My personal #Juneteenth reflection...

July 4, 2019. Your Independence Day, I hopped in a @Lyft during #EssenceFest. The driver asked me where I was from.

“I’m from St. Louis-but every time someone hears my last name, they think I’m from here.”

A few Facebook clicks later, and it was confirmed: My lyft driver was my cousin, Tony. We laughed, and then I proceeded to stay up all night on @ancestry.

In my research, I made some discoveries about New Orleans, but I made even more probable discoveries about the place I knew was home to my Packnett side: Mississippi. Wilkinson County, MS to be exact. This is where the Packnetts are buried.

I’m still doing the research, but here’s what I know:

Some previous spellings- pacquinett / paguinett-are across census, land, military and death records alongside the eventual “Packnett.”

A William “Pagwinett,” of Wilkinson County, MS was a landowner and enslaver, as the 1850 Census listed out enslaved people separately on a “Slave Schedule.” There were at least 40.

I know that on the December 6, 1834, one William F “Paquinette,” formerly of Louisiana, advertised in the Wilkinson County Republican the selling of land and people.

Those people may very well have been my ancestors.

Every time I look at this it keeps my vision clear.

Do you know what my ancestors endured? Do you know that I am a promise kept by God and my foremothers against the will of the oppressor?  Do you know my entire existence is an act of resistance because my bloodline was not meant to survive?

Every Black person you meet is a MIRACLE. We are descended of lineages meant to be destroyed by slavery or colonization. Our lives are hard-fought and hard-earned. We are priceless.

We are inherently valuable because of our humanity-and declared valuable because our ancestors declared our worth when they fought for us to live.

THAT is my happy #Juneteenth .