Identification and the Generation Gap

The last couple of months, my mother and I have been getting into petty arguments about her refusal to carry identification when she goes out. We'd go to the bank and she'd be unable to withdraw money because she never had identification on her. She is even annoyed when she is asked to verify her identification. This has always frustrated me because besides the need for tellers to know they are handing over the funds to the right person, I think it's just unsafe not to have ID on you. I always think the worst and worry that one day something might happen to a loved one and they are unable to identify their body or get in contact with someone.
Anyways, as we were getting into yet another debate when I reminded her to bring her ID when we were leaving the house, she exclaimed that she was sick of people needing to know who she was and where she came from. And then it hit me. My mother grew up in the 60s, during colonial times. When she was young, she was forced to carry identification wherever she went. It was used as a means of oppression. As colonized people all over the world did and Blacks in the US, refusing to carry identification was a form of revolt. My mother, however, has been so scarred by this experience and conditioned to be in a constant state of revolt, that even though decades have passed since demanding identification was an institutionalized, oppressive tool, she still detests the act.
Though this is a very inconspicuous example, it goes to show how deeprooted the effects of institutionalized racism are. My mother did not live in the US during the time of Black Codes and Jim Crow, but her experience in Cameroon was so parrallel, that the hostility still lingers here. It also goes to show that though I am dedicating my life to righting the wrongs of colonialism, I will never truly understand or feel what my people have gone through.

Family Strangers

When I was in high school, I wrote a short story about what I thought my next trip to Cameroon would be like. I envisioned knowing no one in the land, while everyone knew me. I couldnt have been more right as I found out last March.
This summer I am preparing high school students for college in the fall at the University of Maryland, College Park. I had them do a ancestral assignment, in order for them to really delve into how they came to be where they are now, through family ties. Many of them complained about not being able to do the assignment because they had deceased parents and grandparents, but I encouraged them to work with what they had, they might be able to discover some things. One girl found out that she is related to Francis Scott Key and others discovered the meaning behind their last name.
Overall, it was a successful project, but it made me think about my own family and the difficulty I would have with a project such as this. I dont speak to my father and know nothing about his family. I'm sure that I could go to his village and ask questions, but with the short life expectancy in Cameroon, I'm worried that people may die before I learn about who they are. My mother is very reserved and does not like talking about her family. I just found out last year that I have a brother, who is 26 and now I wonder what else may have been hidden from me. I never met my grandparents. I have a slew of cousins, but I am not very clear on the path to our relation.
The family that I feel closest to in the US are not even blood relatives. They are my mother's closest friends.
As I've gotten older, the idea of family strangers, that I took so lightly is frightening. I am looking foward to beginning my own legacy bu starting a family, but I want to be able to give my children a clearly idea of where they came from.
Maybe I'll embark on this ancestral assignment myself.

Whose Terrorizing Who?

This summer I've done a great deal of traveling and my time spent in the airport always pisses me off. First it was while leaving the Bahamas, my passport was checked at the door of the plane. I had never experienced this before and it upset me that there was more security leaving the Bahamas than there was coming in. Then, on my trip to Uganda, we went through Dubai. Dubai is known for its gold and other sellable goods. African women are known as marketers and businesswoman. After going through the standard security checks at JFK airport, there was another guard in the corridor on the way to the plane. He saw my group (mostly young white students) and bid us a safe journey. However, an African woman in her fifties was walking alongside of me and she was abruptly stopped "randomly". She was questioned as to why she was traveling to Dubai, but more importantly the guard was more concerned about how much money she was traveling with. She daringly asked him why it was any of his concern and he gave her the BS speal about "doing his job". The blatant racial profiling angers me. There is no attempt to be subtle about it anymore.
On our way back from Uganda, we again transferred in Dubai. There was a terminal in the Dubai airport that was solely for trips to JFK airport. This terminal had another security check set-up that was not present at any other terminal. We went through the x-ray machines again and our bags were emptied and checked regardless of if anything on the x-ray looked suspicious. I inquired as to why this was only being done for trips to JFK and I was told it was in order to stop terrorist. I was so fed up with all of it, that I told the airport security that there was no need to keep looking for the terrorists because they had become them. I was being terrorized! That is when he told me after looking at my passport that the US had created this system and he was Arabic and only worked there! lol I couldn't blame him for disassociating himself. Upon entering the plane we were then told that throughout the 14 hour flight we were not to congregate with other passengers for fear of conspiracy I assume.
I just don't understand why the US doesn't realize that they must be doing something to anger the world to have to go to such extreme measures to protect itself. No other country is this paranoid about unidentifiable terrorists.
Things like this only heighten my desire to leave this country. I can not continue in an existence that perpetuates constant fear in its citizens.