I’m presently waiting for a flight home after attending my family’s 21st Family Reunion held in Syracuse, NY. It has been some time since I have been able to celebrate this annual event which my family hosts at various cities across the country. I’m glad I came to this one.
Aside from getting a chance to visit another city, I am always touched by the very idea that my family is so committed to the idea of us all coming together to see one another under circumstances other than dire illness or death. I always feel loved, from the first to the last embrace. And, I always leave with lasting memories.
During the presidential campaign and the many days thereafter, much was said about the great example and sense of “family” President Obama embodies. While I agree with this, I cringe whenever it is articulated as though he and his family are an anomaly among African American families (whatever is meant by the term “family”). As I watched my family this weekend, I know this belief is anything but true. There are many African American men who simply adore and support their children and partners. Many African American women who work hard in and out of the home while at the same time striving to ensure their children have a healthy sense of self. So many men and women in our culture having no biological children have - without complaint and with a whole lot of love - helped raise the children of their friends, family members, neighbors or those who were orphaned or placed in foster care.
Yes, we have some miscreant personalities within our culture but so does every other ethnic group where humans have the right to decide their lot in life. Unfortunately, we live in a word where it so often seems that it is “vogue” to be anything but African American. And too often, the exceptional personality becomes the normative rule.
Celebrating with my family reminded me of how easy it is to forgive when you have love in your heart. It reminded me of how wonderful the conversations of elders and children can be when time is taken to simply sit, remember, teach and strive to hear (really hear) and understand.
I can hardly wait until next year. Virginia here we come!
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