FAMILY ROOTS
This photo comes from the part of the world where I was born and raised — and from one branch of my extended family.
I’m related to many of the people pictured here, and many of them are people of color. I’m half Colombian, half English, and my great-grandmother was half Black.
Long before I understood what any of that might mean to others, it was simply the environment I grew up in — different faces, shared history, and a sense of family that never fit neatly into assumptions.
At first glance
This photo was taken in Colombia in 1975. We’re both about eight years old.
He’s my second cousin. I’m white. He’s Black.
At first glance, we don’t look like we come from the same family.
But we do.
We’re connected by the same woman — his grandmother and my great-grandmother.
He’s the son of my grandmother’s brother, who married a woman from a small village near Cartagena.
Growing up, our family was a mix of cultures, histories, and experiences that didn’t always show on the surface… but were always there.
This photo reminds me of something I’ve come to understand over time:
Families are more layered, more complicated, and more connected than first impressions suggest.
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