Ancestral Ghosts and the Global Clan

(This is the 8th in a series on racism that appears on the 20th of every month.)

Our ancestral ghosts appear in many forms. Normally they live out of sight within the strands of our DNA. We can speak to them at any time. When they appear it is because they want to speak to us.

They have so much to say, but have great difficulty being heard. We don’t seem to listen. Who can be bothered listening to 200 000 years of experience. And besides, they may tell us things that we don’t want to hear.

Did you know that biochemists have traced the heritage of humanity’s genes back to its common Homo sapiens source? We are all descendants of a single woman they call Mitochondrial Eve. She lived in East Africa in the area around Lake Victoria about 200 thousand years ago.

What are our ancestral ghosts trying to tell us, my sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles? From what they tell me, they are very concerned about getting the family back together again. It’s difficult now that it has become a global clan, but it is more necessary than ever.

“Black, white and tan, red, yellow and brown
beautiful colors in humanity’s gown
torn with names; Stranger, Devil, Clown.
The blood that is spilt on group-named ground
has but one color and flows with no sound
out of the victims of improper nouns.”
Dartwill Aquila