bad, or worse, than slaveholding. Before the Africans started being brought to the Caribean, the planters tried using Irish slaves, but they couldn't handle the climate and diseases. Back in Africa, the white slavers were often buying their 'product' from coastal tribes. And us Irish, who have such long memories of what the English were doing to us, could be pretty rough on each other, and our own womenfolk, as well. Best to try to right old wrongs, but keep the guilt for the ones we've done ourselves.