Views of Lake Pontchartrain from the causeway. Image by Irene Vázquez. United States, 2021.
Somewhere in the past of chattel slavery, my ancestors were brought to the land now known as Alabama, the traditional and unceded territory of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. I was raised in the lands of the Houma, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Atakapa Ishak. I did not know the names of the traditional caretakers of the land until after I moved away.
I am told that 23andMe charts my DNA back to what’s now known as Nigeria, among other places. I heard this from my uncle, who told my mom, who told me. I have little to no interest in knowing more about the fiction of its statistical breakdown.