Summer revelations

Summer revelations

“Footsteps mark a person's life course and the impact of their journey on others.”

May is typically the month when I start tackling home projects, sort of like a “Brian to-do list.” In years past, I looked forward to this alone time because it let me reflect, get work done at home, and gave me a few months until the end of the summer to finish everything. However, this year was different. Unfortunately, as we get older, many of our bodies begin to break down, and I am no exception. Menial tasks became arduous. Due to back and knee issues, my confidence in moving and lifting items diminished, and my workload decreased, giving me ample time to do a little family research and focus on current events.  

In a previous essay, “The Hickerson Slave Legacy,” I wrote about discovering who was responsible for “naming” my ancestors. For some, this might not be important, but I was curious for my children so they would have every documented fact about where they come from on my side of the family. Growing up, I’ve always felt my ancestors’ organic spirit. However, as I learned more, I uncovered previously unknown and uncomfortable truths about slavery and my family history. 

One disturbing aspect of this history is that many families were broken up at an early age and dispersed among different plantation owners. Husbands and wives were forcibly separated. Children were wrested from their mothers’ arms and never seen again. Women were raped and sexually exploited, forced to bear children who may have been fathered by the slave master, and sold on the conveyor belt of slavery. Although the plantations may have been close, family ties were disrupted, often disregarded or severed by sale, inheritance, and forced migration. The sanctity of the Black family was deliberately thrown into disarray. 

Many enslaved people never knew who their relatives were. This led individuals to form relationships and have children with unsuspecting family members. As a result, I’ve learned that many of my ancestors were cousins. Thinking back to what my mother told me about why she left the South, it made sense. As she said, “You’d never know who your cousin was.” 

While I can’t change the past, my kids needed to understand how reprehensible the institution of slavery was and the harm it inflicted on Black families and on society at large. Even as Black literature is being removed from school library shelves and the names of prominent Black individuals are being scrubbed from government buildings and monuments, we will never forget and will preserve our presence through our oral history, music, language, and self-identity. 

While looking back at my family history and grappling with that information, I also paid attention to the many current events inundating the news cycle. The preemptive attack on Iran by Israel and the United States, driven by fears that Iran might acquire a nuclear bomb, has shaken our economy. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, along with rising oil, food, and transportation costs, as well as inflation, have left many families struggling to make ends meet. Iran has been a formidable opponent and has refused to surrender. What was supposed to be a short conflict has turned into a drawn-out one with no end in sight. While the world was mesmerized by the conflict in Iran, the continued tragedy unfolding in Palestine was lost amid self-inflicted pain. 

After the agreed-upon ceasefire on October 10, 2025, Israel has allegedly killed Palestinian civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. This raises the question: Is Israel committing genocide? 

Social media, which provided much of the alternative coverage of the carnage in Palestine, has nearly come to a standstill and has become a battleground for censorship due to content-moderation policies and platform governance. At the same time, with an Israeli policy of denying outside media coverage of the war for security reasons, Israel appears to be attempting to control the narrative, to no avail. Smartphones and courageous citizens, who risk their lives and freedoms to report what they have seen, have unleashed an uncontrolled narrative in Israel.

Scrutiny of Israel has crossed borders and reached many shores. As a result, there have been reports that many Israelis and former members of the Israeli Defense Forces have been confronted and/or denied services in some countries because of their military service or nationality. While one’s position on Israel and the conflict is no longer confined to regional politics, this issue adds to the disturbing events happening around the world. 

As my summer wound down, I thought the media drama would too. You’d think the international news was bad enough, but recent reports described multiple cases of Black people found hanging in public places. These images conjure a history of trauma, and I thought those days were behind us, but obviously not. The circumstances surrounding these deaths have led Black families and community leaders to question the effectiveness of authorities and to avoid summarily classifying them as suicides. These deaths are reminiscent of what my family members had to contend with during the era of lynchings, and it appears they have resurfaced. 

Near my home, a pending lawsuit in the Township of Bloomfield involves a white lieutenant in the fire department who used a racial slur and tossed a noose at the feet of a Black firefighter, believing it was a joke. It appears that, even in 2026, the hearts and souls of some people still need to be cleansed of hate and bigotry. 

My main reason for documenting these stories for my children is that if they attempt to walk in my footsteps, they will have as much knowledge as possible about where we came from and the struggles we endured along the way. My goal is to ensure they understand that resilience and survival are embedded in their DNA and that their pathways are much easier to navigate.