My experience in beautiful Ghana that was an emotional rollercoaster in connecting to my existence. Understanding WHY the drumming sounds of Torgorme Village connected to my bones, my soul, putting my hands and feet in the soil was a rainforest of tears – receiving my African name, feeling affirmed & honored in my beautiful Black skin. Feeling connected to my Great Great grandmother Nathyhui Smith from Pong Tamale Ghana, who survived the horror of being captured, ripped from her family, paraded through the jungle for 300 miles in chains. Arrived at Elmina or Cape Coast Castle, branded like cows, endured the slave dungeons for 2 to 3 months packed like sardines sleeping & going to bathroom standing on her feet in the most inhuman conditions you can imagine. Then forced thru the Door of No Return (to never return to her homeland) loaded in the belly of a Slave ship, shackled to each other, surviving the 1–2-month journey to America a foreign land. Then sold into slavery where she was raped by the son of her slave master William Phillips that produced my Great Grandfather William Phillips Herring. I am humbly grateful for her strength and fortitude to survive these atrocities as I stand on her shoulders and honor Nathyhui and the millions upon millions who survived and created the brilliance and diversity that makes this Country great.
America’s original Sin of Slavery still haunts this nation as African American’s continue to suffer the most in every life domain (housing, education, employment, health, criminal justice, well-being, etc.) of our society. It is only through God’s love that the heart of man will change and inspire us to imagine an equitable society where every human being is valued.
“If there is no transformation inside of us, all the structural change in the world will have no impact on our institutions.” — Peter Block
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” — Isaiah 1:17 NIV
