The Beautiful Future of Transracialism

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

A reader sent me an article about trends in racial self-identity. The Racial Identity of Americans is Rapidly Blurring The trends are leading in the direction of multi-culturalism, an embrace of all that one is and might be. An increasing number of young people are declining to check one box when it comes to self-identity. Most Americans are multiple things — English, Scottish, Irish, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Samoan, Cuban, Jewish, Chinese American, Japanese American, Korean American, Mexican American, Igbo American, Mattaponi, Pamunkey, etc. Most Black Americans are many things — Igbo, Yoruba, Esan, English, Viking, Norwegian, Irish, Welsh, Filipino, Native American. I want to live in that American future where mono or cis racials are in the decline and the richness of us, nuanced and complex, is trending higher.

I am a long fan of trans racialism, a state of mind where people are free to reject racial boxes. Carmen Delgado is Not Yet Born Before I continue with this love letter to a beautiful trend, allow me to share the psychological block for some descendants of American slavery.

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I began this morning with a view of Danielle Romero, a marvelous historian and podcaster who, like me, is drawn to our multicultural and trans racial future. Danielle wouldn’t use those words but her calling is uncovering the nuance and complexity in her American story. She’s American, and White and Irish (maybe/smile) and seven percent Nigerian. Her grandmother passed for white up North in New York which prompted Danielle to pursue the meaning of her ancestor’s journey in self-identity. Danielle has taken an Ancestry.com test and discovered her tribal roots in Nigeria, specifically the Yoruba people. Danielle and her Ancestry Communities in Nigeria

Danielle and I are of a kind — her curiosity into her black roots knows no bounds and my curiosity into my white roots knows no bounds. We are flip sides of the same coin. We understand each other as we bring something beyond racial boxes into creation. It is my hope to have a podcast conversation with Danielle early next year.

How does this relate to a psychological block for some descendants of American slavery?

Inspired by Danielle’s incessant investigation into her black roots, I wondered whether I would find rich analysis of ancestry communities in my English DNA. My genetic roots are 10% English which is not a lot. What intrigues me is how random the distribution of genes can be. My Dad and my Mom are equal parts English in their genetic makeup. Yet, Mom contributed 9% and Dad only contributed 1% of my 10% English composition. How crazy is the genetic wheel of DNA?

I went onto Ancestry and traveled to the world of Thru Lines. Thru Lines generates missing ancestors based upon DNA matches. I had four open ancestor suggestions, two being Womack names. My Mom’s maiden name was Womack. Who were these missing Womack ancestors? One ancestor was 3x great grandmother Eliza Ann Dixon (1829 - 1858) who was married to George Womack (1835 - ). I never knew Eliza existed before this morning. I was eager to add Eliza to my family tree.

Eliza was listed on a government document as “Colored (Black).”

Then I saw Eliza’s father, William Watson “Slave Master” Womack (1769 - 1860). I felt mixed emotions. On the one hand, I recognized the name as family, my Mom’s family. The name “William Womack” resonated with me. Did you know that my very first memory was of being at Uncle William (Will) Womack’s home on a snowy day? That is my earliest memory and it happened under the roof of my beloved uncle’s Green House. Uncle Will was my Mom’s closest and favorite big brother. The very name Will Womack has always generated a flood of warm memories for me, memories of security and family. Uncle Will was a dark-skinned, classy Southern Baptist preacher who would write up his sermons every Sunday night in the kitchen.

Now, I was facing the warm name of my childhood as a SLAVE MASTER. Nice of my distant cousin to insert SLAVE MASTER into our ancestor’s name for eternity. What do I do now with the name of William Watson “SLAVE MASTER” Womack? I am assuming William Watson Womack was a white slave master and not a black slave master. Note that none of the family trees for four generations of free black slave owners in our family tree insert in capital letters SLAVE MASTER into the name of the ancestor. Do we harbor greater animus against white slave masters versus black slave masters? And, if so, why would this be the case?

It is the strangest thing. I am the descendant of several slave owners — George Twyman III, Daniel Brown, Peter Montague, Col. Richard Lee (the Immigrant), etc. Why do I feel a chill in embracing this ancestor, William Watson Womack? Do the words SLAVE MASTER trigger unconscious memories of the movie Roots and horrors on the plantation? Why did my distant cousin duly note that our common Womack ancestor was a SLAVE MASTER? I don’t know the answers to these questions.

Many descendants of slavery would excommunicate any slave owner from the family tree. That is not me.

I believe we should live in truth about our past, that we should acknowledge the slave and the slave owner in our genetic makeup as that is the truth. Perhaps, half of descendants of American slavery are unable to keep these two competing ideas in their head at once. It is the ultimate finger to the slave master to erase the slave master from one’s genetic being.

It is more difficult to acknowledge, and embrace, genetic ancestors, warts and all. So, I commend my cousin for including William Watson Womack in our family tree. And because I am an adult, I can accept that the name William Womack for me is all good while, at the same time, the name William Watson Womack is associated with a flawed ancestor.

It always intrigues me when individuals fall apart once they learn of a slave owning ancestor. Ben Affleck Ben Affleck’s Slave Owning Family One would not exist but for chromosomes inherited from genetic ancestors.

Unlike Ben Affleck, I am not hiding my slave master in the family tree. I decline to hide my full genetic self. No wonder descendants of American slavery are walking around hollowed out. It is a weakness to hide 20%, 41% or 52% of one’s genetic heritage, family.

The distant past was a messy place. Slave masters co-existed with slaves. Slavery co-existed with abolition efforts.

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Now, I turn my attention from the darkness of the late 1700s and early 1800s to a wonderful trendline of racial self-identity going forward. There are several reasons why I anticipate the future of fluid identity on the race horizon.

First, and assuming race is culture, over 40 million black Americans live in and have came of age in over 40 million discernible, material and relevant cultures. There is no one culture thrown over the expanse of our country from Richmond to San Diego, from New Haven to San Francisco.

What is culture? And I do not mean Black culture as politics. What is culture on the ground for an individual?

I define culture as one’s routine and mindset. There is no connection to power or structures. Culture is manifested personality in my view. For example, growing up in the church as a young child creates a routine, a mindset. One learns Christian percepts as operating software for engaging life. Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You. Jesus Loves Me for the Bible Tells Me So. Honor Thou Father and Thou Mother That Thou Days May Be Long. I am describing an ecological system productive of a moral life by design.

Not everyone shares this culture in their formative years but, for some, these ways of being in the world are independent of Blackness and matter more than Blackness, however Blackness is defined. A fluid identity of race would accept that, for some, race takes a back seat to a Christian upbringing. Not everyone feels Blackness is very important or important to one’s sense of self. For some, Blackness is of no importance to one’s sense of self. Each individual chooses their relationship to Blackness.

A fluid identity world accepts that Blackness is an individual choice. Force and compliance to be one way in Blackness is unacceptable.

Second, it is a positive good to engage the larger world. Those who are mono racials or cis racials deny themselves the advantage of affinity with other races. If the world is 18 percent black and one is 52 percent European, why should one present oneself to the world as 100 percent black? It is not true as a genetic matter. Moreover, a false presentation of one’s self renders one inauthentic. One is prone to group think, to appease the Black group lest one be excommunicated from a mono cultural world. Quite frankly, the more worlds one can live in, the more wise and comfortable one will be in the larger world. Could it be that the increasing incidence of multi racials reflects a strategic wisdom about social capital in a nuanced and complex world? Why choose one racial group over another if one is equally a member of both racial groups?

Third, human dignity will not be locked within racial boxes. I know on a personal level that I do not always live in “Blackness,” however defined. I enjoy all kinds of music, not stereotypical black music. I love science fiction, not caricatured black television shows where actors are heavy on the black accent. To be honest, I change the channel if I hear too much caricature and exaggerated inflection. Give me the Lex Fridman podcast any day. Am I less black as I watch Star Trek? No, I am more human and true to me.

The trans racial becomes me.

Fourth, I believe multi racial and racially ambiguous people are beautiful, beautiful beyond compare. When I look upon someone, I want to be intrigued. I want to be unable to place a person. This happenstance always captures my attention. The Racially Ambiguous Mom and Jack and Jill I once met a young woman at a conference. I could not place her racial ambiguity. I guessed X. She was Y. That does it for me/smile. On another occasion, I met someone at a dinner. I assumed she was A. Turns out she was B. She would become one of my closest friends. It is an interesting paradox that the energy required to guess, and the proof that I am wrong, never bores me.

Finally, the best solution to racial division is racial ambiguity. When we can no longer peg a person as this race or that race, then we have reached the blessed society. Some have suggested that we are trending towards a mixed race culture like Brazil. Maybe, maybe not. It is more prescient to imagine we are approaching our unique American future where the average American is 12% black, 50% white, and the rest a wonderful admixture of Jew, Asian, Hispanic and Native American.

We are trending in the right direction — trans racials, trans blacks, etc. I hope I live to see the day when it is odd to be mono racial, a cis racial. Bring on the future of fluid identity!

Podcaster and Historian Danielle Romero