10
Aug
Road Tour — Day Six — Raleigh
On Friday we left Charlotte and went up I-85 toward the Triangle Area. We actually spent two days in the area. Friday was a free-day in which we all got to take a mini-break and explore some of the area. Kea, a UNC alum, showed Gina and Ralston around her old stomping grounds. I went over to Raleigh to catch up with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin who I hadn’t seen for years. Sometimes you never realize how much you miss people until you’re reunited with them later.
Saturday we had our Road Tour event in Raleigh thanks to amazing hosts Dr. and Mrs. Palmer at the African American Cultural Complex. It was a small event filled with big surprises. For me personally, I was able to have more of my family see what inspires me to research the impact genetic ancestry testing on African Americans. Dr. and Mrs. Palmer learned about their ancestry—the Balanta of Guinea Bissau and the Fang of Gabon, respectively.
The biggest surprise however was hearing that African Ancestry has groupies. Okay they weren’t groupies—after all no one came to the event to through panties at Ralston’s camera.
But after missing the Charlotte event, they were dedicated enough to travel the two hours to Raleigh to participate in yesterday’s event. And it was inspiring to hear such a story. Traveling on the road for a week straight, you realize that each venue is completely different. Sometimes the audience seems engaged and then sometimes you aren’t sure if they got lost between “Hello” and “Welcome.” And even though the goal of the tour is to help you guys, it is a business and we too have quotas that we try to meet to ensure we’ll be able to do the tour again. Most of the time it works out, but every once in a while when it doesn’t, you find yourself questioning whether or not you made the right choice and sometimes start to agree with the people who called you crazy for having and pursuing this idea in the first place. But then when you meet Anne Lambert and Danny Byers who traveled from Charlotte just to join us on the Road Tour, you realize that regardless of the tribulations you encounter on the road, this tour does have a purpose and their no reason for us to give up now.
And don’t worry, we won’t.
The four of us are ready to end the first half of the “We Are Africa” Road Tour in Richmond tonight.
And I also want to let you all know that along the tour, Gina has been inspired for African Ancestry to have a new goal. While it is great to help the general African Diaspora, the new focus of the company is to give the children knowledge and pride in understanding our roots. Whether they are two days old or 21 years old like myself, it’s imperative that we give the youngest in our community the opportunity to know—especially when it’s available. It’s not fair for our boys and girls to have to pretend to be from a country in Africa when their peers know. I know that when I have children ten years from now, I want them to know. And that’s why I’m waiting for my results. What, however, will you tell your children—because as a person who grew up in the 1990s wearing kente cloth outfits, no number of African hairstyles or clothing is enough to overshadow being devoid of knowledge.
We want to change that and we hope you do too.
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Victoria Massie
We also look forward to revealing the ancestry of State Senator Sandra Cunningham, the first woman to be elected to the State House from the 31st Legislative District.
and the 
