I don't know about you, but my ancestor's journey to America wasn't on a cruise ship. It wasn't by plane, it wasn't by foot. My ancestor's arrived on this land in chains, blinded by sunlight after having spent months cramped like sardines in the bottom of a slaving ship. They didn't come looking for work, and they didn't come seeking refuge. They didn't dream of citizenship, equal opportunity, or a better life here. They came because they had to. Because they'd been caught, chained down, and beaten. Because they couldn't escape, and even if they could revolt, they wouldn't have known how to sail back to the coasts of Africa. They came because they were forced to come. That is not immigration. It is kidnapping, and it is and was, criminal.

So, when I see signs that say "we are all immigrants", I have to pause and wonder who is being counted as people. Because slavery, abolished only in 1865, certainly couldn't have been forgotten already. My ancestor's suffering couldn't be that easy to dismiss. That type of false narrative alienates African Americans who want to help protest injustice against others. It erases the very little historical knowledge we have about ourselves. Unlike any other demographic, we don't get to know what country we came from. We don't get to know our original cultures, religions, or languages. They were intentionally beaten out of us. What we do know is that our ancestors came from the continent of Africa, largely from West African countries. We know that they came in slave ships, and we know they suffered immensely and without reward.

To claim that we are all immigrants, when that is the only history African Americans know, is blatantly disrespectful. We are not all immigrants. There is not only one group of people in this country who didn't come as immigrants or refugees. There is one group of people who are native to this land, and one group of people who were kidnapped en masse. It is really a simple concept. So, while I recognize that the purpose of such signs is to unite us all, I implore people to stop using them. They are untrue, and they disrespect my ancestor's entire experience. They disrespect my history, and they lie about the origins of this country. This country was founded on slave labor and the genocide of native Americans. We don't get to conveniently gloss over that now. This country has specifically exploited these two groups of people since its inception, and we must recognize that if we want to stride towards a future where all of us can come together to stand up against injustice.