Our ancestors lived hard and deliberate lives, looking forward to a day when we would validate their existence. A world where we will prove that it was all worth while. The indignities and disgrace and injustice could be seen as the cost for a proud people. We must live and help our children to live in a way that asks “Am I everything you hoped I would be?” I dig into my roots so that I can take away the inevitability that my children would become nothing.