"You See Me...I See You" by Frank Albert Johnson, Jr.

Frank Johnson at Cat Point Creek Menokin landing

---

You See Me...I See You

“History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.” - James Baldwin

The powerful words shared by James Baldwin capture the thoughts manifesting in my mind as I stand at Menokin's shoreline.  You, the reader, see me.  I have no view of you, so who do I see?  Maybe I see the first people who settled this shoreline.  Maybe I see the illustrious people who owned this shoreline.  I see ancestors who worked this shoreline--a number caught up in Baldwin's 'anonymous people'.  

There I stand.  Imagining. Feeling. Strategizing.  I ask myself quietly what I can do to advance my ancestry.  Nourishment, cleansing, and growing are all dependent on water and soil.  The shoreline is not confusing to me.  It represents a blending of histories, renewal, and a birth into a vision of empowering people through identification and involvement in Menokin's emerging greatness.           

Authored by Frank Albert Johnson, Jr., Menokin Board of Trustees, Co-Chair Menokin Descendant Engagement Team, and direct Descendant of the Gordon family that had been enslaved at Menokin. 

---