where/when – event post

“We have been here since the beginning of time, just saying. We are also immigrants.”

During a slideshow presentation filled with pictures of her family, Cherríe Moraga made this comment during her event at Barnard this past Friday. It was a clear reference to her own Mexican-American heritage being attacked and demonized by the right and in particular, this country’s current president. To Moraga and millions like her, this is home and has been for generations. This made the audience laugh, but for me it prompted a series of questions- where and when am I from?

The first part is easy. I (and like Moraga says, when she says ‘I,’ she means “we”) am from Georgia, and my family has been in the same general areas of Georgia and South Carolina for as long we can remember. I have what has been created for me here- soul-stirring Black southern gospel services, lingering memories of formerly segregated restaurants and movie theaters, “white sounding” names, and a history and culture so rich that it is hidden and obscured by all who do not want me to understand or  remember. This is where I am/we are from.

For Moraga, the beginning was her ancestors moving across the border to Southern California. For me, there was the first slave ship 400 years ago that carried 20 people that may or may not be my great-great-great-great-something. Unlike Moraga, I do not know exactly who the first ones were in my family. So, her statement seems to hold even more true for me/us. We were brought here at the beginning of this country’s colonization, the slave trade, the occupation of indigenous bodies and land, the construction of what America has become today. We have been here since the beginning of time. We are also immigrants.