This past weekend, I went to a Coast Guard (CG) gathering for the celebration of the CG’s birthday. My husband was in the Navy for five years, and so he gets invites to these events.
Anyways, when I was on this boat, one of the Captains gave a speech. He said the birthday of the CG was 228 years ago. I did some mental math and figured out the date, August 4, 1790. Four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (the one TJ drafted).
Then I got annoyed. Did ships like the one I stood on carry human cargo? My husband confirmed that they would have likely carried human cargo too because the CG transfers cargo. (Have to fact check that one.) There were some young, Black members of the CG there. It was mostly White people and their families. So I was feeling all types of ways.
Seeing everyone happy and taking pictures just made me feel sick. I couldn’t get the thought of human bodies being in the bottom of ships like this one out of my mind. So I eventually left and sat on the bench at the pier until my husband was finished.
Later, my husband met up with me and said: “I know why you were feeling that way. When I went on the tour, I saw this picture of Alex Haley in the Captain’s room. He worked on this ship as a mess boy and wrote short stories in his spare time. Perhaps while working on this ship, he had similar thoughts as you, which led him to eventually write ‘Roots’.”
God works in mysterious ways, huh? Maybe I had to come here to make a spiritual touch point, similar to my trip to Monticello.
Leave a Reply