“Race is everything in America. Where would I land? I found that I, like my country had a servile relationship to racial identity. I, and we, need desperately to be freed from it.” —Danielle Romero, Washington Post, July 3, 2020
This morning, Ada Akpala with the Equiano Project, Jennifer Richmond with the Institute for Liberal Values (ILV) and I taped a wonderful podcast with Danielle Romero, the founder and creator of NYTN channel on You Tube. Danielle has spent the past several years seeking meaning in her family’s story. What does it mean when a maternal great grandmother was born Creole in Louisiana but lived as white in upstate New York? What does the story of passing for white say about loss of race and identity in Danielle’s family? Is Danielle the embodiment of our American future on the eve of this July 4th? I love Danielle’s growing sense of self and how she defines herself despite the outside world.
Danielle is human, a native of New York with parts of Italy, Ireland, France, and Nigeria in her heritage. So American.
I love being an American native to Virginia. And like Danielle, I am a human with parts of Nigeria, England, Ireland, Scotland and Norway in my veins. On this July 3, 2025, I present an essay from a year ago about my family, genetic ties to the Declaration of Independence. As if to make the point of how connected we both are, Danielle Romero discovered our shared ties to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings during our podcast. Danielle is a descendant of Jefferson and Hemmings. My third cousin is a direct descendant of Jefferson and Hemmings.
How appropriate our connection across racial lines. A Few Good Men
Let us celebrate July 4th by living beyond racial labels and boxes.
“What did America pass down to us — and what do we do with it now? Join me for historical deep dives, cultural archaeology, and family stories that challenge what we thought we knew. A good story doesn’t just reveal the past — it reminds us how deeply connected we really are.” —Danielle Romero
Danielle Romero Rejects the Race Label