Columbus arrived on this continent with his crew vulnerable to the world. He brought with him pre-conceived notions. The native people who discovered this alien to the mother earth took pity on this disaster of a man. He was clearly lost and couldn't speak to save his life. They should have slaughtered the invader right then, but they had compassion. God had put the man in their domain for a reason. What was the meaning of this space ship in the midst of paradise? The native people celebrated the arrival of their guest and worked hard to welcome him and try to understand his mission.

Since I don't know the names of the Natives I'm having trouble telling any kind of story here. I can refer to the familiar white Columbus because I know his name. I don't have any record left of how the natives reacted. I don't know what they are thinking. They didn't kill him. He didn't return to Portugal and say they tried to kill him.

I'm one of the 20 people who traveled across the great expanse of water to this cold, inhospitable place filled with evil pale devils. I have lost my family and loved ones. No one speaks my language. I have been assigned to live and be taught by one of the families. They keep me in chains. I survived a long, painful journey being raped many times on the sea trip. I almost starved, but I did survive. Now I wait for the day I can escape, but where do I go? It has been so many months. I wonder if my family still thinks of me. I miss the food that was so comfortable for me to eat. I miss my familial land. Right now we would be celebrating my daughters wedding. She may give birth before I return. They have burnt symbols into my shoulder. I miss my husband. I don't see anyone that looks like me for days and sometimes weeks at a time. I don't understand their language.

Most massacres were executed by white people with impunity. This led to whole communities abandoning everything and fleeing for their safety. Any real estate the owned was probably abandoned. This means the families gave up their wealth to find safety. This is one of many occurences of the government breaking up families, neighborhoods and communities that Black people had established. Commonly in the "inner city" poor Black communities were evicted per eminent domain to build highway projects, stadiums or other public works. Tearing up communities and families was a common theme over the centuries that started in slavery. Families would be sold to separate farms. Upon emancipation one of the first things many people did was to try and bring their families back together. Imagine seeking out and finding your 10 year old daughter you haven't seen for 8 years and she's pregnant by the white landowner.

This was a period of great change. The emancipation gave great promise. Many Black legislators were elected. People demanded wages for their work. Families were reuniting. There was federal oversight which helped secure the freedom of people. People had to decide what their next step was. Would they try and stay? If they left where would they go? What would the new community be like? There was so much anger and hatred on both sides. Since there had been no education opportunities, there was no knowledge of laws. What would it be like to be a leader for someone who had been enslaved? Would justice really stand behind a Black persons innocence for the first time?

When a Black family home was burned down the family lost everything including any cash that they stashed in the house. For obvious reasons Black people didn’t trust banks, so they kept money at home. If it’s burned you lose that whole value. Money in the bank was easy to steal by the bank or tellers. Since education had been forbidden during slavery, it was difficult to ascertain how banks operated and what was legitimate in terms of fees. Even government used fines to steal from Black people.