Here's to a better year than the last one

This is a photo of the legacy of slavery in the United States of America, showing two descendants of a slave owner, Thomas Jefferson. That’s me on the right. On the left is my cousin Shannon Lanier, who is descended from Jefferson through a slave, Sally Hemings, with whom Jefferson fathered Shannon’s fifth great grandfather, Madison Hemings.

Slavery is woven into the fabric of this country far more tightly than many want to acknowledge. There are millions of Americans just like Shannon and me, descendants of slaves, descendants of slave owners, and descendants of slaves and slave owners. Our ancestry is inextricably linked. Our history is American history. You can see it right here in this photo, which shows not just our shared history with one of this nation’s founders, but our shared blood. You cannot deny history when you can see it with your own eyes.

Many people are afraid of this history. Some states are so afraid of our history that they have begun to ban its teaching in public school classrooms. One of our political parties is so afraid of our history that, in the words of a recent Washington Post headline, “Led by Trump, GOP candidates take polarizing stances on race and history.”

What is at issue here is not how “polarizing” our history is, but whether it is true. Even those who are afraid of our history know that it is true. It should not divide us, but rather unite us. We are all descendants of this nation’s past. We should be proud of who we are and how far we’ve come, not afraid of where we came from.

So let us carry our history into this new year not with fear and shame but with hope and promise. We can have a better year and better selves and a better country. In fact, we must.

Have a happy new year!