Doctor C J's Blog

Celebration Table

“The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, festivity, safety, and satisfaction.” Laurie Colwin (1944-1992).

So, if the table is a special meeting place, a gathering space, a source for spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical sustenance. Where is my place setting? And if it’s where nourishment, celebration, and family continuation takes place; why is my family missing from America’s Celebration round table?

As a black American I deserve to eat from the ‘good’ china, I deserve to sit at the round table, I deserve to use the best silverware, and the crystal stemware. My family is no longer just the servants, the guess who’s coming to dinner guest, or mere entertainers for your delight.

I am family. I too sing America.

I deserve the morsels of joy, harmony, and serenity. I have a right to be proud of my culture, my skin even when it is the shade of rape by the slave master.

We all know that without food we would die. And without fellowship, without inclusion life is missing something. The basic needs for food, security, love, and the pursuit of happiness beckons us ALL.

My family has suffered psychic starvation and recognition deprivation. From now on, when America hunkers down to enjoy a meal at the Celebration table, it’s time to make room for the rest of the family. Remember your ancestors stole or bought my ancestors and then brought them to a land stolen from the Native Americans.

I am family. I too sing America.

When America sits down to share the stories, the memories, and the glory of being an American, I want to be included in our Nations Memory, by telling the whole story. Tell how the hue-man race and all its cultures, colors, and ethnicity helped make this Nation from the very beginning. I want to feel that sense of belonging, that sense of being appreciated, and that sense of collective connectedness.

Since 1619 my ancestral mothers nursed your ancestors’ babies, my ancestors plowed the fields for the meals, they cooked the food, and made/set the table.  Hell yeah, I want to eat at this table my family created, maintained, and sustained.

Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem, and Barzilai Lew; three black men and heroes of the American Revolution, paid for my seat at the Celebration Table.

Here’s the thing; America’s Founding Fathers are my great-great-great grandfathers too! And I’m ready to cash that 244-year-old, IOU of “all men are created equal”!

I am family. I too sing America.

C J Johnson, PsyD

7. 27. 20