As genealogists uncover Pope Leo XIV's Black Creole ancestry in New Orleans, his heritage reveals how America's racial passing system destroyed millions of families.
"The question is why these categories deserve to mean anything at all." This is the most important line in the entire article. Humans are obsessed with being able to check boxes on a variety of characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc), and that Either/Or thinking gets us into trouble. It is the urge to compete and to win, to be superior, and to that end someone must be branded as inferior. People obsessed with winning need to calm down so we can celebrate equality, kindness, character. Let's try winning at that instead.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this gorgeous and mind-blowing piece that touches on historical, sociological and even scientific matters. I am moved by your meticulous research and proud to have chosen to be your supporter.
To lose this painful yet precious and still emerging knowledge of our shared history brought 2 light thru the popes African-American ancestry would be a tragedy.
I look forward to your future work with anticipation & solidarity and wish strength to your pen.
Kahlil you continue to impress me with your clarity and knowledge. Keep up the fight to shine a light on all we need to know and remember, so that we can try to make better choices for our futures.
I always learn something amazing here. We need brilliant young leadership and academics like you. I much appreciate your vast knowledge. (And I love to hear you speak!)
My 30 year old grandson is in prison in MO. When I looked at his intake info, I was shocked to see he'd described himself as white. He is very fair-skinned with straight hair, but it was kind of a gut punch. His grandfather is Black, his dad - our son identifies as Black, as do his siblings. I thought, "My God, my grandson is passing!". Then I realized maybe that's what he felt he had to do in MO.
Mary Church Terrell's book, "Colored Woman in a White Man's World" has a chapter on passing. The whole book is worth a read. The language is a little old fashioned because of the time it was written. A lot like reading correspondence from the early 1900s.
I would like to support this geneology research and the reconnection of families. I don't have cashapp or venmo. Just paypal. How can I donate a one time gift to you?
"The question is why these categories deserve to mean anything at all." This is the most important line in the entire article. Humans are obsessed with being able to check boxes on a variety of characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc), and that Either/Or thinking gets us into trouble. It is the urge to compete and to win, to be superior, and to that end someone must be branded as inferior. People obsessed with winning need to calm down so we can celebrate equality, kindness, character. Let's try winning at that instead.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this gorgeous and mind-blowing piece that touches on historical, sociological and even scientific matters. I am moved by your meticulous research and proud to have chosen to be your supporter.
To lose this painful yet precious and still emerging knowledge of our shared history brought 2 light thru the popes African-American ancestry would be a tragedy.
I look forward to your future work with anticipation & solidarity and wish strength to your pen.
Kahlil you continue to impress me with your clarity and knowledge. Keep up the fight to shine a light on all we need to know and remember, so that we can try to make better choices for our futures.
I always learn something amazing here. We need brilliant young leadership and academics like you. I much appreciate your vast knowledge. (And I love to hear you speak!)
My 30 year old grandson is in prison in MO. When I looked at his intake info, I was shocked to see he'd described himself as white. He is very fair-skinned with straight hair, but it was kind of a gut punch. His grandfather is Black, his dad - our son identifies as Black, as do his siblings. I thought, "My God, my grandson is passing!". Then I realized maybe that's what he felt he had to do in MO.
Pope Leo would fit right in at the barbecue and no one would look twice. 🌹💯
Mary Church Terrell's book, "Colored Woman in a White Man's World" has a chapter on passing. The whole book is worth a read. The language is a little old fashioned because of the time it was written. A lot like reading correspondence from the early 1900s.
I would like to support this geneology research and the reconnection of families. I don't have cashapp or venmo. Just paypal. How can I donate a one time gift to you?