"Where Do You Come From?"

By: Jala Mįyątipi:wa Simpa

A picture of me wearing moccasins. The soles of the mocs planted in Lenapehoking soil during the fall.

I come from many places. To start: I was born and raised in Lenapehoking, not too far from òhchunk, the Watchung Mountains.

I went to school at Tuscan Elementary, near the road named for the Mohican Chief Tuskin, who married a Lenni-Lenape woman and remains buried by the school grounds. The streams of my childhood neighborhood flow into the Rahway River; some of my ancestors are water people, following the riverways or living along the coasts. I have walked the path of Old Indian Road, placing my feet where the Lenape have walked for thousands of years. I have traveled along the Oraton Parkway, named for Chief Oratam of the Lenape Nation.

My paternal grandparents and great-grandparents left their Indigenous homelands: Corrowaugh within Tsenacommacah and Akų:čuk within Amanishuq to live in Lenapehoking.

My maternal grandparents moved to Lenapehoking from the South (Conecuh, Colomokee, among other towns); some of their ancestors were victims of the internal slave trade. They were forced to walk on foot from their Indigenous homelands in Tsenacommacah and Reskooteh Town to lands where the Aniyunwiya, Iswa, and Mvskoke are Indigenous to.

Our culture was never left behind. My ancestors carried it with them, adapting to the land and building bonds with other Indigenous people they met along the way. Yet, they always found their way back to visit kinfolk who stayed in our original homelands. For some of us, that path leads to a permanent return.

Due to the Indian slave trade, I have ancestors Indigenous to Dine’Tah, Atemajac within Abya Yala, and Lukku-Cairi, all trafficked to the East Coast of the so-called United States.

Due to the Indian Ocean slave trade, my Merina ancestors from Antananarivo within Madagasikàra were also trafficked here.

Due to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, my ancestors from Ilé-Ifẹ̀ (more specifically Yorubaland: Ibadan and Oyo within Oyo state, Lagos, Abeokuta and Ijebu-Ode within Ogun state and Ilesa in Osun state), Brazzaville, Cabinda as well as Luanda in Angola, ÀlàỊ̀gbò, Mendeland, Fuuta Jallon, Fuuta Tooro, Dakar, Kaolack, and Touba within Wolof country, Dahomey, Elem Kalabari, Maradi, and Igodomigodo were brought to these shores. Some of my African ancestors, before ending up on the East Coast, moved through Ichiroiganaim, Kairi, Yameyka, Ayiti, and Caya Hico. Here, my Indigenous ancestors from Alkebulan intermingled and merged with my Indigenous ancestors from Turtle Island, Mishiike Minisi.

My European ancestors came from Ireland, Scotland, France, England, and other places. Some were mą:hkaną́hka with bad intentions, responsible for colonization, enslavement, and harm. Others were merely fleeing persecution or seeking a better life; they learned to respect the land and became allies to Indigenous people.

Despite being a displaced Afro-Native, I know who I am. I know where I come from.

In the end, as in the beginning, we all come from Hena Amai (Mother Earth).