My Secret Pleasure, some tears, a lot of laughter and knowledge

[Kind of Blue]

This video is on my FB feed from Awake In Our Mythology page. Would have never seen it 'cause I don't watch daytime anything, especially jabberjaw shows. Anyway, I love watching people discover their ancestry, especially people of the diaspora. As a kid and young woman, I never knew what kind of reaction I'd get from people I'd encounter. Though I'm proud of my heritage, I've been guarded. So it's pure joy when I saw these young ladies embracing all aspects of themselves and each other.

We're so much more connected and maybe that's where the real revolution in treating instutional racism as a disease lies.

I saw the 3rd video first that led me to see the 1st two. I'll just post the 1st. Enjoy!

[Basement Beat]

1. Thanks for the post...

This was so much fun to watch. Love, love, LOVE watching dna testing and heritage findings on people within the African Diaspora. I certainly cannot wait to get myself tested. When you have this internal calling and urge to a land you've never been to before...something special must await.

[Kind of Blue]

2. My Pleasure, Basement Beat!

I'm excited for you and nosey enough to be so intrusive to want to know yours, too!

[wildeyed]

3. That was fun!

I watched the other two on youtube. Perfect for a Friday afternoon.

[Kind of Blue]

4. Yes, indeed! I'm ready for more fun

during this contentious election season.
I'm so glad you viewed all three!

[Number23]

5. This is so cool. What is this show??? What is The Real???

[Kind of Blue]

6. I had to look them up but they've been around since 2013

They are too cute!

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealDaytime
https://www.facebook.com/therealdaytime

From IMDB

The Real
American talk show
5.7/10·IMDb
"The Real" is a panel show featuring five outspoken female hosts, who are all going through varied life experiences that include motherhood, new marriages and experiencing the single life. The hosts, who all admit to being "works in progress," bring their unique perspectives to topics ranging from the day's news to beauty, fashion, relationships and their own personal lives. The hosts include R&B singer Tamar Braxton, comic Loni Love, singer Adrienne Bailon, fashion expert Jeannie Mai and actress Tamara Mowry-Housley.
First episode date: July 15, 2013
Distributor: Warner Bros. Television
Language: English
Presented by: Tamera Mowry, Jeannie Mai, Adrienne Bailon, Loni Love, Tamar Braxton
Nominations: Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup

[Number23]

7. Which one is the lady wearing the violently colored onesie?

That was a very... uhrrm... DARING fashion choice for day time tv.

[Kind of Blue]

8. Ha! My girl is an electrical engineer-turn-comedienne/actress

I used to see her a lot as commentator on that show I Love the '80s and stuff like that.
Oh, forgot. Her name is Lonnie Love.

[Kind of Blue]

9. And then the tears from this girl

upset about NOT being 25% Native American but 15% subSaharan African.

Thank goodness that most people are at least pleasantly surprised when learning of their heritage.

[wildeyed]

12. There was a white supremacist

who recently found out that he was like 15% or 20% African heritage. That was GREAT!

[Kind of Blue]

13. LOL! I would love to see the look on

his face!

A co-worker of my husband had his done. He's as pink as can be, husband says, and very proud of his Irish heritage as he should be.

But now the poor lad is having an existentialist crisis. He found out that he's descendent from the first wave of people out of Africa. He doesn't know what to think of himself

[wildeyed]

14. I look like my Dad

and his immigrant side of the family, all Norwegian and British. It basically looks like I sprang whole out of his head, like Athena from Zeus, much to my Mother's distress... My sister is olive skinned with beautiful, full lips and was asked if she was passing by black students occasionally in college. That side of the family is from Virginia from way back and you never know in the south.... Everyone in this country is mixed in some way. I would be more proud of African ancestors than I am of the ones I actually know about who owned Africans, that is for damn sure....

Was your husband's work friend descended from indentured people? My understanding, early on, white/black relationships and marriages were not uncommon then among indentured servants and slaves.

Not sure why that would be hard to understand. There is no way he is 100% Irish unless he his family is only recently arrived on these shores.

[Kind of Blue]

16. That's what I thought, too - indentured Irish.

Had to wait for husband to get home from work to ask for details. Co-worker had his test done thru the Human Genome Project. What's incredible is that his family were not Irish indentured. They're recented emigrees who he says have married mainly other Irish people. The HGP were/are highly interested in the family, especially his sister(s) - I guess more info is available from their maternal lines, because the find is so rare.

I do stand corrected though. After finding out how special he is, co-worker has had some enlightenment about racial problems. He is incredibly proud now to know beyond a shadow of a doubt how ancient his roots has been traced. All these months I was laughing, thinking of him as a republican having a meltdown. But he prods my husband for history, context, everything because he's finally seeing PoC as human beings.

Ooh, I wish you and your sister get your analysis, especially since one side of the family is from Virginia. I just find this totally fascinating.

[wildeyed]

18. The thing about my genetic grandfather

on that side is that he died training for WW2 while my grandmother was still pregnant. We didn't know him or that side of the family at all. And my grandmother was both wild and a liar (my poor mom is still in some denial about that) until the day she died. My mom does look a bit like the picture I have seen of him, but who knows? He was apparently brilliant. Passed the bar at 16. Who does that? Families are so crazy, mine particularly....

It is great that your husband's coworker is having an epiphany. Jesse Helm had a "secret" black daughter he conceived with a woman who worked for his family while he was still a teen or maybe early 20's who joined DAR (or was it Daughters of the Confederacy? Even better....) once it all came out after his death

The analysis would be interesting. I'll look into the cost. I wanted to a while back, but it was too expensive. But might be an option now.

[Kind of Blue]

10. Erykah in America

[Kind of Blue]

11. The Man from Mende

I adore Michael K. Williams!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

15. OMG! I love this!!

[Kind of Blue]

17. Me, too, Liberal_Stalwart71!

By the way, I've been jamming for a couple of hours with work and stuff playing Falling Like Dominoes repeatedly. Listening to it now as I type this.