Transcript: Episode 89
89. Tribal Return
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[Short piano piece is played, lasting about 20 seconds]
Interviewer: Bold Font
Interviewee: Standard Font
Say, “Hey!”
Hey!
I’m with our oldest daughter, and we are getting ready to go to Africa. Are you excited?
Yeah.
[Laughs] So, as we’ve shared before, our children are adopted from foster care. And we do still maintain visits with their biological families when it’s safe and appropriate to do so. However, my girl here, she tries so hard to be present and ready and her family does not always come, or often come at all. And so it’s been very hard.
For us, it was really important that we still find her family and connect in some way, because we’re a happy family. We’re a happy family, right?
Yeah.
[Laughs] But it’s still important to understand attachment and understand where we come from. And so we want our children to have that experience as well. So, for lots of reasons, but especially that our oldest daughter, who is biracial -- can you tell them what biracial means?
It means like one parent’s black and one parent’s white, and then they come together and born and I’m brown.
There you go. And beautiful. You’re gorgeous. Do you know that?
Yeah.
She’s also super smart and creative. She’s the artsy one of the family. You like to paint and draw things.
Mmhmm.
Pretty special.
Yeah.
You’re an artist.
Yeah.
Were you just born an artist?
I don’t know.
What do you like to do most for art?
I like to paint and use glue and scissors, because [inaudible]. And I like to make things and take them apart and try and put them back together again.
She is a cutting and paster kind of girl, for sure. So -- and speaking of your art -- you just finished an amazing self-portrait.
Yeah.
It’s gorgeous. And you did it in oil pastels?
Yeah.
So, maybe I’ll share a picture of that. Is that okay?
Yeah.
Okay. So, it’s incredible. It’s lovely. And anyway, so this is my girl and we are getting ready to go on an adventure.
Yeah.
Are you so excited?
Yeah.
What are you most excited about?
That we’re going to another country that’s related and part of my family and also seeing what life’s like there, because sometimes I don’t get to see my family. And all the other kids get lots of attention, and I miss out on that. And I can’t see my dad or my mom. And I get to see my brother sometimes. He lives down in Houston. And I really hope he’s still alive.
There you go. He’s still alive. I saw him post a picture this week. It was not appropriate. I couldn’t show it to you, but he’s alive.
Oh.
So, the other thing about my oldest girl here -- do you want to say your name? Or you don’t want to say your name?
It’s fine. You can say my name.
So, this is Mary. She’s smiling. I wish you could see her smile on the podcast. She has the best smile. Her eyes light up. So, Miss Mary is here with me and she is deaf like me, and has cochlear implants like me. So, she is learning sign language and learning how to speak.
And my mom teaches me english, spanish, and russian, and a language that [inaudible] and it’s so exciting.
You’re so smart. How many languages do you think you know now?
I think I know some Spanish and I think I know some French and ASL. I’m picking it up really quickly.
You’re doing great. Your ASL is beautiful.
Yeah.
And you know some Swahili.
Swahili?
From South Africa.
Oh yeah.
Oh, the yodelay. She’s talking about when I call the kids from the playground -- I yodelay. That’s from Israel. I don’t think I can do it on a podcast. They’re mad about my laugh. They’ll really be mad if I yodelay. [Yodelya’s] [Laughs] If I do that really loud outside, all the kids will come running back to the car for me. [Laughs]
That’s funny. That’s funny.
So, Mary and I are getting ready to go to Africa. And they have a different language there. South Africa has some Swahili -- that’s where I was before. But this is a different country and so they have different languages, and all the tribes there have different languages.
But let’s back up first. We’re going because we want you to be able to connect to your culture, your African culture, and your African history, and see the African people, and get to experience all that. But we also did your DNA. What does that mean? What is DNA?
DNA is -- it’s like a little spit bottle. [Laughs]
[Laughs]
You have to spit in it and then you just send it to the scientist lab and then we -- and then they send us back where we’re from. And we figured out that I was from Ghana.
You’re from Ghana, almost exclusively!
Yeah. So, that’s where we’re going. All the sudden I’m like, “What? I’m from Ghana and we’re going there.”
Right. So, your mother who is white --
Is from England.
Is from England and very, very European. So, you’re almost pure white on your mother’s side, almost pure English, like all the way back. But your father was so pure African, that they were able to not just know that you were from Ghana, but they were able to identify the tribe you are from in Ghana. Right? And so we found out what tribe you’re from in Ghana and because of that, they even knew what ports your ancestors were sold onto slave ships and where those slave ships came to in America. And we were able to find some of your records. That’s pretty amazing.
Wow.
So, to watch -- I mean, to learn about that history where the tribes were at war and selling each other into slavery, and white men came and introduced guns into the tribes, and started buying slaves -- which was a terrible and wrong thing to do. Right? Really scary. So to learn --
We watched Roots, which explained it.
Right. So, we’ve talked about it a lot. We’ve gone to lots of museums. We’ve read lots of books.
And in Ghana, we’re going to go to a museum. And also we’ll visit Kunta Kinte’s villages, which I’m so excited… because Kunta Kinte was real. But he got hurt badly.
So that’s true. And so we’ve talked about slave ships. We’ve talked about what happened with tribal warfare there. We’ve talked about slavery, and we’ve had all of these really hard conversations, and looked not just at what was bad, but who some of the heroes are, like --
Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks. Who else?
Harriet Tubman.
Harriet Tubman.
Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King.
Coretta Scott King.
Coretta Scott King.
Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln. He counts. He helped with the Civil War. Right?
So, we’ve talked about all these things, but we wanted to put them in order so that you would understand the story - start to finish. And when you have a hearing loss, or you’re a deaf child, it’s extra hard to understand the story in order. Right?
Yeah.
And so we painted a picture like sign language paints a picture. And we talked about all the pieces, but then to put it in order, we watched the first two episodes of Roots. And there were parts of that that I said --
“Cover your eyes. Go out. Go out. Don’t look at this. Cover your eyes.”
Right. Parts of it were too much to see, but you could listen. Parts of it you needed to step out for and just not watch. But there were lots of the clips that we were really careful about selecting which ones, that you got to watch, so that you could see the story of Kunta Kinte from beginning, through his experience of slavery, and even having a child.
And yeah. Kizzy.
His daughter was Kizzy.
Kizzy.
Kizzy.
Kizzy.
There you go. So, what did you learn from watching the story of Kunta Kinte?
That slavery was a very terrible, hard thing. They couldn’t go to the deck and breathe and take and play. Some of them -- lots of people got separated from their family and also -- and kids were even down there. And women got hurt and beat up. And also, women had -- there was this white man who gave [inaudible]. The black woman had biracial babies. And one women was working in the fields and she fell, because she had a baby and died.
Because they weren’t taking care of her. Right?
Yeah, and they named the baby Noah.
Right.
The white person, not the mother.
Right.
The mother didn’t get the chance to see Noah.
It’s pretty sad, huh?
Yeah.
Did that feel a bit familiar to you, since you don’t get to see your other mom?
Yeah.
How do you feel when you think about that?
Strange. And it just feels like my soul has been deep and down in something, like fire.
There’s a lot of injustice that happened.
Yeah.
It’s not okay how people treated each other. It’s not okay.
Like a black tribe sold that tribe to a white tribe.
Right.
It just feels weird. Black people selling each other?
That’s not good, is it?
Yeah, why would they sell off your people?
Well, and I think there were lots of layers to how that happened. But also, it wouldn’t have worked if white people wouldn’t have bought them.
Black people were easier to identify as slaves, because they had darker skin than other people. And so when they escape, people can know they were slaves and just put them back to their owner.
How did they know who the owner was?
Because that mark that burns your skin. They would look at it and then put them to their owner.
Branded like cows.
Yeah. And Kunta Kinte got an LL on his. Why were they LL?
It was the name of the people who bought him.
Oh, Loser. Loser something?
Loser Loser. I love it. Give me five. So, we learned about all of that so you would understand part of why it’s so powerful that you get to go to Africa. Because really… you’re going home.
To my own kingdom, and I get to visit the king.
You do get to visit the king. We will get there. Let’s talk about it. But first, we have to get there in our story. So --
A long time ago, Africa was pretty and fine and rich and beautiful until all those black people started shooting all the people and buildings and stuff. Now it’s not very green. It’s like a desert now.
Some of it. Some of it’s a beautiful city. When we -- well, some of it’s a beautiful city. Like when we land in Accra, --
The capitol?
The capitol. That will be a beautiful city.
What about Ghana?
It is the capital city of Ghana. But we will leave the city and we’re going to the villages where the schools are.
Yeah. I’m actually really excited to teach, because my spirit’s a teacher.
You are a teacher. It’s so true.
And when Papa said that I was a teacher, and I’m like, “I feel inspired.” And then one day Mama said that we’re going to go to Africa and teach people, I’m like, “I’m a teacher. My spirit knows how to teach the right thing.” And so Mama told me what to teach. And it’s going to feel so amazing to teach those kids. Because also, we’re going to be giving everyone egg cartons, because the people there don’t have egg cartons.
They don’t have egg cartons.
Yeah.
So even when they can get eggs, there’s no way to carry them home.
Yeah.
Right, so we’ve saved all our egg cartons and we’re taking a suitcase of egg cartons.
I have a question about books.
Yeah.
Do they have libraries there or do they have to walk miles and miles to get to the library?
They do have libraries. But yes, some people have to walk miles and miles to get to the library.
Hmm. Maybe we should publish a library right next to everyone’s home and put some books there -- like put boxes of books.
Oh, all the books that we write and sell?
Yeah, maybe big boxes of books. And then say, “Free books! Free books!”
Wouldn’t that be great, like a Little Library?
Yeah, like a Little Library box so people could just pick them up and take them home and read them to their family.
You know, we could totally make that happen. I think that’s a brilliant dream and we could totally do it.
Well, that can be work.
It’s work getting the books there and it’s work of raising money for the books. But you could absolutely do that and I can help you. I can show you how.
Okay. I remember one time -- well, it was yesterday. My baby sister and I took her book by the tree, and it was by the street. And there was this little boy walking by, and he saw the books. He picked them up and started reading and then I came by, and he’s like, “Oops. Pardon me.” And so I picked up the books and I’m like, “You can go ahead and read them.” And then he said, “Okay.” And then I read some stories to him and then he’s like, “Those are wonderful books.” And then I had to drop my bike, pick up the books, and carry my bike home. My sister left other books, and so I picked up the other three books she left and carried my bike and the books home. The books my arms all sore. I just almost dropped them.
You were so strong. We love books, don’t we?
Yeah.
Our family. We have a library in every room - in every kid’s bedroom.
I’m so excited to read the grown up books. The grown up books seem like very good books.
Oh, you think so?
Like Women Who Run With the Wolves.
Oh, I love that you even know the name of it. That’s awesome.
You guys talk about it a lot, and so I’m curious. One book -- pages fell out of, but you guys have an extra copy of the book. You’re lucky.
You’ll get there, I promise. You’re doing great. You’ve got language now. Do you remember when you did not have language when you came to us?
Yeah. I have real teeth.
[Laughs] You had no teeth, that’s true. [Laughs]
Yeah!
No language, no teeth.
My brother and I were like bruised. We were hurt so badly and I had -- I could hear a little bit, but not that much.
We had to get you hearing aids.
Yeah, and my hearing --
Just kept going downhill, didn’t it?
Yeah.
So we got cochlear implants.
Yeah. We thought I was hard of hearing at first, but then we did some testing, and we realized I was deaf.
Deaf, deaf, deaf. Give me five for deaf girls on the podcast.
[High-five]
And when I first got my cochlear implants, I tried to say “truck”.
[Laughs]
And you kept correcting me and finally I could say truck.
It’s hard saying all those letters when you can’t hear them, isn’t it?
Yeah. To me they sound crazy, but to you guys --
Why did we send you to deaf school?
Because I need to learn my own language, because ASL is my natural language, and also is yours. ASL is the natural deaf language.
Right.
Some people who are deaf can’t even talk.
Right, a lot of people who are deaf, especially if they’re full deaf and don’t have cochlear implants, they can’t talk.
Yeah.
And that’s okay. Or some can, but choose not to. And that’s okay. And sometimes we choose differently. Like when it’s just you and me and we’re not on a podcast, then we can just sign.
Yeah.
But you can’t do sign language on a podcast.
Because it would be just silent.
[Laughs] Right, exactly like that. Sometimes we could talk, but we don’t, like when we’re at meetings at school.
Yeah.
Because we need to have an interpreter, and if we talk then they’ll think that we don’t need an interpreter, which is false, but they don’t understand.
Yeah.
And sometimes, like the podcast, we use it as a tool to practice speaking.
Yeah.
Because that’s how the other podcast started, right?
Mmhmm.
Is by speech therapy.
Yeah, and I’m actually so excited to go to my village, because that will help me pronounce my continents more and do more talking and I’ll go to speech more often.
Right. So, let’s talk about the trip that’s coming up. Yesterday we packed our bags --
Mmhmm.
-- for the part of our trip that is three days in the airport and on the chicken truck.
Yeah.
We have to ride the chicken truck for 13 hours.
I thought it was 16 hours.
Well, to get there, yeah. So, we’re going to fly from here to Miami, Florida.
So, we’re going to stay overnight and get back on the plane, or?
No, we are going to fly there and arrive at bedtime, and we’ll change into comfy clothes. And then we’re going to get on another plane and sleep while we fly from Miami to London.
Okay.
Okay, and then we’ll wake up while we’re still on the plane to London.
I’m excited to look down at London, because I think London’s pretty.
I know, London’s amazing. It will be fun when we can all go someday, right?
Yeah, I imagine London with lots of churches, Catholic people, and --
History. There’s a lot of history.
Yeah, and one church in France burned down.
Notre Dame.
Yeah. It was very sad.
It was sad. So, when we are in the air, before we get to London, we will wake up and we have our stuff so we can clean up a little bit and change our clothes.
I wonder how fancy we’ll feel on airplanes, because on some movies, the food’s so fancy. I get so excited I get to eat on the airplane.
It will be like a lunchable.
Oh.
It will not be super fancy. To get super fancy on the airplane, you have to pay a lot of money, that’s like the price of three tickets. So, we could either do that or we could go on three trips.
Oh.
But we’re going to have snacks in our bags.
Yeah.
And we will get some food on the plane. They won’t let you be hungry, I promise.
Yeah.
When you’re from foster care, you worry about being hungry, don’t you?
Yeah.
Right, so I promise the airplane will give us food and snacks and that we will bring food and snacks. We bought some of it today, didn’t we?
We got gum and --
For your ears?
Yeah.
When you’re deaf, airplanes are really hard, because that pressure builds up and it’s hard to release it, even with a yawn or gum, isn’t it?
Yeah.
But you did better when we flew to New York for the Make A Wish trip.
Yeah. My ears hurt. I even cried.
That’s okay. Crying is okay. So then we will change our clothes, before we land in London. We will land in London and have to hurry to our next plane, which will not be very far away. It’s going to be in the same terminal. And we will fly from London to Accra.
How are we going to drive around in the airport?
We don’t drive around the airport… we walk.
Okay, and then we get on chicken bus.
Oh, well we fly to Accra, and then we have to go through immigration and get permission to enter the country. So that’s why we have our Visas inside our passports and the papers that said we took our shots. Was that so fun? Did you love getting shots?
No, but I am glad that we finished it, because if we didn’t finish it…hurt.
Amen, sister. So, that’s all done, right?
Yeah.
So when we get permission to enter, then we will meet up with our friends who are safe people that we know and live there. And --
Jonathan?
Mmhmm.
And what’s the other one?
Karen.
Jonathan and Karen.
And they will help us to our hotel, where we will spend one night to rest.
And then they’ll help us around ‘til the end, and also help us to the schools.
Well, they’re going to help us. We’re going to rest one night at a hotel.
What will it look like?
Because the trip -- Well, the trip there is very hard. It’s long. So, we’re going to rest one night in the hotel, and it will look like a hotel. It’s just a normal hotel.
So not like one of those small huts?
No. That night will just be a hotel. It will be a simple hotel, but it’s just a hotel.
Okay.
We will be safe and we will sleep there.
Okay. and we’ll have --
Be careful, that will make noise and they won’t want to hear it.
And we’ll have [inaudible] body guards.
Yes, we will have a security team with bodyguards. And then we will get on the chicken bus. To get to the village, we have to ride the bus where everyone just piles on and holds on, and they transport the goats and chickens too. So, we will be on the bus with goats and chickens. [Laughs]
Hot poop in there.
Mmhmm. It will be hot and it will be gross, but it will be so fun, and such an adventure. People will be stinky. It will be an adventure. We will enjoy all the cool things we’ll see.
Like going to the safari?
We will see crocodiles and elephants and zebras.
Can we ride elephants?
Huh?
Are we allowed to ride elephants?
We’ll see. It depends on the elephant. You always got to ask an elephant for permission before you get on it.
[Laughs]
[Laughs]
And like in India, people have elephants. It’s the same animal, just in a different country.
Right. You’re wearing an elephant on your shirt right now.
Yeah.
It’s from India. We have friends from India, don’t we?
Yup.
Lots of friends from India, actually.
Like the Little Princess.
Well, that’s a book.
The movie?
I meant like Jacob and Joanna and the family that gave you the dresses from India.
Oh yeah.
But you’re right, Little Princess starts out in India. So --
It’s one of my favorite movies.
We will -- woah -- we will ride the chicken bus to the small village. And for the two weeks that we’re in the village, we will be in a very simple hut.
Okay. Mud huts.
We will have -- our showers will be a big --
Tub.
Not a tub even, it’s like a bucket with water and we pour the water over us with a scoop.
I’ve seen that on lots of movies.
Right, it will be like that.
Like on Little House on the Prairie.
Very much like Little House on the Prairie, except with elephants.
Yeah.
[Laughs] And so what are we going to do while we’re there? We will see the slave ship.
There was one story that [inaudible] , that’s called Emma’s dad.It’s the story of --
Amistad.
Amistad.
Amistad.
Amistad - the story of a -- the true story of a friendship slave ship. I’m like, “What?”
Right. Right. So, we’ll see the slave ship. We’ll see Kunta Kinte’s --
Relatives.’
Relatives. And --
The KKK?
No, the KKK is in America. They’re the people that dress up in the white sheets. What do you think about when you see people dressing up to hang people from trees, or setting things on fire, just because they’re black?
It just seems scary, like really scary, like horrible. It’s like a terrible dream. The night after I watched all the KKK and [inaudible], I couldn’t fall asleep. I was like wide awake.
Because -- so what you’re referencing -- let me say it so that they know, because they’re listening, and they don’t know the story. Two years ago, we had a police shooting of a black person down the street from us.
Oh yeah.
And so it’s one thing when we talk about these kinds of things being history, and it’s another thing when those kinds of things are happening right now. So, it’s hard and scary, because it’s sad that there are things like that still in the world. Remember when we talked about the Play-doh?
Yeah.
And if you roll Play-doh into a ball, it’s the shape of a ball, but it’s still Play-doh.
Yeah.
And if you roll it out like a snake, then it’s in the shape of a snake, but it’s still Play-doh.
Yeah.
So slavery was in the shape of one thing when they were slave ships and farms and plantations and things like that.
I have a book called Andy about the plantations in slavery, and they called every one of them Andy.
Right.
Like always, like every day in my life, I always wanted a black girl doll. But all the dolls I got from my mom were white. I’m like --
So we got you some black girl dolls.
Yeah.
And so now slavery is stopped because of the Civil War, but really it just changed shape.
Civil?
Civil. It means the law. The laws changed about slavery.
Oh.
And it was amongst the people -- civil, like amongst the people -- it was one group of people against another group of people - the north and the south.
Yeah.
And --
The constitution and the -- what’s the north [inaudible].
Bill of Rights?
No. There was Constitution and --
Emancipation Proclamation.
Yeah.
Right, so slavery stopped in that shape, like the Play-doh ball, and it kind of took a different shape. So, they couldn’t keep slaves in the same way, but slaves still couldn’t vote; they couldn’t still own land; they still weren’t allowed to read; they still couldn’t get the identification or pass the test so that they could vote, even later when they said they could vote; they couldn’t go to school together. All of those things had to unfold through history, and it’s still unfolding now. Right?
Yeah.
So sometimes there’s real scary things that still happen in the world.
Like being beat up sometimes.
It’s a hard thing to deal with bullies when they’re leaders of countries, or when they are at the school, or in the neighborhood, or in history.
Like Isaiah?
From down the street?
Yeah, he said, “Pedal faster, baby!” and I just went in and told Amber, and Amber told me to tell Mom.
What did you feel when he said that to you?
I felt like I should not be his friend anymore. I felt that he wasn’t such a good person for us to be around and --
My brothers.
And my brothers to be around. My brother -- one of my brothers told me that he -- well, he used to be around my brother and so he’s just -- he’s just not sometimes used to new people. And so -- like the last time I met him, he was very nice and calm. And now this time I met him --
How did you take care of yourself in that situation?
I went to tell a grownup. I told Amber. I told my sister and my sister told me to tell Mama.
And you left.
Yeah.
Anytime someone is hateful or ugly or mean or a bully or says words that are cruel or touches your body inappropriately -- always, you can get away, or try to get away.
My sister told me -- took my shower right after it happened, like right after.
So, it helped get you out of there, didn’t it?
Yeah. I was just trying to get around the corner and then I saw my sister went in to take a shower, and so I pulled up and took my shower. Before I did that, I told Mama, and Mama helped me.
That’s part of my job as your Mama is to help get you out of situations.
Yeah.
But also, you can do it too, because you’re strong and smart and powerful.
Yeah.
What do you do -- what would you do if he had touched you inappropriately, instead of just saying something inappropriate?
Well, I just scream and bite him -- tackle him until he’s given up.
There you go. [Laughs] Scream and bite him and tackle him until he gives up.
Yeah.
And still tell us so we can help too.
Yeah.
Because you’re not alone, right?
Screaming is the loudest thing I could ever do. Sometimes I scream at the top of my lungs and so --
And that’s part of what we’ll see in Ghana too, because in some places they’re very good people there, very good people. And in other places there are people who are either not educated about how to care for women, or they don’t care for women and children well. And so we will see some things that are hard, like children. And sometimes they just don’t have the resources to do it well. So, we will see children who don’t have enough clothes or don’t have enough food or who are dirty or living in unsafe situations. We will see little girls who will already have babies. And those things are not okay, but that’s part of why we started schools there, so that they can get educated and they can be safe and they can care well for their families and they can have the resources they need to have enough to provide for their children. And so the children can grow up in school and knowing how to protect their bodies.
What do you think about all that?
I feel that education is very important, because if we don’t have enough education now, we won’t be able to take care of ourselves. So I really like being smart and creative, because if I’m smart and creative, that can get me out of situations faster, than just being lazy and not --
Well, and there’s sometimes when there’s really nothing you can do. And that’s not your fault. Like when you were little and hurt before foster care. That is not your fault, no matter how smart or creative you are. Right?
Yeah.
But also, there’s lots that we can do to try to be safe. What are some of the things that you’re going to do to be safe while we’re in Ghana?
I’m going to try my best to, you know, like -- some kids have these little backpacks that they put on and then it has a strap our parents hold, or I’d rather hold onto my Mom’s hand. Or I just stay with her.
So one thing we’re going to do is stay together?
Yeah.
We’re going to follow the directions of the security guards. What else?
I like those cute backpacks that we snap on and [inaudible], because they’re so cute.
Want me to put you on a leash?
Like those little backpacks.
[Laughs] Are you nervous about that part?
Yeah.
If someone tried to take you, what would you do?
I’d grab their legs and then bite them, scratch them as much as I can, until their skin bleeds.
Well, there you go. Anything else you want to share about our trip to Ghana, or anything else you want to say at all?
I’m excited to be on an airplane for my second time…or third time. I don’t remember how many times I’ve been on an airplane. And I’m excited to see my own family and my own culture and how also, I’m a little scared, because of how the people were treated back then.
That’s true. And we know the king. You get to meet the king.
Yeah, what’s his name?
They’re going -- well, I don’t want to say it on the podcast, for his own safety. We don’t have our permission to say his name.
Oh.
But you get to meet him and they’re planning a welcome home party for you, yeah, to celebrate Mary. Everyone wants to see Mary. So, we get to meet the king. And our friend, Jonathan, that’s staying with us the whole time, is his son. What is it if there’s the son of the king? What is he called?
Prince.
He’s a prince. So of that tribe -- in your tribe -- you get to go meet the king, and they’re going to welcome you home. What do you think about that?
I’m so excited because it’s my home and --
Are you going to cry? Are you crying? I love you, baby. I love you so much. It’s pretty special, huh?
Yes.
They’re going to be so happy to see you. Do you know how loved you are?
Yes.
Do you know how special you are?
Yeah.
Just for being you. You don’t even have to be smart or artsy. You are. You are good at art and you are very smart, but you’re enough just because you’re you. You’re the only Mary in the entire world that’s exactly you.
Yeah.
I love you.
I love you too.
Aw, sweet girl.
[Kisses]
I have one more surprise for you. They called me today and told me not to fix your hair, because they want to do your hair when we get there. What do you think of that?
That’s awesome. Thanks.
[Laughs] Are you so excited?
Yeah.
Woo! Let me hear your Ghana -- how to Ghana girl yell in excitement. What would it sound like? How would Kunta Kinte’s daughter yell and scream and cheer?
She’d say thank you and she’d be pleasant and she’d sometimes cry, but --
So, last thing I went to tell you before we go to Ghana. There are things that are hard things from the past. There are hard things in the present. There are things we cannot change. There are things we cannot control. And there are things that it’s unfair you have to fight so hard to get through. But you are here, and you are safe, and you are strong, and you are wise, and you are beautiful. And all of those hard things have heroes that got through them, and heroines that lived and survived so that you could be born, because you matter, Mary.
I love you.
I love you too.
Do you know that?
Yeah.
Are you ready?
Yeah.
We’re going to do this. We’re going to Ghana.
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