I often describe myself as a tribe of one, being of mixed heritage I never quite fit anywhere growing up. I have Native blood,(Lipan Apache) although I do not appear native I am what I am, I hear the voices of the Grandfarther's as well as the Tribal African slaves brought to the new world in chains. I have Irish blood – my Y chromosome comes straight form Ireland, I have learned however, that to share that with anyone actually Irish in Europe or the U.S. elicits a response similar to that of syrup of Ipecac and is better left unsaid, and I will not even mention the 17 to 20% of all African American DNA that is colonial European. As an African American I find a level of acceptance in the African American community, I say a level of acceptance because for many reasons even African Americans do not fully trust each other. One reason is that, because part of the maintaining of an entire population in slavery for what the general public could only assume indefinitely. A necessary and popular strategy was to grant favor to groups or individuals in order to cause internal dissent and inequality in the managed slave population. Two, only nations outside the African continent considered Africa one continent. All of the tribal nations of Africa knew that was not the case. So in reality the slave ships do not carry the people of a nation, they carried the captured people of many nations and for just over 300 years African Americans have been here in America where we were forged, and in the history of the world a 300 year old population is still in its infancy. We have a while to go be before we could realistically be expected to actually trust each other without good reason.I do not hold today’s white population responsible for what was done to my ancestors in order to colonize and create this country. I am however committed to developing programs and researching the true history of what has happened to my grandmothers and grandfathers since colonization to find answers to problems we have today as a result of that history. America has come to a cultural crossroads, the future of true cultural diversity in our country will depended on how America relates to it’s past -- not to relive it but to recognize and learn from it. Only then will we be able to develop real solutions to poverty, health disparities and inequality in populations without which America could not have become the great country it is today.
“UNTIL LIONS TELL THEIR TALE, THE STORY OF THE HUNT WILL ALWAYS GLORIFY THE HUNTER†(African proverb)
The future of human history is being defined by the advancing wave of science. The history of who we are where we come from and how we impact each other is becoming less legend and more fact. When confronted with violations against humanity, the ability of a person, a group or a government to simply shrug and say that just the way things were, will no longer be acceptable. Going forward we will all be more accountable for our actions.
Some might say that Americans are mutts and that it does not matter where one’s ancestors hale from as we are all Americans today. I disagree. Modern Genetics has made evident that we carry our history with us. Every part of us is relevant culturally, genetically and biologically.
In the case of the Native Americans and African Americans populations that history has some very haunting chapters.
The focus of my research work is to examine those chapters; some might call them holocausts. The African Holocaust and the Native American Holocaust that resulted from the European colonization of North America. I call them holocaust because part of any healing process calls for complete honesty. Although one definition of the noun Holocaust refers directly to the genocide of millions of European Jews, I see no reason not to call it what it is, deliberate destruction of human life and the culture that sustained it.
What happened to my ancestors, and atrocities that befell other populations cannot be changed, but it is imperative the all events be accurately recorded. Because without truth we cannot learn, and those oppressed cannot heal. Using modern tools in genetics and research methodology and following the work in Intergeneration trauma started in the 70’s. I hope to find solutions that will help develop social and education programs that will effectively address health disparities and economic inequality that keep the populations represented in me from moving forward.
As a child living in a community where no one looked like me I tried to just blend in. My grandmother was my only connection to my culture, she told me stories of how things were, she sang to me and told me of the responsibilities I would have as a man one day. But my grandmother lived in a different world so when I was not with her, her words were very faint. And by high school I could not hear her at all, during my teenage years in Texas the anonymity often afforded young children no longer applied and I was made very aware of who and what I was. I became very angry and defiant like a lot of young people today. Putting my anger to good use I became a soldier and was sent to Europe where I started taking college classes in Army mess halls, military conference rooms, barracks and storage buildings.
Germany appealed to me, I learned the language and after the Army lived there on and off for 15 years working in organizational psychology consulting for US and European companies. I came back to the U.S. permanently in December of 1997, and realized quickly that nothing had changed and became determined to do all that I can to help facilitate something that is long over due. I, with others founded James Velox and James, an independent social research partnership. Our focus is developing new solutions to health disparities in special populations, and in order to accomplish that we must look at what actually happened to us over the last 500 years that make us who we are today.
In addition to my research work, I lecture and provide diversity training and consulting to government and private sector organizations. My lecture topics include: Cultural Genetics, Traditional Grief, Intergenerational Trauma, Diversity Management Strategies, True Diversity in the Global Market, From Slavery to Survivor.
These days i live with my wife and three children in Anchorage, Alaska.
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