Cultural Markers can be the artifacts that
you can see, smell, taste, hold in your hands, remember - that help tell your
story.
Recently,
I learned from having my DNA tested that my 'Markers' indicate I'm of Yoruba
from Nigeria stock. I'm excited about this. Knowing where some, if not all, of
your Ancestors come from is important in establishing your point of continuity
in the world. There's validity in knowing where you come from. There's
honor in culture.
However, culture and DNA can take divergent paths.
Disconnects can cause such divergence. In the case of my relatively recent
Ancestors, who were victims of American slavery, that disconnect garnered a new
sense for survival. The adjusting to new climates and terrain, new languages,
new foods, new dress, new religions, and new social orders were necessary for
that survival. That adjustment took place over a few centuries and it affected
everyone. It affected everyone's culture in the western hemisphere;
Africans, Europeans, Native Americans, even Mexicans. It affected me. What
are my cultural markers?
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| Taken when I was three in 1954; Mom, Dad, & Grandma; 143 Susquehanna St. |
My first five years were spent in the Black community of Binghamton, New York. I
remember the Baptist church; hard bench pews and long sermons. I also remember
Christ Episcopal church, which would eventually become our default place of
worship. I remember seeing Black people, outside of my family, every day. I
remember Reverend J.D. Blakey, the Black barber; he would get drunk on some
milky concoction and jack up your haircut. I remember my first best friend,
Bruce, who lived next door on Susquehanna Street. We would steal nickels and
dimes out of our mothers' purses to buy slice pizzas from the Italian store on
the corner.
My
father was a musician by night and custodian by day. I remember hanging out
with my dad at Christopher Columbus Elementary school, his day job. My job was
kindergarten which I attended in the morning. Often, instead of going home, I
would stay and hang out with Dad. At the end of the day, he would take a
shower. I would too. We didn't have shower capabilities at home, so I was
one-up on my siblings. My siblings said I was spoiled. Mom was happy that we
came home clean.
My
godmother, Bea Moore, and godfather, James McCann, and all of the neighbors
would look out for one another. I lost my two front teeth on Susquehanna Street
in a tricycle accident caused by my big brother Billy pushing me down the
incline of a cellar door. We were one of the 'old Negro families' of
Binghamton, having established roots in the area before the turn of the 20th
century.
 |
| My big brother who aided in me losing my two front teeth a few years later. |
The
summer after kindergarten, 1956, we moved to the south side of Binghamton
because an extension of the highway was going to be built right through the
heart of the Black community and folks in its path and nearby had to relocate. So,
we did. We
moved across the Susquehanna River to the south side of Binghamton. It was
another world; full of European Americans that really didn't include too many Black folks. All of my
cultural markers were put on notice and I had to make adjustments in order to
survive and grow.
